Creative Industries Careers Day

Demystify the creative industry careers available to students and spark their excitement for a career doing something they love. Over one day, this ‘no-lectures-no-business-cards’ style event will see students connect with film, design, gallery, fashion, music, gaming and performing arts industry professionals for great conversations and engaging activities. 

Developed by a collective of local year 10 and 12 students, the event starts with a Q&A hosted by an industry panel, followed by a series of workshops tailored to specific areas of the Creative Industries. Students will have the opportunity to select the workshops that interest them the most, ensuring their experience of the day is most meaningful and tailored to their interests. 

Who is this for: Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 students who enjoy being creative and would like to learn more about what jobs are in the creative industries. Students who are interested (or their teacher feels they could benefit from) understanding the range of jobs available in the arts. 

What to expect: Upon arrival, students will receive a booklet which includes an outline of the session. Following a quick welcome activity to get brains and bodies active, students will participate in question-and-answer sessions with industry professionals who will share their ‘a day in the life’ stories, the steps they took to get to where they are (hint: often these stories are non-linear), and their advice for students interested in a career in the creative industries. 

Hands-on workshops will provide students with time and space to get to know different industry professionals and have their questions answered, all while engaging in all sorts of making and movement activities.

This will be a careers event as you’ve never experienced before. Jam-packed with hands-on activities, lively discussions and a whole lot of arts. 

GUEST SPEAKERS AND WORKSHOP FACILITATORS

Ash Keating
Visual artist Ash Keating has exhibited extensively in galleries and created numerous large- scale, site-responsive art projects in Australia and internationally since 2004. 

Keating has undertaken numerous large-scale painting commissions in public spaces for institutions such as the National Gallery of Victoria (2013), RMIT University (2014), the Adelaide Festival Centre (2015), TarraWarra Museum of Art (2019) and Museum Langmatt, Switzerland (2023). In recent years Keating has created several multi panel polyptych paintings as part of his ongoing Gravity System Response series, with number #28 being exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2017 and #82 being commissioned by BVN Architecture in early 2018 for the redevelopment of the Freshwater Place foyer in Melbourne. 

DJ Alexandre
DJ Alexandre is an international DJ and event curator with over a decade of experience, driven by a deep passion for music and culture. As a member of RIDDIM, he delivers events and brand activations through the collective, helping shape community-led experiences. A regular behind the decks in clubs every weekend and on festival stages, he has performed across Australia as well as internationally in Indonesia and Dubai. Along the way, he has shared the stage with Travis Scott, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Central Cee, Rema, ONEFOUR and more, connecting audiences through sound across both local and global scenes. 

Emmanuelle Mattana
Emmanuelle Mattana is an award‑winning actor, writer and creator working across theatre, film and television. They are best known for writing and originating the lead role in Trophy Boys, which has toured nationally and internationally, premiered off‑Broadway, won major national theatre awards, and is now included in the Victorian VCE curriculum. Emmanuelle co‑wrote and starred in the feature film Fwends, which premiered at Berlinale 2025 and won the Caligari Award. Alongside acting roles in series such as Mustangs FC, Clickbait and Surviving Summer, Emmanuelle works across writing, directing and voiceover, demonstrating multiple pathways into sustainable creative practice.

Ivy Music Group: Jordan Acker
Jordan is an A&R at G.Y.R.O., one of Australia's leading independent distributors, where he is passionate about bolstering the Australian music scene by championing rising local artists and supporting them through the digital streaming ecosystem with tailored A&R guidance and release strategies.

A Melbourne-based music industry professional with a background in artist development and independent music distribution, Jordan holds a Bachelor of Applied Business (Entertainment) from Collarts, Melbourne. He is also the founder of Ivy Music Group, a boutique artist management company focused on long-term development and sustainable career growth. He works across a diverse roster, including Holly Hebe, Squid the Kid, Tash, and Lucy Sugerman, helping these artists and many more navigate the evolving music landscape with clarity, creativity, and strategy.

Driven by an artist-first mindset, Jordan is committed to creating opportunities that connect talent with the right pathways, both locally and globally.

Jax Plumley 
Jax Plumley is a Naarm/Melbourne based Architect, Exhibition Designer and a co-founder of Sorse Gallery in Brunswick. A lover of all things creative, his work is driven by imagination, innovation, interaction and accessibility – with a focus on interiors, immersive experiences, visual arts and custom fabrication.  

Jennifer Perkins
Jennifer trained in Costume Design at Wimbledon School of Art, London, and has since built an extensive international career across the costume industry. She has designed and supervised productions throughout the UK, USA, Canada, India, Israel, Spain, Monaco, France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. 

Her experience spans a wide range of roles—including costume designer, supervisor, buyer, coordinator, wardrobe supervisor and maker—across opera, ballet, contemporary dance, musical theatre, film and television, as well as contemporary and period productions and large-scale events. She has worked with leading organisations such as the Royal National Theatre, National Youth Theatre, Warner Bros, Fremantle Media and the BBC. 

Jennifer is also the founder of Imaginarium Costume Design, a bespoke studio specialising in custom-made and ready-to-wear costumes. 

Larry Edwards 
Larry’s journey into conservation has been a lifetime in the making. A teacher/lecturer in performing arts led to studying Costume for Performance and opening a costume shop before running away with an international circus for 14 years. COVID brought Larry home to continue his textile journey, but this time in museums and the world of conservation and restoration.  

Pancake Originals: Zane Borg 
Pancake Originals is an independent production company founded on the simple idea that the greatest stories ever told are those found closest to home. Under the creative leadership of award-winning filmmakers, Zane Borg and Gabriel Carrubba, this foundational principle has propelled them from modest origins to receiving recognition on the international stage, releasing three Melbourne-based feature films to over thirty countries globally.  

Penny Teale 
Penny Teale is the Curator at Bunjil Place Gallery. With over twenty years industry experience, Penny has written on and curated over fifty exhibitions encompassing contemporary sculptural practice and place. Her most recent collaborations include Jennifer Mills In the Echo Chamber (2025);  Woven Together: Contemporary Tapestries from the Australian Tapestry Workshop (2023); John Young, Diaspora, Psyche (2021); Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, Home/Land: Project another Country (2019) and Vera Möller: A Thousand Tides (2018). In 2016, through Asialink Arts she curated ColourShift: Ross Manning+Kit Webster, Seoul. She was formerly Senior Curator, McClelland Sculpture Park+Gallery (2003-2017), and NETS Victoria board member (2013 – 2021). In 2011, she toured sculpture parks and regional museums in the UK, Europe, and USA on a Gordon Darling Travelling Grant.  

The Australian Ballet 
Members of the team are professional dancers who have trained as teaching artists. They bring with them a variety of skills and knowledge, which they apply to teaching participants of all ages and skill levels across Australia. 

Tiffany Garvie 
Tiffany Garvie is a Gunggari woman, her mother’s family are from South West Queensland around Mitchell and the Maranoa River. Tiffany grew up on Yolngu country in Arnhem Land in the mining town of Nhulunbuy. With a background as an ABC trained radio broadcaster and producer, she has worked in mainstream and First Nations media, as well as corporate communications and marketing. Known as an events, landscape and portrait photographer, Tiffany has a passion for telling stories in images. She was a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize, and a Koorie Heritage Art Show RMIT Award winner. She has been a regular on the Melbourne events scene for a number of years shooting for clients such as the Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Clemenger BBDO and many others. With a portfolio that ranges from classic portraits to abstract macro landscapes; and, from archival documentary to First Nations cultural events, Tiffany’s work is as diverse as her interest in the world around her. She now calls Naarm/Melbourne home. 

CURRICULUM LINKS:

VCE, VCE VM AND VCE VET: All Arts Programs
THE ARTS 9 - 10: Drama, Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Media Arts, Visual Communication and Design
CAPABILITIES: Personal and Social Capability, Critical and Creative Thinking.

Image: Creative Industries Careers Day, featuring an exhibition design workshop by Kelwin Wong, Bunjil Place Studio 2024. Photo: Damian Vincenzi