Presenters
Susannah is a Martu woman and descendent of the Darlot people, originally from WA, living in Naarm (Melbourne) since 2016. Susannah has worked for sixteen years in cultural program management, arts programming, and producer roles, predominantly within small to medium arts organisations. She has been with The Torch since 2019 where she previously held the role of Program Manager, and in June 2022 stepped into the newly created role of General Manager, leading the strategic vision and operations of the organisation. Previous roles have included Head of Programs & Operations at Brunswick Mechanics Institute managed by Next Wave, Dance Massive Coordinator for City of Melbourne and Producer of The Blue Room Theatre.
‘Doing art and telling a story has given me direction and immense pride in using my culture, especially to teach people.’
Chris is a Keerraaywoorrong man from the Gunditjmara Nation of south western Victoria. Chris is immensely proud of his culture and has found creating art and sharing stories has given him direction in his life. Chris believes that through creating art he is sharing his stories and passing it on to the younger generations.
After over 30 years in and out of prison, Chris has now been In Community for over four years. He is an inspiration and has an amazing amount of lived experience and cultural knowledge to support our In Prison and Post Release artists as The Torch’s inaugural Indigenous Program Mentor.
Chris was recently featured in the documentary The Art of Incarceration (Netflix) that won the Best Australian Documentary at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
