After two years of intensive workshops and mentoring, our 2021-23 Kickstart cohort are wrapping up with Next Wave.’

Running since 2001, Kickstart is how we work with early-career artists from around Australia to realise their ideas.

When Next Wave took on a new strategic direction, we reconsidered and reinvented how this legacy commissioning and artist development program could allow us to privilege artists from all over the country.

Kickstart artists are selected by Next Wave’s Artistic Directorate (made up of eight mid-career and established artists – one from each state and territory) to take part in a two-year development program.

“We want Kickstart artists to leave Next Wave with a robust and sassy concept for an ambitious experimental work,” Next Wave’s Lead Creative Producer Nisha Madhan said.

“This is a residency driven by time and relationships – Kickstart supports artists to dream deep, think big and shape the world as they see it.”

Devika Bilmoria and Amias Hanley (our Victorian Kickstart artists) presented their work ‘Burial’ at Brunswick Mechanics earlier this year said, Kickstart was a great opportunity that fostered time, space and community in developing and presenting their ambitious project.

“It gave us access to producers, insightful workshops and introduced us to another cohort of incredible artists," they said.

Our outgoing Northern Territory Kickstart artist Jocelyn Tribe shared a similar sentiment, saying that the program was a huge motivator for her.

“It has stretched my expectations in ways I never thought possible for an org to accommodate,” Jocelyn said.

“It means that I’ve been able to access outcomes I never saw coming and gather connections that I hadn’t imagined for myself before. I’ve now produced a live performance with audio and visuals that have been able to be worked into different situations, such as All School Lab, Adelaide Fringe Festival and OzAsia Festival with Gamelan Dananda.”

It has been incredible working alongside this incredible group of artists:
Delali Zevon-Aniakwah (ACT)
Jocelyn Tribe (NT)
Rachael Anderson (SA)
Re-Right Collective (NSW)
Kartanya Maynard (TAS)
Devika Billimoria and Amias Hanley (VIC)
Ivy Mutuku (VIC)
Prue Stevenson (VIC)
Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson (WA)
Rhanjell Villanueva (QLD)

We will soon introduce the Next Wave Artistic Directorate for 2024, who will also bring in a new cohort of Kickstart artists – we can’t for you to meet them!