Creative Arts Alumni Network

As the last of nine children from a small country town, Emma has heard and seen a lot of lives play out. She graduated from Flinders Drama Centre in 2000, where she has since returned to teach her own style of stand-up-storytelling drawing from oral story telling practices.

Since then, she has worked in theatre, screen and has established a practice developing theatre shows from conversations with strangers, talking about subjects from the mundane to the sublime. A hugely influential time for her was as a resident artist with immersive theatre company Carte Blanche in Denmark for two years from 2006, set-up by visual arts and theatre practitioner, Sara Jenson. There, she co-developed and performed in six of Carte Blanche’s new works, which are physical/installation based. She returned to Australia with the inspiration and tools to devise theatre, both solo and collaborative. 

In theatre, she has worked extensively with companies and collectives, such as The Last Tuesday Society, Real TV, Patch, Monkey Baa, Playwriting Australia, Arts House, Open Space Contemporary Arts, STC, Aphids, The Rabble and Brink Productions. She has an on-going performance love affair with Vitalstatistix Theatre Company, who developed and produced her first ever work Saskia Falls, which saw seasons in Adelaide and at Brisbane Festival, and her most recent large scale work, The Photo Box, premiered at the Adelaide Festival 2022, and there have been many other shows in between. For 10 years, she collaborated with director Tessa Leong and Visual artist James Dodd in their residency model, The Australian Bureau of Worthiness. In 2017, she was the resident artist with Vitalstatistix, and in 2018 she had a residency with the SA State Theatre Company.

Emma has worked as an actor on screen with several local filmmakers and the ABC as the Art Show host and a micro-series, The Lost Tools of Henry Hoke.  Most recently, she was the lead in a film for Piper Films, which was created in association with the Police Federation of Australia, depicting real life stories from traumatised SAPOL staff.  Emma is very dedicated to life as a practicing artist, and was recently awarded a fellowship through Arts SA for 2024.  She is also the proud mum of triplets, which is a show all of its very own.

Visit her website here.

Sheridan is a recent graduate of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) / Bachelor of Letters (Creative Enterprise) currently working as the Sponsorship and Events Coordinator at Adelaide Festival.

Her involvement in and passion for the creative arts started while she was studying at Flinders University and was encouraged to volunteer for the Adelaide Film Festival, Adelaide Fringe, and Adelaide Festival.

Throughout university she also got involved in the Flinders community by becoming the Social Director of the Flinders Business Students’ Association, and working in the Office of Student Recruitment. Now in her first full-time role in the arts industry, Sheridan is passionate about applying her business expertise in developing corporate partnerships, and her events experience to deliver benefits throughout the festival. She is keen to get involved in the Creative Arts Alumni Network to share her experience with others, and facilitate opportunities for current students.

Grace was born in Yunnan, China, a region that is home to more than 25 ethnicities. For Grace, these diverse influences have fuelled her curiosity and desire to explore the world through art. Weekly trips to the cinema with her parents ignited her passion for filmmaking. After moving to Adelaide, South Australia with her parents at the age of 15, Grace was given her first camera and started to freelance for a local photography studio.

After initially studying to become an architect, she found her way back to filmmaking, completing a Masters of Screen and Media, as well as a Masters of Arts at Flinders University. Grace is a versatile filmmaker who attributes her multicultural background and empathy with minority groups as the main drive of her career, resulting in five short films about the Asian diaspora living in Australia. Her love for filmmaking usually sees Grace taking up multiple roles in the production process but directing and cinematography is where her true passion lies. Grace co-founded production company Take Two Media, producing content for industries in the private and public sectors. 

Visit her website here. 

Bec began working at Flinders in 2015 as the University’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations Project Officer. Now an Alumni Partner, she works across the University, and in particular with the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work and the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, facilitating opportunities for alumni to pursue lifelong learning, remain connected to Flinders, and connect with each other.

Bec coordinates the Student-Alumni Mentoring Program and the Creative Arts Alumni Network for HASS. She has a background working in marketing and communications roles for not-for profits prior to commencing at Flinders.

Matt is a playwright, screenwriter, lecturer, director, and co-founder of South Australian Playwrights Theatre. He has spent the last twenty years writing and directing his own plays and films and developing the work of other actors and screenwriters. His television credits include The Micallef Program (ABC), Always Greener (7 Network) and Life Support (SBS). His feature films and shorts have appeared in over 30 international film festivals and his work has been loved by audiences in Australia, the UK and Ghana. Matt lectures in screenwriting and dramaturgy at Flinders University.

Matt wrote and directed Frank Forbes and the Yahoo Boy , which was nominated for best professional production at the Adelaide Theatre Guide’s Curtain Call Awards. His other works include the play and audio serial Bordertown, monologue Unconditional Love for Playwriting Australia’s Dear Australia series, and the original production of The Deep North for the 2021 Adelaide Fringe Festival.

As the Director for College Services for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, Sean is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership of professional support services for the college. This includes ensuring that the day-to-day operations run smoothly and that the needs of the students and academics are met. He is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to improve the quality of services and facilities, as well as managing budgets, staffing, and resources. He works closely with other leaders at the university to ensure that the college's services align with the overall mission and goals of the institution.

Sean is a strong advocate for life-long learning and passionate about the Arts and has a comprehensive management and educational leadership background that spans Government, the private sector, and 17 years as the Head of Fashion and Creative Arts for TAFE SA.

Madison Siegertsz is an emerging producer and production coordinator from Adelaide. Madison is eager to support other emerging filmmakers with their creative visions as well as provide opportunities to other creatives in the industry.

Her youth chat television series Couch 44 which aired on Channel 44 and 31 (Melbourne), earned Madison nine nominations at the Antenna Awards, a national community television competition, winning Outstanding Direction and Best Youth Program. Madison graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Screen Production) from Flinders University in 2020. She has furthermore completed the SAFC SA Skilling Initiative, training to work in various production office roles.

Madison is a freelancer across film, television, commercial and theatre, working in various production office jobs. Madison also earned the Flinders University 2023 Early Career Alumni Award for her significant contribution to the creative industries sector, showcasing South Australian talent and ensuring an accurate representation of neurodiverse communities on screen.

Currently, Madison contracts as a freelancer working for Fastbreak Films. She has co-founded her production company ‘clarice would like a word’ with Couch 44 producer Tully Templeman in early 2024. She is also planning to return to study for her Masters in Social Work to explore how to combine the film industry and community programs to build a bigger and more inclusive creative hub.

Starting out at a young age with a keen interest in photography and visual art, Ella quickly expanded her areas of interest into both analogue and digital film by the time high school had finished. "I dove head first into a degree that I had hopes of loving, and I did!"

"Flinders University was a great time for me to meet like-minded people and come out of my shell, here I learned many skills that I apply in my practice today and have made a large network of friends and colleagues along the way."

"I have an interest in camera department and don’t stray too far from it. During my time at Flinders, I spent a lot of time being the sole shooter, in small student projects, but I have now found my niche in camera assisting and operating where I get to be a quick problem solver as well as still having the opportunity to create beautiful images."

"Most of my work over the past year has been primarily corporate and TVC work. However, I do manage to get onto a lot of the short films and music videos. I find that the hard work put in on those sets gets rewarded when Adelaide Film Festival season comes around each year and you find new friendships blossoming and work extending from that."

"It is ok to not have a huge final end goal, I find that things are constantly changing around me and I mould myself around the film scene and find different things that I enjoy or find more challenging. Setting small and reachable goals as well as future goals really helps me to reflect on the change and progress that I do make and helps to reassure myself that I am progressing, even when I do feel stuck."