Becca Hatch

Becca Hatch is just 19 years of age, her resume is already littered with stellar achievements; from winning triple j’s Unearthed High Indigenous Initiative in 2017, to show-stopping performances at the State of Origin and the Sydney Opera House.

With a sound rooted in R&B; Becca leans into her Samoan heritage with powerful gospel choir vocals and tranquil island sounds, while her Indigenous roots are evident through storytelling and poignant self-reflection. Working with renowned producers including Willstah (Ariana Grande, Ella Mai) and Solo (OneFour, Justice Crew), Rebecca is quickly diversifying her sound while maintaining the emotive power that has already won her a nationwide audience.

Rebecca has kicked off 2020 with her sun-soaked anthem ‘2560’, a homage to her home suburb of Campbelltown. From here, she looks to expand her live portfolio and release an EP that looks to be her most thorough project yet.

Carolina Gasolina

Carolina is a Music Creative working in A&R for Elefant Traks, Carolina is also a DJ and Radio Host.

In the past few years Carolina has been the project lead for Tracks in partnership with FBi Radio and Blacktown Arts Centre. As a DJ she has played Secret Garden Festival, Laneway Festival (twice),
Darwin Festival and is booked for Splendour in the Grass 2021.

Carolina has also worked in touring and has worked with Kali Uchis as a Tour Rep and also Tour Managed Venus X. Most importantly,
Carolina has become a mainstay on Sydney’s cultural scene and an omnipresent voice for women of colour and for Western Sydney.

Jamaica Moana

Jamaica Moana is a Sydney-based Artist, rapper, creative director & songwriter of Māori (Ngāpuhi/Tainui) and Samoan descent, who identifies as non-binary. Spiritually entwined with Hokianga and Waikato in the motherland of Aotearoa, whilst currently walking the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. As a multidisciplinary artist, she balances her professional career as a rapper & artist whilst being a leader & resident commentator of the Australian ballroom community. 

Her first single in 2018 “FUR” became a queer community anthem. This lead to her touring the East coast of Australia; performing at Brisbane’s IMA, Midsumma Festival Melbourne, Sydney’s Mardi Gras After Party at Hordern Pavilion and soon after, a headlining act at Dark Mofo in Hobart 2019.

In 2019, she had the honour of collaborating with Paul Mac & Jonny Seymour (who collectively become Stereogamous) with “Just Like This” released in 2019. She has since performed at many prestigious events including ANZ Fair Day Festival and opening for Junglepussy from NYC on her multi-city Australian tour. Her most recent achievements are supporting NGAIIRE for Sydney Festival 2021 & solo headlining show at Darlinghurst Theatre.  She recently hosted the first ballroom event of the year, which she co-founded, The West Ball 2.

Nardean

Born and bred in Sydney’s west to an Egyptian family, Nardean began her musical exploration at the age of 22. After a few short years of exploring her voice, she has cemented herself as a force to be reckoned with.

Nardean effortlessly traverses rap, singing and poetry in a genre she describes as “post-hop;” influenced by hip hop, while also drawing on elements of neo-soul, electronica, glitch and RnB.

 After releasing her debut record “Creatress” in 2019 to a resounding round of industry applause, she has recently released her second EP ‘THE NEW ERA’, with support from Campbelltown Art Centre and CreateNSW.

Andrew Levins

Andrew Levins has been a DJ since he was a teenager, and a food writer for almost as long. He cut his teeth as one of the inaugural DJs on FBi radio, plays most major Australian music festivals and hosts the longest-running hip-hop night in Sydney.

His articles have been published by the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Life, VICE, SBS, Good Food Guide and Time Out. In 2007 he co-founded the youth music charity Heaps Decent (with Diplo and Nina Las Vegas), and in 2009 he was named one of Sydney’s 100 Most Influential People by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Since then he’s had two kids, run a successful restaurant, released a cookbook and started no less than five podcasts. The Nelson series are his first books for children.

Jeffrey Stein

Jeff has worked as a Manager, Creative Producer and Coordinator of Events and Festivals for over 20 years.

For the past 5 years he has overseen the City of Parramatta’s City Events and Festivals program that has grown exponentially over the years of his tenure. His team has been the recipient of three awards for events during his time as manager: Local Government NSW Award in 2014 for Parramatta Lanes; RH Dougherty Award in 2015 for Innovation in Special Events for Lanes Festival and. Australian Event Award in 2016 for Parramatta Lanes

Previously he also worked as Creative Producer on Parramasala Festival. He programmed the Hoopla Festival, Darling Harbor and Village Bizarre, The Rocks, for Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. He was Creative Producer of Viva La Gong, Community Arts Festival, 2007-2010, for Wollongong City Council. He has also programmed and coordinated the Cabaret, Circus, Street Theatre and Performance Art components of The Great Escape Festival at Homebush Bay, Sydney, 2006, 2007 and the Cabaret, Street Theatre and Performance components the Cockatoo Island Festival, 2005. He was co-artistic director of the Live Bait Festival, Bondi Beach, 2004.

Matty Mills

After Graduating from WAAPA (Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts) in 2013, Media personality Matty Mills created waves by covering the Star Observer with a bold statement “Gay, Black and Proud” before cementing his role in the Entertainment Industry as a Presenter, working for Channel Nine, SBS and NITV.

The Deadly Award winner has hosted major national events, such as the 2018 Mardi Gras Online Live Stream and both The Dreamtime Awards and ARIA Awards red carpet coverage.

Most recently Matty returned to our screens as the Entertainment Reporter for NITV and SBS’s first all Indigenous morning show Big Mob Brekky and has launched his own IGTV series, In The Moment with Matty Mills, showcasing the careers of Indigenous artists and entertainers from around the world.

Michael Jollon

Michael has served as Transport Planning Manager with City of Parramatta since October 2016.  He has 18 years of experience in transport planning and traffic engineering. 

Before moving to Parramatta, he worked in consulting and programmed active travel projects for Roads ACT in Canberra.  He began his career in local government in the US, where he worked with  residents and the road authority to design Local Area Traffic Management Plans, and worked with developers on required travel plans. 

His qualifications include a master’s degree in Urban Planning from University of Virginia and a master’s degree in Transport Engineering from Virginia Tech in the United States.

Michael Rodrigues

Mike believes in the inspirational power of cities and spends a good amount of time encouraging anyone in his orbit to get out of the house, to know their city and to have more fun. While working as a lawyer in the Middle East, he spotted an opportunity to launch global lifestyle brand Time Out in Sydney in 2007 to achieve these aims. In 15 years at the helm of Time Out Australia he has grown the brand across print, digital, event and social channels, which now reaches 1,000,000 Australians monthly.

Time Out’s contribution to our cities was most recently recognised in 2020 where Time Out was awarded the Mumbrella Publish Awards Publishing Company of the Year, and Mike himself was awarded Publish Leader of the Year. Since 2017 and prompted by the challenges facing Sydney’s night time economy, Mike has focussed his efforts on aligning and empowering industry to actively engage in the political process in order to effect change. This saw him take a leading role in launching an independent bars association for Sydney in May 2018, followed by the launch of a Night

Time Industries Association (NTIA) in November 2018 which he is the outgoing chair. The NTIA has been at the forefront of the development of the NSW Government strategy for a 24 Hour Economy, and in February Mike was announced as the State of NSW’s first 24 Hour Economy Commissioner, a role that commences formally on 29 March 2021.

Mike is also co-host of leading hospitality podcast Back of House.

Vyvienne Abla

Vyvienne Abla has been working in the music and creative industries for 18 years locally and across the globe. In 2007 she founded Vyva Entertainment, using HipHop and music culture to empower others, with a focus on integrating industry, education and community to create unique pathways for youth, artists and professionals. In 2015, she launched 4ESydney – the only festival and conference of its kind in Australia, specialising in HipHop culture and multi-artform, interdisciplinary practice. For the community, by the community, 4ESydney continues to gradually build a global infrastructure and platform for HipHop in Australia. 

Over the years Vyv’s work has gained international attention, being invited to speak in NZ, USA, UK, Europe and Middle East as a result of her initiatives and work in Western Sydney and Australia more broadly.

Vyv is Artist & Tour Manager for DOBBY, BARKAA and Luke Currie-Richardson as well as, Acting Manager for Áine Tyrrell and Emily Wurramara. She also Executive Produces all of artist Luka Lesson’s major HipHop theatre productions, including ‘Agapi’ and ‘Odysseus’, and an Industry Advisor for his music strategies and campaigns.

Member of

– HipHop Advisory Committee, ARIA

– Riverside Theatres Parramatta Advisory Board

– Community Music Commission for the International Society for Music Education (ISME)

Selected for

– Australian Women in Music Awards, SSI Arts & Culture Delegation 2019 (1 of 6)

– Creative Development Fellowship, Create NSW 2019-20: 1 of 11 (statewide)

– The Seed Fund Residency 2019: 1 of 30 (nationally)

– IETM Campus Residency, Croatia 2018: 1 of 29 (globally)

– Future Leaders Program, Australia Council for the Arts 2018: 1 of 19 (nationally)

Awards

– Nominated: Outstanding Community Partnership for 4ESydney, Zest Awards 2020

– Winner: Creative Arts Woman of The Year, Local Women’s Awards 2018

– Winner: Community Business Partnership for 4ESydney, Zest Awards 2018

– Nominated: All-Age Ambassadors Award, National Live Music Awards 2016

International Producer & Production Experience

– Shubbak Festival, London 2017 and 2019

– Dubai Design Week, UAE 2018

– Hammana Artist House, Lebanon 2018

Invited Speaker

– 33rd World Conference of International Society for Music Education (ISME) in Baku, Azerbaijan

– Community Music Pre-Conference, Georgia 10-14/07/18

– Engaging with Communities: Creative Pedagogies, New Zealand 22-25/11/17

– Inclusive & Cohesive Communities in NSW Conference 2-3/11/17

– LGNSW Conference: Integrating new elements/building in audience sectors for your events 18/9/17

– TafeNSW Bankstown Community Services Graduation 31/5/17

– French Parliament House 13/7/16