Art and Social Change: Dust, a Case Study

Donna Jackson has practised as a director for over 28 years working across mediums including circus, site-specific installation, fashion, machine ballet and pyrotechnics, in Australia and overseas. Mark Seymour was born in Benalla and grew up in country Victoria. He graduated from Melbourne University in 1978 and became a school teacher two years later. Mark formed Hunters and Collectors in 1980, with a bunch of uni friends. The band had success early and very quickly became touted as the 'next big thing'. Hunters and Collectors went on to record nine studio albums over eighteen successful years together. In 1998, the band retired and Mark continued as a solo performer. He has released six studio albums to date. His current activities include writing and recording, touring, composing film scores, writing and performing music for theatre and acting. Malcolm McKinnon is an artist, filmmaker and ghost-wrangler working mainly in rural communities. His current practice is primarily documentary filmmaking and social history, motivated by an appreciation of living memory and local vernacular. He makes films and multi-media work for physical and online exhibition in museums and other institutions. He has also made films for television, including the documentaries Making Dust and Seriously Singing. Tracy Bourne is a singer, singing teacher, writer and director. She was Lecturer in Singing at the University of Ballarat from 2000-2012 and is currently undertaking a PhD on music theatre voice. She has worked with many choirs in Melbourne and regional Victoria and has adjudicated and led workshops on music theatre vocal techniques around the country. She has written and directed a number of plays based on regional stories and is the Artistic Director of the Sustainable Environment Arts Movement Inc (SEAM), an organisation that creates artistic projects to engage communities of all ages with climate change as an urgent and relevant issue.