People

Pianist Gabriella Smart is one of the leading advocates of new music in Australia – through performance, improvisation, collaborative composition, commissioning and curation. She is the recipient of three prestigious awards in 2019: The Paris Residency and an Artist Grant from The Australia Council for the Arts, and a South Australian Government Creative Fellowship. In 2018 she was awarded a Prelude Composer Residency and a UNESCO City of Music residency in Katowice, Poland. Gabriella received a Churchill Fellowship in 2010, and a Helpmann Award in 2009. As an improviser she has collaborated and performed with such luminaries as Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance, Academy Award winner for film music: The Gladiator), Brian Ritchie (Violent Femmes, MOFO), Alvin Curran, Cat Hope, Derek Pascoe and Johannes Sistermanns as part of the UnPiano Trio, and Paul Grabowsky. With a background as a multi-award winning pianist specialising in classical and new music, Gabriella has performed extensively in Australia and internationally, premiering over forty new works for solo piano by Australian and international composers in Australia, Europe and China, and collaborating with musicians as diverse as Brett Dean, Elena Kats Chernin, Erkki Veltheim, Jon Rose, and Tamara Anna Cislowska.

Gabriella’s performance of Alvin Curran’s solo For Cornelius on 9/8/17 was described as ‘meltingly beautiful’ and ‘mesmerising’ (The Australian). She has performed widely as a soloist throughout Australia, and internationally, promoting the works of Australian composers. Gabriella has performed in the Melbourne and Adelaide International Festivals, MONA MOFO, TURA (Perth) and in Europe and China. In 2010 she represented Australia at the World Expo in Shanghai. Gabriella has given numerous live and recorded broadcasts for ABC Classic FM.

Hen Vaughan is a writer, artist and arts worker based on unceded Kaurna yerta. Weaving experimental writing and live art, they are curious about the politics and poetics of in/visible illness, embodied experiences of wearable technology, and relationships between the body and written text.

Hen has produced and collaborated locally and nationally on performances, workshops, walking tours, publications, community radio programs, audio descriptions and artist camps. Some recent projects include; Public Program Curator (with William Maggs) for 'Yucky', Adelaide Contemporary Experimental; Project Coordinator for fine print magazine's COMMON WORDS; and as a current Guest editor (with Ava Lacoon-Robinson and Claire Osborn-Li) on Artlink's forthcoming Warltatti edition. Previously, Hen was a Co-Director at FELTspace ARI (2018-2021).

Hen was also awarded a 2024 Carclew Fellowship to work with artist mentors Debris Facility Pty Ld and V Barratt.