Open Page
Open your writing chapter with Open Page, Western Edge’s new workshop program for emerging creatives aged 18-30 from Melbourne’s West.
With the generous support of VicHealth through the Future Reset program, Open Page offers more than just skills – it’s a new space to experiment, practice your art and find the rhythm to your voice. With three workshop sessions focusing on themes such as poetry and scene writing, Open Page offers a low-pressure environment, grounded in both community support and professional care.
Who Is It For?
Details
Date: Saturday, 12 October
Time: 2:00pm-5:30pm (with breaks)
Venue: Phoenix Youth Centre, 72 Buckley St, Footscray VIC 3011
Power and Poetry with Tariro Mavondo
Blending the power of word with the heart of performance, join acclaimed poet and performer Tariro Mavondo in transforming word, voice and space. Taking words beyond the page, you’ll explore different poetry styles and techniques, engage in grounding and visualisation exercises and share your truth with likeminded peers.
This is perfect for 18-30 year-olds based in the West who are:
- Bedroom poets and essayists
- Unconventional storytellers
- Slam artists
- Emotional orators
- Lyricists and songbirds
About Tariro Mavondo
Tariro’s work is tethered to re-villagising, unifying through difference and remaking a post-humanist world by staying with the trouble.
Tariro has been a featured poet at Slamalamadingdong, Better Of Said, Melbourne Spoken Word and Poetry Festival, Passionate Tongue, Mother Tongue, Emerging Writers Festival, African Music and Cultural Festival, Melbourne Poets Union. She has been published in Growing Up African in Australia Black Inc Books and Going Down Swinging.
In 2024, Tariro co-directed Maxine Beneba Clarke’s theatrical production of The Hate Race which premiered at Malthouse Theatre and was the associate director of Outer Urban Project’s production The Audition, which had a season at La Mama Theatre and toured at Bunjil Place and The Bowery Theatre.
Details
Date: Saturday, 26 October
Time: 2:00pm-5:00pm (with breaks)
Venue: St Albans Community Centre (STACC), 33 Princess Street, St Albans VIC 3021
Off the Cuff with Bao Ngouansavanh
Step off the page and into improvisational and embodied playwriting; writer and performer Bao Ngouansavanh takes participants onto the floor to breathe life into characters, scenes and scripts. Drawing from Bao’s experience in non-verbal and forum theatre, you’ll work organically and collaboratively, diving into a writing process that doesn’t start from staring at a blank page.
This is perfect for 18-30 year-olds based in the West who are:
- Improvisers-at-heart
- Theatre kids
- Collaborative creatives
- Unconventional storytellers
- Playwrights who play
About Bao Ngouansavanh
Bao Ngouansavanh is a French-Vietnamese theatre maker and installation artist. Drawing on a rich cultural heritage and refugee background, Bao uses his art to explore and critique social and political issues, pushing the boundaries of traditional theatre to provoke thought and spark dialogue. His theatre often incorporates elements of interactive storytelling, multimedia, and audience participation, creating a dynamic space where complex ideas can be explored and discussed.
Established in Naarm since 2017, Bao is also the Production Manager of Geelong-based Back to Back Theatre (International Ibsen Award 2022, Venice Biennale Golden Lion winner 2024). Currently, he is engaged in writing his new work, supported by Creative Victoria, continuing to push the boundaries of theatre as a tool centred around community making.
Details
Date: Wednesday, 20 November
Time: 6:00-9:00pm (with breaks)
Venue: Tarneit Community Learning Centre, 150 Sunset Views Blvd, Tarneit VIC 3029
Story and Self with Alice Pung
Delve into the art of storytelling and transform life onto page with award-winning author Alice Pung. Drawing from your own lived experience, you’ll be guided by Alice through the basics of autobiographical writing to unlock stories from within, across various styles and genres. This session is intended to help you craft your personal narratives, whether you’re at the beginning of your writing journey or looking to deepen your practice.
This is perfect for 18-30 year-olds based in the West who are:
- Reliable (and unreliable!) narrators
- Bedroom poets and essayists
- Unconventional storytellers
- Personal historians
- Novelists-to-be
About the Facilitator
Alice is an award-winning author, the writer-in-residence at Janet Clarke Hall, the University of Melbourne, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University.
Her work includes the memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter, and novels Laurinda and One Hundred Days. Her books have been published internationally, including in the US, UK, Italy, Germany and Indonesia.
Alice has taught and mentored students in Australia and around the world, and given guest lectures at Brown University, Vassar College, the University of Milan and Peking University. In 2022 she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her services to literature.
A qualified lawyer, Alice still works part-time in the area of minimum wages and pay equity.
Open Page is supported by VicHealth and the Future Reset Initiative.
Access: All venues in the Open Page program are wheelchair-accessible and have all-gender bathrooms. Please check our detailed Access Guide for further information.