Tennessee Lavelle
Tennessee is a theatre maker and artistic leader whose practice is rooted in decolonial and intersectional ways of working. By using co-design, consultation, collaboration and deep listening, they work to build and support community through process-driven rather than outcome-driven ways of working.
Their career has especially centred young people as creative leaders and they passionately facilitate intergenerational conversations and creative projects that carve out spaces where children and teens can speak openly and shape their own futures. This idea that young people should be afforded the opportunity to lead and make decisions impacting them and their peers is a core tenet of Tennessee’s work.
They have a breadth of experience carrying out this work across different facets of the arts industry, as a freelancer on The Mermaid (La Mama 2021) and We All Know What’s Happening (Vitalstatistix, 2019) and with companies including Melbourne Fringe, The Village Festival, Footscray Community Arts Centre, St. Martins Youth Arts, and These Are The Projects We Do Together.
When they’re not facilitating theatre projects you can often find Tennessee in the kitchen rolling out pasta dough or baking bread.