Curriculum Vitae

Artist deb hughes @livingpartsandwholes

·         Visual art - creating objects in design, illustration and collage.

Drawing on Country exhibitions 2018, 2019, 2021, Whyalla. CASA

Saying Goodbye to Say Hello, transformation of donated objects Part of Things, Riverland.

Pop up Paper, Immersive workshop and exhibition space, Kish Collective, funded CASA

Mural for Youth Week with local school, 2016, Funded by Youth week grant.

Guerilla Arts, interactive community installations, for D’faces funded by Arts SA

Wayfinding mural and community artwork for Archies Community Hub, Kish Collective, funded by Community House network.

Mural with Student Representative Council, funded by Whyalla Town Primary School.

Mural for reconciliation week, with socially distanced, targeted community engagement for Reconciliation Week 2020.

Mural for Civic Park to engage local youth and adjacent school cohort.

·         Producing curated Community engagement

‘That was then, this is now”, intergenerational art interaction and storytelling with local senior care facility residents and youth participants. Funded CASA

‘Where to from here’, verbatim theatre activity with professional director exploring our young people’s uncertainty around the major local industry collapse. Funded CASA

Youth artists in collaboration with the local art group producing an art installation for new hospital wing. Funded Arts SA

‘The Caretaker’, public interactive activity inviting residents to leave their ‘cares’, recreated as drawings. Funded Rural Mental Health

‘The Box’. Tiny portable ‘gallery spaces’ for local installations. Funded Arts SA.

Pop up ‘Makers Market’.

Pop up arts workshops for young people for community days, funded Whyalla City Council.

Programmer of UneARTh Festival 2017 - 2021

·         Performer, Director and youth drama facilitator

‘The Incredible Book Eating Boy’ original theatre work for youth, written and directed. Funded D’faces.

‘The Magic Sausage’ original theatre for youth, written and directed. Funded D’faces

pilot project for a local primary school using drama to affect behavioural change with at risk students, ‘fake it ‘till you make it’.

Ruby Award winning ‘Area 53’. Initial project funding and development and producer. Funded by CASA, Adelaide Fringe and Whyalla City Council.

Original character work for hire as Nana Doof Doof, a trance dance loving member of the blue rinse brigade, Chrissy Pine, the middle aged Christmas Fairy

Advice from my Mother – in production; a two-handed theatre work navigating the tension between being a mother and a daughter.

Meltdown at Adelaide Fringe. Producer

  Arts Leadership

2018 – current – Board Member, D’faces. Currently Chair.

2023 – current - Board Member Patch Theatre Company.

2017 – 2022 - Programmer and committee, UneARTh Festival Committee.

2017 -2022 - Arts and Cultural Facilitator, Whyalla City Council and Country Arts SA

2013 – 2017 - D’faces, Company Manager and artistic lead.

2018 – current, invited member of Yarning Circle for local aboriginal women.

Employment History

Teacher of Year 5/6, Arts and Technology, Whyalla Town Primary

Teaching creative and design thinking to the cohort of students from Reception to Year Six including planning an integrated technology and arts program with differentiation for all academic abilities, managing student behavior, creating classroom resources, and evaluation tools.  Within the Literacy Learning Committee, researching pedagogy on the teaching of reading and writing and presenting this learning to staff.

Arts and CUltural Facilitator, Whyalla CIty COuncil

Being the voice for Arts and Culture within the City Council I developed an Arts and Cultural Strategy that was adopted by council including a draft Public Art Policy.

I managed a diverse range of arts and cultural projects in line with Whyalla City Councils strategic vision. Along with an autonomous budget I collaborated on many arts projects and events with the Youth Officer and the Events Team, including programming and planning the Ruby Award winning UneARTh festival from its inception, the creation of many public art works including a functional sculpture that won an Australian Street Art award.

I coached local artists and arts organisations in applying for grants within the Regional Arts Fund and other programs including running workshops to encourage groups and artists to apply for funding and support the cross pollination of ideas and projects within the city.

I fostered a shift in paradigm within the Whyalla City Council to one of always paying artists properly.

I was on the team that developed the RAP for the City of Whyalla and advocated for aboriginal involvement in all our community work.

I have a talent for networking and connecting people and projects and am committed to maintaining rigorous community arts and cultural development practice.

Company Manager, D’faces youth arts

Managing a multi-disciplinary regional youth arts company requires flexibility, excellent organization and the ability to manage many conflicting needs at once. The ability to carefully manage time and to prioritise activities and energy was essential in this complex role.

This role entailed planning and implementing a vibrant and varied artistic program tailored to the needs of the community and interest of our membership, budgeting, strategic planning, sourcing organizational and project funding from grant programs, community sponsorship and fundraising. On top of those administrative functions there was regular community engagement work, management of media and marketing, managing staff, contractors, volunteers and members as well as supporting delivery of the artistic program including often project management.

D’faces’ organisational funding required efficient record keeping and reporting in line with our funding partners requirements on top of the grant applications, project management and acquittals that are required for all of the artistic programming.

D’faces is committed to creating original work, led by its membership, requiring good documentation and consultation with members and other stakeholders.

My tenure saw growth in membership, participation rates and public engagement as well as sound financial management that created some fiscal security for the organization.

Teacher, Whyalla

Sustainability Awareness Leader, one steel, Whyalla

Asset management administration, MMG, Rosebery, tasmania

Teacher of Science, Fraser High school, Hamilton

Adventure Caving guide, the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company, Waitomo Caves, New Zealand

Education

Post Graduate Diploma in Education, University of Waikato

Bachelor of Science, University of Otago

Bronze Medallion, Surf Lifesaving South Australia