APDG and Arts & Cultural Exchange (ACE) kicked off an exciting partnership in November 2023, with industry presentations and networking in Parramatta.

An eager audience of early career practitioners from culturally diverse backgrounds, heard from a panel of experienced and mid-career Production Designers, Costume Designers and Hair, Make-Up & Prosthetics Artists from APDG.

The APDG panel of speakers included veteran Heads of Department, Production Designer Fiona Donovan, Costume Designer Liz Keogh Palmer, and HMU & Prosthetics Artist Helen Tuck, together with rising stars Emily Jansz and Hebah Ali.

With a boom in local and in-bound productions set to film in Australia, projects are struggling to fill the gaps in technical and crew roles including in the Production Design Departments. Industry partnerships are crucial in finding pathways for professional development in Below-the-line jobs in the screen industry, and with only 14% of jobs in the screen industry advertised, it is common practice for recruits to be sourced through word of mouth. For many early career practitioners from historically underrepresented communities, systemic barriers prevent this cohort to equal access to the jobs on offer. ACE’s Screen Trades initiative is attempting to address this by working with industry partners such as APDG to facilitate networking between the industry and early career practitioners from underrepresented communities.

Speakers each presented their traditional and non-traditional pathways into the screen industry, with Liz demonstrating how expansive the web of opportunities can be for production designers from small to larger scaled productions.

Hebah Ali spoke to her non-traditional pathway into the industry as a film director thrust into the hectic world of the art department as a freelancer. One word Hebah held on to caught our attention and the attention of audience members; audacity!

Emily Jansz reiterated this, advising participants to just start somewhere, even with a job of running props and costumes from location to location. ‘Just being on set can open up a world of opportunities’, said Emily.

As the Australian screen industry shifts into showcasing more ethnically and culturally inclusive and diverse content, Helen Tuck urged that prospective hair and makeup artists must intentionally expose themselves to learning more about diverse skin tones and hair types, and be sensitive to their specific needs.

After presentations the speakers engaged in a QandA with the audience of over 20, followed by networking with event participants connecting with speakers and fellow creatives. With high hopes of future collaborations, one participant was lucky enough to find herself in an opportunity almost right away. Emerging production designer Nagham Helou who had only just gained her permanent residency decided to attend the event for the sake of networking and mapping a way forward in her career. After speaking to Nagham and learning of her experience and background, Liz Keogh Palmer worked with ACE to secure an attachment on a feature film, working with renowned Costume Designer Joanna Mae Park.

“I look forward to bringing my skills, knowledge and expertise from overseas to [this project]” said Nagham who plans on tapping into her heritage and language as she dives into her role for the Cairo-based feature ‘The Correspondent’. Nagham has worked on many projects internationally, and while the attachment is at a very early level, she says “I’m happy to sort of start again”.

We wish Nagham all the best and trust that she has a lot to bring to the Australian film industry and hold high hopes for the continued professional development outcomes from the APDG and ACE partnership.

The session was part of ACE’s Screen Trades Program supported by Screen NSW and the Screenrights Cultural Fund.

Ebube Uba and Barry Gamba
ACE, Screen Trades Program
Ebube Uba ebube.uba@ice.org.au
Barry Gamba barry.gamba@aceinc.org.au