We Are United

Sally Rugg is the executive director at Change.org. She was a campaign director with GetUp and worked at the forefront of Australia's marriage equality campaign. Her first book, How Powerful We Are (Hachette, 2019), is about dirty politics, sophisticated digital campaigning and how Australia finally said 'yes' to love.

Jean Tong is a writer, dramaturg and director. Jean is a 2020 Philip Parson’s Fellow and member of the Belvoir Writers’ Lab as well as the Development Assistant at Goalpost Pictures.

 Jean’s work includes: Hungry Ghosts (Melbourne Theatre Company); Kill All Adults (VCA); and musical Romeo is Not the Only Fruit (Malthouse Theatre, MICF; Brisbane Festival) which was a Best Writing and Best Ensemble nominee (Green Room Awards 2019).

A reading of Flat Earthers: The Musical premiered at Midsumma 2020 supported by Arts Centre Melbourne, and is currently in development with Griffin Theatre Company. Jean is also the co-creator and co-writer alongside Lou Wall of Dramageddon, a podcast presented by Queen Victoria Women’s Centre and supported by Broadwave. 

Jean was selected for Screen Australia’s Developing the Developer and Film Vic’s Plot Twist (2018). In 2020, Jean undertakes a Film Vic placement on New Gold Mountain with SBS and Goalpost Pictures.

Amos Roach is a Ngarrandjeri/Gunditj Mara man who is a musician and dancer. His music presents a narrative of healing, told with song and dance. His voice travels between the Desert, the Riverland and the Saltwater to the city like smoke from a fire. 

Amos is a cultural practitioner. Traditional First Nations culture informs the fundamentals of his craft. His music is part of the song-line that connects people and Country. 

Everything Amos does is music. If he is not playing an instrument, he is listening and exploring new sounds. He has been playing didgeridoo, guitar and piano since he was eight years old.

His appearances include:

• Director/Choreographer ‘Neon Corroboree’
• Director, Musician, NAIDOC 2019 ‘Spirit U All 2’ Swamplands Bar
• Solo Performance July 12 Swamplands Bar
• Scholarship Presentation, Community Banking Sector, July 2019
• ‘BlakWiz,’ Reconciliation Week 2019 (Also won The Trophy)
• Off Grid Festival El Dorado, May 2019
• Melbourne Polytechnic Concert May 2019
• Charcoal Lane Musical Residency: January to April 2019
• March 23 2019 – Opening act for Archie Roach, Anglesea Memorial Hall
• February 2019 – Spirit U All, Northcote Social Club Feb 2019
• Survival Day After Party 2018 – The Tote
• Lentil As Anything Thornbury, Feb – April 2018
• Peter Rottumah Benefit – The Tote 2018
• Ruby Hunter Foundation Benefit - The Tote, 2018
• Residency, Fitzroy Stars Football Club, 2018 Season
• Koori Kristmas, Koori Heritage Trust, Federation Square, Dec 2018   

He has appeared with:

• Keyboard and lead guitar for Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter
• Ruby Hunter and the Rotators
• The Deadly Band
• Lead guitar with the Roach family band
• Lead guitar for Dave Arden
• Amos Roach Band
• Black Magic         
• Koori Kinection
• No Fixed Address
• Coloured Stone
• Bart Willoughby Band
• Selwyn Burns
• Playing Didgeridoo
• George Dreyfuss 2010

Alistair Baldwin is a writer and comedian based in Naarm / Melbourne. He has written for ABC's The Weekly, Get Krack!n, Hard Quiz & At Home Alone Together. Published works include pieces for un. Magazine, Archer, Metro and Black Inc.'s Growing Up Disabled In Australia anthology. He is 1/2 of the experimental (and toxic) comedy duo Nemeses with Vidya Rajan.

Selina Jenkins is an acclaimed musician, award winning cabaret artist and celebrated character comedian. She has performed extensively throughout Australia and the US, appeared on ABC Comedy Up Late and will be debuting her highly anticipated new solo show ‘Boobs’ at this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. Selina is also the woman behind renowned comedy character 'Beau Heartbreaker'.

Alex completed a Bachelor of Music (Composition)
 at the University of Western Australia in 2009. Since then he has been active working with orchestras, arts companies and festivals currently holding the position of General Manager with the Stonnington Symphony. Alex is in demand around the world as a vocal coach working with ensembles, teaching classes and running workshops with regular appearances as faculty at the BHS Harmony University.

Alex is the former Music Director of Vocal Evolution, leading them to three Barbershop Harmony Australia (BHA) gold medals. Since moving to Melbourne, Alex has taken on the role of Music Director with Geelong Harmony Chorus (Sweet Adelines Australia) as well as Music Director and Co-Producer of Shania Choir and shOUT Youth Chorus.

Alex currently holds the positions of Chairman of the Australasian Guild of Barbershop Judges, BHA Vice President Contest and Judging and is a member of the Sweet Adelines Australia Regional Education Faculty as well as the BHA Education Faculty. In 2013, Alex became the first non-North American certified Barbershop Harmony Society Music Judge. A sought after arranger, Alex is regularly commissioned to write new works and arrangements and sells his music to ensembles around the world.

He has a passion for education and loves nothing more than to share the joy of singing.

New Zealander Tejopala Rawls is a climate activist, an ordained Buddhist and a stand-up comedian. By day Tejopala works for the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC).

He has been arrested stopping the Adani mine, organised choirs of Christians to sing ‘Carols Against Coal’, leading to conservative commentator Chris Kenny claiming on Sky TV that “the green left is trying to steal Christmas” and has helped organise more than 150 religious leaders to write to Scott Morrison asking him to make the climate crisis his number one priority. 

Tejopala is performing his first solo stand-up comedy show in the 2019 Melbourne Fringe Festival. ‘Killing the Planet is Against My Religion’ asks such universal questions as 'Can you attain Enlightenment by working flat out as a climate activist?', 'Can you save the world via stand-up comedy?' and 'Why the hell do I live in Australia when my Prime Minister is Jacinda Ardern?'

Luke is the Secretary of Victorian Trades Hall Council, the peak body for unions in Victoria, representing over 40 unions and 500,000 members. Under his leadership, Victorian workers are taking grassroots action in unprecedented numbers to improve our working lives. Luke's experience organising some of Victoria's lowest paid workers drives him to fight for wage justice in Victoria. Under the banner of We Are Union, Victorian workers are leading the fight for progressive social change.