TEAM REFLECTIONS
Jenny Trinh, Communications Officer
2025 was the Year of the Snake, ushering in transformation, renewal, and shedding past skins. This energy was heavily present in everyone's work at CuriousWorks from all hands on deck with the first iteration of HOLDING SPACE to watching the Future Culture cohort continually bloom. Working with this team means working in an evergreen supportive environment. I'm grateful for the care we show each other, and the communities we work with.
A big project that I led last year was updating our website. Collaborating with our Graphics and Web Designer, Huy Nguyen, and the wider team, we 'shed' the old website, and gave it a complete makeover. I'm proud of our collective hard work – the website is much more streamlined, easier to navigate, and is a great archive of our 20 years (and counting) history!
Furthermore, I'm proud of the overall comms work. From creating persona profiles to implementing SMART goals, the Digital Marketing & Comms Action Plan challenged me to think more strategically about comms. With programs like HOLDING SPACE, I also found myself collaborating with more external teams and connecting with a range of artists, who trusted us with their precious stories. This sharing is something I don't take for granted.
Vandana Ram, Senior Creative Producer
I felt incredibly privileged joining the very special CuriousWorks family in 2025 as the Senior Creative Producer to curate the beautiful HOLDING SPACE project! After working for many years in arts management it was wonderfully grounding to come back to where my heart is – connecting creatively with local communities, in collaboration with professional artists. HOLDING SPACE is supported by Multicultural NSW through multi-year funding, which provides a very unique opportunity to build something tangible – to build relationships with artists and communities, make friendships, and create important and meaningful artwork that is grounded in this process.
Alongside our major partner, Settlement Services International (SSI), and their dedicated staff including the wonderful Moones Mansoubi, it has been amazing to nurture and support the creative practice of many refugee community participants, many who have never had the opportunity to engage or access the arts – to share story, family history, creativity and culture.
The creative outcomes were extraordinary and multi-disciplinary and showcased in collaboration with our project partners at the Sydney Opera House on November 28 as well as through an exhibition at the Community Refugee Welcome Centre on December 6 and 7. Artists and community members worked collectively to create a beautiful body of artworks exploring stories of lived experiences, ancestral memories and traditional ceremonial practices of welcome. Individual artists also explored their cultural heritages to re-imagine and create new cultural practices and diversity of expression.
Miranda Aguilar, Creative Producer
2025 was an interesting learning year for me as a creative producer and community arts worker. 2025 was the year I got to run a program I had developed with the LGBTQIA+ community in mind from ideation and funding through to evaluation and acquittal with Everything is Writing: We’re Still Here. I’m incredibly proud of how this writing and creativity workshop created such a cozy, safe creative space for queer creatives and young people in Fairfield. I was particularly proud that I was able to use the program to bring in queer participants and guest facilitators.
I feel particularly grateful for the learning I gained from working with other facilitators outside of CuriousWorks including collaborating with Milk Crate Theatre and Bedelia Lowrenčev on Fetch Quest and working with Esky Escandor and Claudia Roosen through the CACD Training program. I learned so much about facilitation just from working with them.
One of my highlights from this year was finishing up with the 2024-2025 Future Culture pilot program in June. I felt a lot of imposter syndrome as a CACD practitioner when I started producing the program mid-2024. It was incredibly gratifying to see how the cohort felt they had grown in experience and confidence, and how we as an organisation and arts workers felt similarly changed. I definitely feel like 2025 truly challenged me and helped me grow!
Samantha Barahona, Creative Producer
My 2025 was a year full of joy, connection, and growth. At the start of the year, I witnessed the creative genius of Liverpool Boys High School and Liverpool Girls High School students as they created beautiful artworks for Tranquility, which were then thoughtfully exhibited at PYT Fairfield. I was also fortunate to collaborate with Daisy Montalvo from PYT and Addy Fong once again to support the delivery of two more seasons of the Curiously West Film Club. It was such a privilege to help our lovely filmmaking community experiment, develop friendships, and make cool films together!
Additionally, I had the immense honor of photographing special moments during our HOLDING SPACE program while participating in the artmaking workshops myself. There is something incredibly special and grounding about being in a room together and working with our hands to create art. Being guided so thoughtfully by amazing facilitators creates a connection that transcends different walks of life and languages, bringing everyone in the room together. Thanks to all the amazing humans I’ve crossed paths with this year for making 2025 such a joyful journey.
Andrea Nealy, Finance and Administration Officer
My 2025 was a year of learning and transformation. I’m grateful that I get to work with an incredible team that makes coming to work a joy. My short year was filled with many highlights before going on maternity leave.
I was glad to be part of the Tranquility project and to see the beautiful completed artworks created by the students from Liverpool Boys High and Liverpool Girls High Schools exhibited at PYT Fairfield. I enjoyed being able to be involved in this project not just with the administration but also attending some of the workshops and seeing the creative process in action.
One of the Commissioned Collaborations I was able to be more involved in was the Settlement Services International Safe Path project. It was great to work closely with everyone on this production and was lovely to be on set again, as I hadn’t been on one in a while.
It was great to work with the Future Culture cohort too. I enjoyed the sharing of knowledge through our various activities. I also enjoyed having the opportunity to train one of our interns, the wonderful Kirsten, to fill in for me while on maternity leave.
Kirsten Maglalang, Administration Assistant (maternity leave cover) and Future Culture Intern
The year of 2025 was a transformative year with my main highlight being time spent as a Future Culture Arts Worker Intern. The sessions I participated in were extremely insightful and taught me ways to work in a more collaborative environment. This built my confidence and growing passion for working with community. Future Culture continues to shape my life in every way possible and I aim to carry these learnings wherever I go. For me, a key takeaway is to always work with intention so that I can extend my care in spaces where different communities can come together, show up as themselves and create from the heart.
The second half of 2025 was also filled with many highlights, one being where I got the chance to participate in art making workshops and also assist in their development. The HOLDING SPACE, Rituals of Welcome Exhibition launch at the Community Refugee Welcome Centre was notably one of the experiences that gave me the courage to lead with more passion in my own arts practice.
2025 was the Year of the Snake, ushering in transformation, renewal, and shedding past skins. This energy was heavily present in everyone's work at CuriousWorks from all hands on deck with the first iteration of HOLDING SPACE to watching the Future Culture cohort continually bloom. Working with this team means working in an evergreen supportive environment. I'm grateful for the care we show each other, and the communities we work with.
A big project that I led last year was updating our website. Collaborating with our Graphics and Web Designer, Huy Nguyen, and the wider team, we 'shed' the old website, and gave it a complete makeover. I'm proud of our collective hard work – the website is much more streamlined, easier to navigate, and is a great archive of our 20 years (and counting) history!
Furthermore, I'm proud of the overall comms work. From creating persona profiles to implementing SMART goals, the Digital Marketing & Comms Action Plan challenged me to think more strategically about comms. With programs like HOLDING SPACE, I also found myself collaborating with more external teams and connecting with a range of artists, who trusted us with their precious stories. This sharing is something I don't take for granted.
Vandana Ram, Senior Creative Producer
I felt incredibly privileged joining the very special CuriousWorks family in 2025 as the Senior Creative Producer to curate the beautiful HOLDING SPACE project! After working for many years in arts management it was wonderfully grounding to come back to where my heart is – connecting creatively with local communities, in collaboration with professional artists. HOLDING SPACE is supported by Multicultural NSW through multi-year funding, which provides a very unique opportunity to build something tangible – to build relationships with artists and communities, make friendships, and create important and meaningful artwork that is grounded in this process.
Alongside our major partner, Settlement Services International (SSI), and their dedicated staff including the wonderful Moones Mansoubi, it has been amazing to nurture and support the creative practice of many refugee community participants, many who have never had the opportunity to engage or access the arts – to share story, family history, creativity and culture.
The creative outcomes were extraordinary and multi-disciplinary and showcased in collaboration with our project partners at the Sydney Opera House on November 28 as well as through an exhibition at the Community Refugee Welcome Centre on December 6 and 7. Artists and community members worked collectively to create a beautiful body of artworks exploring stories of lived experiences, ancestral memories and traditional ceremonial practices of welcome. Individual artists also explored their cultural heritages to re-imagine and create new cultural practices and diversity of expression.
Miranda Aguilar, Creative Producer
2025 was an interesting learning year for me as a creative producer and community arts worker. 2025 was the year I got to run a program I had developed with the LGBTQIA+ community in mind from ideation and funding through to evaluation and acquittal with Everything is Writing: We’re Still Here. I’m incredibly proud of how this writing and creativity workshop created such a cozy, safe creative space for queer creatives and young people in Fairfield. I was particularly proud that I was able to use the program to bring in queer participants and guest facilitators.
I feel particularly grateful for the learning I gained from working with other facilitators outside of CuriousWorks including collaborating with Milk Crate Theatre and Bedelia Lowrenčev on Fetch Quest and working with Esky Escandor and Claudia Roosen through the CACD Training program. I learned so much about facilitation just from working with them.
One of my highlights from this year was finishing up with the 2024-2025 Future Culture pilot program in June. I felt a lot of imposter syndrome as a CACD practitioner when I started producing the program mid-2024. It was incredibly gratifying to see how the cohort felt they had grown in experience and confidence, and how we as an organisation and arts workers felt similarly changed. I definitely feel like 2025 truly challenged me and helped me grow!
Samantha Barahona, Creative Producer
My 2025 was a year full of joy, connection, and growth. At the start of the year, I witnessed the creative genius of Liverpool Boys High School and Liverpool Girls High School students as they created beautiful artworks for Tranquility, which were then thoughtfully exhibited at PYT Fairfield. I was also fortunate to collaborate with Daisy Montalvo from PYT and Addy Fong once again to support the delivery of two more seasons of the Curiously West Film Club. It was such a privilege to help our lovely filmmaking community experiment, develop friendships, and make cool films together!
Additionally, I had the immense honor of photographing special moments during our HOLDING SPACE program while participating in the artmaking workshops myself. There is something incredibly special and grounding about being in a room together and working with our hands to create art. Being guided so thoughtfully by amazing facilitators creates a connection that transcends different walks of life and languages, bringing everyone in the room together. Thanks to all the amazing humans I’ve crossed paths with this year for making 2025 such a joyful journey.
Andrea Nealy, Finance and Administration Officer
My 2025 was a year of learning and transformation. I’m grateful that I get to work with an incredible team that makes coming to work a joy. My short year was filled with many highlights before going on maternity leave.
I was glad to be part of the Tranquility project and to see the beautiful completed artworks created by the students from Liverpool Boys High and Liverpool Girls High Schools exhibited at PYT Fairfield. I enjoyed being able to be involved in this project not just with the administration but also attending some of the workshops and seeing the creative process in action.
One of the Commissioned Collaborations I was able to be more involved in was the Settlement Services International Safe Path project. It was great to work closely with everyone on this production and was lovely to be on set again, as I hadn’t been on one in a while.
It was great to work with the Future Culture cohort too. I enjoyed the sharing of knowledge through our various activities. I also enjoyed having the opportunity to train one of our interns, the wonderful Kirsten, to fill in for me while on maternity leave.
Kirsten Maglalang, Administration Assistant (maternity leave cover) and Future Culture Intern
The year of 2025 was a transformative year with my main highlight being time spent as a Future Culture Arts Worker Intern. The sessions I participated in were extremely insightful and taught me ways to work in a more collaborative environment. This built my confidence and growing passion for working with community. Future Culture continues to shape my life in every way possible and I aim to carry these learnings wherever I go. For me, a key takeaway is to always work with intention so that I can extend my care in spaces where different communities can come together, show up as themselves and create from the heart.
The second half of 2025 was also filled with many highlights, one being where I got the chance to participate in art making workshops and also assist in their development. The HOLDING SPACE, Rituals of Welcome Exhibition launch at the Community Refugee Welcome Centre was notably one of the experiences that gave me the courage to lead with more passion in my own arts practice.