Creative Arts 6-week Course

Dr Dina Jezdic is an art critic, curator, and tauiwi decolonial scholar based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work focuses on contemporary art and how artistic practices shape knowledge, challenge power, and connect to lived experience. She has worked across independent and international contexts, including as a Tate Intensive Fellow, and is widely published across Aotearoa, Australia, and the United States.

Session Abstract: A Fresh Look at the Venice Biennale: What Art Is Telling Us About the World - Join Dina for a relaxed, behind-the-scenes look at the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s most exciting (and sometimes surprising) contemporary art events. I’ll be sharing impressions straight from my recent visit, including the buzz of the opening week, the artworks everyone is talking about, and a few unexpected moments along the way.
Together, we’ll explore what artists from around the world are responding to right now, and how their work connects to the big questions shaping our lives today. From Aotearoa New Zealand’s presentation by Fiona Pardington to standout international works, this session is all about making contemporary art feel approachable, engaging, and relevant.

William McKegg is a New Zealand writer, director, and producer with a career spanning film, television, animation, and theatre. He has worked internationally, including in London with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company on major productions such as Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and Starlight Express, and in New Zealand has produced acclaimed works, including Buzzy Bee & Friends and the Pacific musical The Factory, which toured internationally. McKegg is also the founder of McKegg Entertainment and co-founder of Lion Rock Ventures, reflecting a career that bridges creative storytelling and entrepreneurial ventures.

Session Abstract: The Making of Medicine: Crafting a Multi-Award Winning Short Film in India - William will take you behind the scenes of his short film Medicine. Shot entirely on location in rural India, the film tells the story of two backpackers on a transformative bus journey and has screened at over 50 international festivals, earning multiple accolades, including Best Short Form at the 2024 Asian Academy Creative Awards. In this session, McKegg will share insights into the creative process, challenges of shooting in an international setting, assembling a diverse cast and crew, and the strategies that brought this globally resonant story to life. Attendees will gain a rare glimpse into the making of a short film that blends authentic storytelling, cultural collaboration, and cinematic craft.

Matthew’s first professional engagement was performing in “The Diamond ‘Lil Show” at the Inglewood Rugby Club. He earned 50 bucks - a small fortune for a 16 year old back in 1988. His next paying gig was in London’s West End performing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express”. For the next 27 years, Matthew performed leading roles in many of the biggest shows in London and Europe - Miss Saigon, Dogfight, Mamma Mia, Chess, Grease, Cats, Saturday Night Fever, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Jersey Boys…It’s a career that gave him skills he’s incredibly grateful to have learned and strives hard to maintain. (It also gave him some bloody good stories!)

Session Abstract: The Business Of Show - In this talk, Matthew pulls back the curtain on the highs and lows of performing in a long-running West End musical - from the regular rejection to the thrill of Opening Night. And he’ll reveal why the lessons learned in high-stakes professional theatre are relevant not just to every other business, but to life in general.

Dr Gabriel Reid is a New Zealand writer, director and educator whose work spans film, television and theatre. He holds a PhD in Film Studies and has researched Shakespeare adaptations at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre and Renaissance Films. His creative work has been recognised internationally and has garnered awards from Promax, Tropfest and the New Zealand Writers Guild, and his short films have screened at festivals around the world. His research explores tactics deployed by filmmakers to move stories and characters from page to screen, enabling centuries-old texts to resonate with modern mass audiences. He has taught English and film studies at secondary and tertiary level, connecting professional creative practice with engaging learning experiences.

Session Abstract: The Case for Awarding an Oscar to… William Shakespeare! - 1,050 movies. 843 TV shows. Still no Oscar. Dr Reid argues it’s time to fix that. Shakespeare didn’t just write plays, he created characters, stories and themes that continue to shape cinema and television. This session makes the case for Shakespeare as the ultimate screenwriter, exploring his influence from classic Hollywood productions to bold contemporary interpretations. Participants will see examples, consider the bold and diverse creative choices filmmakers have made when bringing Shakespeare to the screen and engage in lively discussion. Discover why Shakespeare deserves the ultimate screenwriting award, and what filmmakers can teach us about bringing a long-dead genius to life.

Janet Mazenier is a contemporary visual artist whose practice engages with place, time, affect, world-bending, and materiality. Her drawn paintings are characterised by texturally rich, excavated, and striated surfaces that evoke ancientness, the hidden, the unseen, and the ephemeral.

In 2025, she led an international collective called Meitheal (an Irish term for people who support each other to bring in the harvest)—a collaboration born of time spent at the Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland. The collective includes world-building-bending women from Scotland, Spain, the United States, Ireland, and Aotearoa New Zealand. The collective's work, Faultlines, was exhibited at the Sluice World Building exhibition in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland, in May, with a focus on inclusivity, art-making, and shared joy.

Janet works from two studios in Te Hau Kapua Devonport – one at her home, and the other as part of the Studio D3 artists collective at Depot Artspace. Her works are held in private and public collections, including tertiary institutions, across Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally.

Session Abstract: Pursuing creativity as a profession following a corporate career - Currently a PhD (Creative Practice) candidate at AUT, Janet will finish her study in May 2026. Retiring in 2012, she has transitioned to working and studying fulltime as a professional artist. Her artistic practice has consolidated into a sustained and rigorous investigation of materiality, place, and temporal depth. Working predominantly with abstraction, her recent work foregrounds dense, stratified surfaces that register processes of accumulation, erosion, and emergence. Engaging with the wider international art community in Ireland and Iceland as well as in Aotearoa New Zealand, she has led collaborations, exhibitions and established collective practices. She is a connector and enjoys teaching and mentoring, seeing people respond to the power of art and how it can support their lives.

Since embracing her art practice fulltime, she now articulates painting as a form of knowledge production, one that bridges lived experience, material process, and conceptual reflection. Her practice thus stands as an example of how diverse professional histories can meaningfully inform lifelong learning.

Edith Fumarola is a General Manager, systems thinker, and creative leader based in Auckland, where she runs an improv theatre with a strong public and community focus. She oversees operations, leads a small team, and secures funding, while remaining deeply embedded in the creative work itself as a performer, teacher, and developer of new productions. With a background in Human Genetics, Edith brings a unique, systems-oriented lens to leadership—focusing on root causes, sustainable structures, and the complex dynamics that shape both organisations and human behaviour.

As a speaker, Edith draws on her experience in improvisation and performance to explore how we show up in everyday life. Her sessions blend stagecraft with practical insight, unpacking how self-consciousness, overthinking, and quiet judgment can limit genuine connection. Known for her thoughtful, engaging style, she offers audiences clear, actionable ways to become more present, respond in the moment, and create space for more authentic and meaningful interactions.

Session Abstract: How to stop performing and start connecting: Lessons from the Improv Stage for Everyday Life - We are all performing, far more often than we realise. In conversation, in groups, in unfamiliar spaces, and even in our own minds, we can become preoccupied with how we are coming across rather than truly paying attention. In this session, Edith Fumarola explores what improvisation and performance training can teach us about real connection. Through the lens of stagecraft, listening, presence, and confidence, she unpacks how self-consciousness, overthinking, and quiet judgment can get in the way of both authenticity and connection. This is a lively and thoughtful session about learning to get out of your own head, respond more fully to the moment, and create space for both yourself and others to shine.