Make Diversity Reality

XR Accelerator

2022 marked the final year of funding for our MAKE DIVERSITY REALITY initiative. Supported by CreateNSW, it provided an amazing mentorship opportunity for women and people of diverse backgrounds working in film, art, extended reality (XR), NFTs, games or other immersive realms.

Why? Women and people of diverse backgrounds are massively under represented in many key areas of XR production in Australia. The lab provided a pathway towards greater gender parity and diversity in the industry.

Industry leaders shared their knowledge and insight in order to help participants develop their ideas and/or their career-path.

2022 Participants Included:

  • Headshot of artist Mia Forrest

    Mia Forrest (Artist)

    Mia’s award-winning work has been exhibited worldwide. A series of digital still and moving images entitled ‘Bloom’ captures the hybridisation of time, technology, and nature while its follow-up ‘Bloom II’, has been licensed to an architectural lighting design and digital media company.

  • Shivam Rath

    Shivam Rath (Musician)

    Shivam Rath is a second generation musician born into a western musical family. His father also studied Indian classical music for many years while his mother, folk singer songwriter Rosemary Rath, plays songs of Indigenous affairs.

  • Headshot of Mick Smith

    Mick Smith

    Mick Smith is a young film creative starting out in the industry. He grew up in a small rural village far away from anything that wasn't farmland or forest. Because of where he grew up, he always had an interest in immersive mediums as an escape from the mundane.

  • Headshot of Dr Jenny Fraser

    Dr Jenny Fraser

    Indigenous woman Dr Jenny Fraser is a digital native working within a fluid screen-based practice. Her work in art and media spans over three decades and she was the recipient of the 2022 Australia Council Award for Emerging and Experimental Arts.

Make Diversity Reality 2022 Gallery

Images © Beverley Callow and Hielrick Georges Dajon, 2022