Meet the team

Dr Amanda Morris is the Director of The Academy of the Arts at Charles Darwin University. She joined CDU in late 2022. She is committed to supporting the next generation of creative practitioners, working in collaboration with creative industries and communities across the Northern Territory of Australia.  

Amanda is based at the Casuarina campus, working with staff across the creative and performing arts disciplines taught at CDU in Darwin and Alice Springs. Amanda’s role involves the development of innovative, new programs in the arts, engagement with industry and community, activating the arts on campus through screenings, exhibitions and performances and providing advocacy for creative practice as research. 

Amanda is an arts educator known for the development of innovative arts programs in the Asia Pacific region, having held leadership roles as Executive Director of Conservatoire at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), as Dean of the Faculty of Performing Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts (now the University of the Arts Singapore) and as Director of the Centre for Fine Arts, Music and Theatre at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. 

She is experienced in curriculum design for art courses at postgraduate, undergraduate and diploma levels as well as pathway programs. Amanda made a significant contribution to the Australian dramatic arts through the establishment and development of the NIDA Open Program, Australia’s largest non-profit, performing arts short course program.  

Amanda’s research and creative expertise are in performing arts, literature, and interdisciplinary and interactive digital media. She has experience in the production and direction of creative work in the performing arts. She has also made an impact by producing projects integrating new technologies in screen-based drama. Her work has attracted international recognition, including numerous awards for StageStruck, produced for NIDA, for which she won the first British Academy Award for Interactive Entertainment.  

Contact details 
Email: amanda.morris@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6571 
Location: Casuarina Orange 6.1.15 

Research profile

Senior Lecturer in Common Units, Education and Enabling 

Dr Raelke Grimmer is a writer, analogue photographer and linguist. She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Applied Linguistics and holds a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing) from Flinders University, a Master of Arts (Applied Linguistics) from the Univrsity of Adelaide and a PhD (Creative Writing) from Flinders University. Raelke teaches units in creative writing, digital creative practice and applied linguistics. She is a co-founding editor of the Northern Territory literary journal Borderlands, a publication that showcases storytelling by Northern Territory storytellers in all forms, including textual, oral, visual and audio-visual.   

Raelke’s creative practice explores the intersections between analogue and digital storytelling and how using analogue technologies in a digital world connects us through time, space and place. She is a 2023 participant in the Australia Council’s Digital Fellowship Program with artists from across Australia and New Zealand. As part of the fellowship she is working on a hybrid textual and audio-visual project called ‘Analostalgia’, using the sounds and images of analogue technology as a way to ground digital spaces in the analogue world. Raelke writes young adult fiction and creative non-fiction, and her work has been published in Australian literary journals Kill Your Darlings, Griffith Review, Meniscus and Westerly. She shares her analogue photography on Instagram through the life writing project @neverending_memoir.   

Raelke is an interdisciplinary researcher, applies linguistics methodologies to creative writing practice. Her research explores the role of genre in creative writing practice and process, multilingual Australian literatures and translanguaging in storytelling.   

Email: Raelke.Grimmer@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 7277 
Location: Casuarina Yellow 1.3.51 

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Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies & Communications, Discipline Lead, Humanities 

Adelle is a senior Fulbright Scholar and lectures in Literary Studies at CDU. She is the discipline chair of the Humanities and an executive member for the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association. Adelle's research focuses on prison arts education and the cultural contributions system-impacted creatives make to society. Adelle is co-founding editor of NT literary journal 'Borderlands Magazine' and winner of the NT Literary Awards Essay Prize. She publishes in high quality international journals and her debut book is titled 'Polities and Poetics: race relations and reconciliation in Australian literature'.

Email: Adelle.Sefton-Rowston@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6753 
Location: Casuarina Yellow 1.3.60 

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Lecturer in Vocal studies 

Paolo is an accomplished Italian actor, singer, and vocal coach. He earned his Diploma of Jazz Singing in 2000 from Centro Professione Musica in Milan, Italy. Paolo studied singing under Francesca Oliveri and Paola Folli. He was introduced to Estill Voice Training during the 2001 course where he studied under Jo Estill, Jim Heiner, and Anne-Marie Speed and later Elisa Turla. 
  
With a passion for musical theatre, Paolo studied acting in the Stanislavski Method and has worked with a number of major companies in Italy playing leading roles in Fame, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Sound of Music. He has also directed numerous productions including Cats, The Lion King, and Wicked for San Carlo College in Milan. During his career, Paolo has given his voice to a number of animation movies, TV and radio advertisements. In 2006 he obtained the qualification as a Certified Course Instructor in Estill Voice Training making him one of seven Australians authorised to teach the EVT in public courses. 

Paolo started lecturing in Vocal Studies at Charles Darwin University in 2009. He conducts five choirs for the Academy of the Arts: Growing Voices, Mixed Youth Choir, VoxCrox Community Choir, Still Belting Out! (Senior Citizens Choir) and the CDU Students Choir. Aside from studying for his Diploma of Composition, he is the Director of the Centre for Youth and Community Music, coordinator of the Music units in Higher Education, and Lecturer in Vocal Studies. 

Research areas:

• Anatomy and Physiology of the Voice 

• The employment of anatomy studies for voice students in Tertiary education 

• The employment of anatomy studies in Choral Music (Conducting) 

• Pedagogy of Voice 

• Choral conducting 

• Choral composition and arrangement 

• Musical Theatre (studies and performance) 

• Music History of the Northern Territory.

Recent Research, Publications and Presentation:

• Wild Men of Song – The Palmerston Dingo Glee Club (Co-written with Dr Steven Farram), 2022 

• The Employment of the Estill Voice Training in Community Choirs (Master’s by research, 2015 Charles Darwin University) 

• Teaching Estill Voice Training to Aboriginal Musicians (2013, Harvard) 

• The Employment of Estill Voice Training in tertiary education (2012, Charles Darwin University) 

Email: Paolo.Fabris@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 7186 
Location: Casuarina Orange 6.1.16 

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Lecturer in Contemporary Music 

Cain Gilmour has been a musician for the past 30 years. He has performed in many band line-ups, ranging from solo acoustic to 10-piece showbands in various genres, including rock, pop, jazz, country metal and blues styles. Some performing highlights include The Chocolate Starfish, Angry Anderson, Warren H Williams, and the Darwin Symphony Orchestra.  

He has recorded many guitar sessions for several artists on the indigenous label CAAMA Music. These artists include Kevin Starkey, Stuart Nuggett, Alice Skye, The Williams Family, Karnage and Darknis, Catherine Satour, Kristal West, and Warren H Williams Winanjjara; The Song Peoples Sessions, including 2021 Golden Guitar finalist from the Warren H Williams Family song: 'Let us stand together'.   

Cain recently completed all the audio soundtracks as an exclusive music producer for the upcoming Alice Springs production of the movie Under Streetlight. He enjoys playing music across the country with many artists and his band 'HeartBeat', who regularly play for the Ghan train guests who travel through Alice Springs.            

Cain has been a long-term board member of the Northern Territory Music NT organisation and has assisted the growth and development of many workshops and programs in music within the Northern Territory for over a decade including Bush Bands Business and Concert, Desert Divas, Sista Sounds and the National Indigenous Music Awards.  

For the past 17 years, he has worked in the Central Australian Music Industry, teaching VET studies in remote and urban across the Central Desert for Charles Darwin University. He is passionate about developing music performance, business, and industry growth in the Northern Territory and beyond. "I enjoy guiding developing musicians to grow in music through our University VET music studies in the heart of Australia". Many students have gone on to be a part of the country's music industry and have attributed their success to Northern Territorian Vocational training and mentorship and his guidance. 

Current research:

• Working with The Menzies Institute and Charles Darwin University
• The Central Australian Climate Song Project.  Due for completion July 2023.  

Courses Delivered:  

• CUA20620 Certificate II in Music 
• CUA30920 Certificate III in Music 
• CUA40920 Certificate IV in Music

Email: Cain.Gilmour@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8959 5357 
Location: Alice Springs Building 12.1.25 

Lecturer in Contemporary music 

Email: Vincent.Perry@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6450 
Location: Casuarina Orange 6.1.18 

Lecturer - Piano

Kailan O’Dell is a musician and educator from Brisbane. Throughout his career as a multi-instrumentalist, Kailan has performed both as a solo artist and as part of an eclectic array of bands, in genres ranging from smooth jazz to heavy metal. He has also worked as a freelance composer and producer, most recently working with Sleeping Phoenix on the 2023 album, ‘Video Game Piano Collections #1’. 

Kailan holds a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Studies) from Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and is currently studying for a Master of Creative Industries with SAE Creative Media Institute.

Prior to joining Charles Darwin University, Kailan worked as a lecturer in music at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and with JMC Academy. He is especially passionate about making music theory practical and accessible to students of all backgrounds. 

Lecturer in Digital Media 
 

Based in Darwin, Will Tinapple is a passionate educator, community development project leader, and filmmaker. With a strong interest in innovative teaching and learning methods and immersive storytelling experiences, he is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of filmmakers and media professionals as a Screen Media lecturer at Charles Darwin University.

Drawing upon his diverse background as a filmmaker, digital learning resource developer, ABC media producer for regional stories, and classroom schoolteacher, Will leverages his experiences to research, design, and present innovative learning experiences to students. He is particularly fascinated by the power of storytelling, immersive learning, extended reality, and group problem-solving in the realm of education. Will has worked extensively in remote Indigenous communities as an educator, filmmaker, collaborator, and producer of story-based education projects in health, natural resource management, and the arts, and he understands the importance of embracing a learning mindset; often he is very much also the learner in these intriguing and culturally diverse contexts.

As a filmmaker, Will has produced and directed various projects, spanning from short films and series to documentaries. His work on the screen reflects his passion for storytelling, exploring complex themes and ideas that encourage critical thinking and offer fresh perspectives. Will is deeply committed to nurturing his students' critical thinking skills and is enthusiastic about teaching them how to learn effectively both inside and outside the classroom.

Will's creative endeavours extend beyond filmmaking in diverse fields. He has designed and created projections for over 15 immersive theatre and dance productions, contributing to experiential artwork in moving images and theatre. As a member of the CDU STEAMLAB idea-sharing team, Will is currently excited about research and design opportunities for co-designed escape room learning experiences focused on education and social wellbeing. He is currently exploring the potential of these immersive experiences and their capacity to provide equitable learning opportunities to students across remote and geographically vast areas in the northern region of Australia.

Email: Will.Tinapple@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6228 
Location: Casuarina Orange 11.2. 

Lecturer in Multimedia and Screen 

As an accomplished documentary filmmaker, creative producer and educator focusing on cross-cultural storytelling and creative media production, Ben has produced short-form documentary films for television broadcasts, on-demand streaming services, and many other independent film and art projects.

Born, raised and schooled in Melbourne, he has lived in the Northern Territory since 1996 and worked extensively with the Aṉangu peoples of the Central and Western Desert regions and the Yolngu peoples of North East Arnhem Land. He is a Multimedia and Screen studies lecturer and an early career researcher at CDU.

Email: Ben.Ward@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 7265 
Location: Casuarina Orange 11.2.17b 

Adjunct Research Associate 
Email: Ian.Hance@cdu.edu.au
Phone: 08 8946 6045 
Location: Casuarina Orange 9.1.10 

Adjunct Research Associate 
Email: Glynis.Lee@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6325 
Location: Casuarina Orange 9.1.08 

Lecturer Visual Arts 

Sarah Pirrie is an artist, curator, writer, and educator living and working in Darwin, Northern Territory. Pirrie currently works at Charles Darwin University as a Lecturer in Visual Arts and Coordinator of Creative and Digital Arts VET. Her most recent projects include Artback NT Spark Curatorial touring exhibition (2019-2021) We Eat We Eat: Territory focused exhibition which considered food as a form of social sculpture; (2021) DRAWN from the CDU Art Collection curated by Dr Joanna Barrkman and Sarah Pirrie; (2017-18) Coastal Links residency, exhibition and publication as inaugural Creative in Residence for Northern Territory Library; Co-curated exhibition and catalogue Counting Tidelines produced as part of the Darwin Festival and Nomad Arts exhibition, catalogue and educational tool, SECRET WORLD: Carnivorous plants of the Howard sand sheets.

Pirrie works across a conceptual, site-responsive, and often collaborative art practice that incorporates drawing, sculpture, installation events and public interventions. Pirrie’s work has referenced a range of social and environmental issues and is often shaped by local activity and phenomena. Collaborative practice commenced with the establishment of Aphids in 1994. Since then, Pirrie has worked on Interart projects including (2020) Postproduction with Matthew van Roden, (2016) Waiting for Water, Nan Giese Gallery Darwin, Watch this Space, Alice Springs and Pumphouse Point, Tasmania; place centred responses to the social and environmental context of water in Australia; (2014) Temporary Territory, Darwin Festival Event collaborating with Simon Cooper and Jakarta based Arts Collective Ruangrupa, (2013) Hidden/Pulse Disturbance by Stray (collaborative team of Sarah Pirrie and Natasha Anderson) at Northern Centre for Contemporary Art (NCCA).

Exhibitions include (2022) RISE 2.2: Considerations of saltwater, fish, mangroves & people, oil & plastic, Cross Arts Projects, Sydney, (2018) Hadley’s Art Prize, Tasmania, (2018), Tidal18 City of Devonport National Art Award, Tasmania, (2018) Biennale of Australian Art (BOAA), Lake Wendouree, (2017) Sediments: Karen Mills and Sarah Pirrie Cross Art Projects, Sydney,(2014) Terraforming at Nomad Gallery; (2014) 135th Meridian East curated by André Lawrence at the Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF); (2014) Botanica & Botanica 2 curated by Cath Bowdler touring Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture Centre and Chan Contemporary Art Space; (2014) Made to Last- the conservation of art curated by Sherryn Vardy at Charles Darwin University Art Gallery; (2012) Runoff at Northern Centre for Contemporary Art; (2012) Art or Cunning? Curated by Alice Buscombe at Watch this Space, (2012) Art on Wheels, curated by Siying Zhou throughout Darwin City; (2011) Cuttings, curated by Rosemary Joy at Linden Contemporary Art Space; (2011) Names on Trees (NOT Project) a Darwin Festival Events at the Jingili Watergardens.

Email: Sarah.Pirrie@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6098 
Location: Casuarina Orange 11.1.8 

Lecturer in Visual Arts 

Mel Robson is a ceramic artist and educator living and working on Arrernte Country in Mpartnwe/Alice Springs. Mel’s diverse art practice includes designing and making ceramic objects for the home, sculptural pieces, installation and ephemeral works, public art and collaborative projects.

Her practice centres around ideas of place and identity and the ways in which histories, stories and associations can become embedded in everyday objects. Exploring this relationship between objects and personal narrative, Mel creates evocative and contemporary works that weave together past and present. Mel has a particular research interest in mapping. Her work and research explore the ways map-making can serve as a tool for storytelling and a means to explore the rich and complex connections between landscape, place, history and memory.

Mel is currently a Lecturer, in Visual Arts (specialising in ceramics) at the Academy of the Arts at Charles Darwin University, Mparntwe.

Email: Melanie.Robson@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8959 5428 
Location: Alice Springs Building 3.1.02 

Lecturer  in Digital Media 

Email: Matthew.Vanroden@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6386 
Location: Casuarina Orange 11.1.1.1 

Senior Lecturer in  Academic Foundations Humanities 

Dr Birut Zemits is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Society. She has extensive experience lecturing in subjects related to language, art, film, academic writing and cultural issues. Birut completed a PhD using creative practice titled 'Ethno-eco dialogue: Filmmaking for sustainability', which brought together interests in creative practice, sociolinguistics and environmental education. She continues to bring these fields together through research and projects with academics, community groups and artists who have an interest in the 'more than human' world.

Email: Birut.Zemits@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6995 
Location: Casuarina Orange 2.3.22 

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Lecturer - Australian Indigenous Arts

Dr Aly de Groot is the Lecturer for Australian Indigenous Arts at Charles Darwin University (CDU). She is currently facilitating a new postgraduate microcredential on The Pedagogy of Indigenous Knowledge Sharing through Creative and Cultural Practices bringing Indigenous artists and creative practitioners from across the Northern Territory to share their expertise.

Dr de Groot has a well-established relationship with CDU spanning several decades, commencing with a Bachelor of Arts in the early 2000s. Progressing on her artistic journey, she attained a Master of Visual Arts and a subsequent PhD through CDU. Her contribution to the Arts was recently recognised with a CDU Alumni Award for Industry Excellence. Throughout her extensive creative career, Dr de Groot has held diverse roles, including as an educator at Batchelor Indigenous Institute and Arts Centre Coordinator at Anindilyakwa Arts on Groote Island, all while operating a successful business as a self-employed artist.  In 2014 she collaborated with Aunty Bilawarra Lee, a revered Larrakia leader and Elder in-residence at CDU, co-creating three significant bronze woven public artworks across their hometown of Garramilla/Darwin.

In 2023, Dr de Groot was honoured with a Churchill Fellowship, enabling her to travel throughout Europe and the UK to learn endangered basket-making techniques and avenues taken to preserve this important knowledge. She is deeply committed to celebrating traditional fibre practices and frequently collaborates with Indigenous fibre workers to facilitate the transfer of skills across generations. This dedication was recently recognized at the 2023 national Indigenous Fashion Awards (NIFA), where she received the Community Collaboration Award along with master weavers from Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts.

Lecturer - Visual Arts & Arts Administration, Mparntwe (Alice Springs)

Lucy is an artist, arts administrator, and educator who first arrived in the NT in 1992 and spent most of her time there living and working on Arrernte Country in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Her passion is working within culturally rich settings to progress engaged and creative regional communities. She has experience across a wide range of arts organisations including the Araluen Arts Centre, Desart, and Arts NT. A former Director of both Tasmanian Regional Arts and Red Hot Arts Central Australia, Lucy has also served on arts boards at both national (Regional Arts Australia), and local levels (Alice Springs ARI Watch This Space and Red Hot Arts). Until recently she was the Director of the artists cooperative Central Craft. 

Her art practice spans media art, ceramics, and community cultural development, focusing on collaborative artmaking and response to place. This includes developing creative initiatives like arts festivals, public artworks, exhibitions, and artist tours. In 2007 she was one of two Australians selected to participate in the Salzburg Global Fellowship on International Art and Community Practice. 

For 20-plus years her practice has facilitated arts projects that support increased awareness of Mparntwe sacred sites. Most significantly the Yeperenye Sculpture at the Araluen Cultural Precinct and the Alice to Mparntwe Sacred Sites Tours for Artists that have been running since 2007. Coordinated with senior custodian Doris Stuart Kngwarreye and fellow artist Dan Murphy. Two major group exhibitions have been curated from these tours, Pmere Arntarntareme (Watching This Place) at Araluen Arts Centre (2010) & Alice to Mparntwe at Watch This Space (2017). She is currently undertaking a creative PhD (through Charles Darwin University) focused on custodian storytelling as a tool for arts-based social action; her project seeks to extend the creative impact of the Alice to Mparntwe tours. 

For twelve years Lucy taught art, media, and engagement programs at the town’s only public senior college. Three of those years as the Manager of Flexible Pathways and the VET in schools Coordinator at the College. Following this, she was an Assistant Principal for four years, during which she continued to teach year 12 art students focusing on developing creative skills in digital storytelling and visual communication. 

Lucy holds a Masters in Heritage Management (Deakin, 2006), a Graduate Diploma in Teaching & Learning (Charles Darwin University, 2009), a Graduate Diploma in Cultural Heritage Management (University of Canberra, 1994), and a Batchelor of Arts, Fine Arts in Ceramics/Printmaking/Digital Arts (Southern Cross University, 1991).

Email: lucy.stewart@cdu.edu.au

Ph: 08 8959 5298

Location: ASP 03.01.02

Technical Officer & Demonstrator 
Email: Damien.Cooper@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6241 
Location: Casuarina Orange 11.1.33 

Technical Officer  
Email: Peter.Dowling@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6312 
Location: Casuarina Orange 11.1.39a 

Technical Officer 
Email: lilly.kaiser@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8959 5260 
Location: Alice Springs Building 3.01.02 

Administration Officer
Centre for Youth & Community Music (CYCM)  
Email: Elizabeth.Lycett@cdu.edu.au 
Phone: 08 8946 6013 
Location: Casuarina Orange 6.1.07 

Technical Officer 
Email: Lewis.Parsons@cdu.edu.au 
Location: Casuarina Orange 5.1.01