Throughout his 25-year career as an artist, producer and director, Paul’s entrepreneurial skill-set and access to world class product has been his currency and curatorial benchmark. After 12 years of performing with renowned dance companies Batsheva and William Forsythe / Ballet Frankfurt, he set up his own production company in the Netherlands. Using his international experience and network, he then toured leading Dutch entertainment in venues across Europe and North America.
Moving permanently to Australia in 2014, Paul brought the same ingenuity and connectivity to his role as director of STRUT Dance and Junction Arts Festival. Recognising that Perth, at the height of the West Australian economic boom, was also looking to build its assets in the cultural sector, he engaged some of the most vital and cutting-edge artists in multi-year programs and presentations in WA. Partnerships with such luminaries as William Forsythe, Crysta Pite, Punchdrunk’s Maxine Doyle and Hofesh Shechter went on to launch new cultural precincts and catapult local artists into signature festivals and organisations across Australia and the world. Similarly in Launceston, Paul was able to develop and embed pathways of First Nations, multi-cultural, and LGBTQI+ inclusion into Junction Arts Festival, significantly broadening the programming diversity to allow for a richer, vibrant, and more intergenerational experience for its citizens. Since 2011, Paul has been one of the founders and creative directors of Wonder City and Landscape and leads the strategic consultancy and public art programming department.
Email: creativedirector@form.org.au
Sally has over 20 years experience working in arts management. Prior to FORM Dance Projects, Sally was General Manager for Legs On The Wall, Sydney and prior to that she was General Manager for Liz Roche Company (formerly Rex Levitates Dance Company) based in Dublin, Ireland. She also previously held the position of General Manager of the Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland and worked for the St Patrick’s Festival, Ireland.
Email: business_form@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au
Naomi Hibberd is an experienced dancer, teacher and industry professional. Trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (UK), Naomi holds a 1st class Bachelor Arts Degree. She went on to perform with the Rambert Dance Company, Balbir Singh Dance Company, and was a lead dancer in Didi Veldman’s Peter and the Wolf. Since returning to Australia in 2013 she has performed in Graeme Murphy’sThe Merry Widow for Opera Australia, Theatre of Image Brett and Wendy choreographed by Lucas Jervis, as well as works by local and international independent artists.
Naomi has a love of dance and theatre and enjoys assisting many artists in producing work from Twisted Element to music videos for Australian artists Maret, Silamor and Lisa Mitchell. Naomi passionately embraces her FORM position.
Email: producer_form@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au
Annette McLernon was the Director of FORM Dance Projects 2011 – 2023 and in this time steered the company to be a leading presenter and producer of independent contemporary dance in Sydney.
Annette was responsible for the artistic vision and direction of FORM Dance Projects for over a decade including curating and presenting the signature Dance Bites (2011-2017), building the annual youth dance festival Sharp Short Dance into a popular, diverse and inclusive community event on a national platform, fostering and significantly supporting the emergence of new Western Sydney collectives of dance artists such as the We Are Here Company and Dance Makers Collective, and creatively producing new Australian dance productions.
As Executive Producer at FORM, Annette commissioned and produced 4 large scale genre-defying festival projects including PUNCTURE, directed by Patrick Nolan, co-produced by FORM, Legs On The Wall and VOX, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for Sydney Festival 2015; the award winning CHAMPIONS, directed by Martin del Amo, featuring a stellar female cast of Australian contemporary dancers, presented in Sydney Festival 2017 at Carriageworks. CHAMPIONS received the Australian Dance Awards 2018, Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance; and ENCOUNTER, a large scale site-specific work of joy, directed by Emma Saunders, featuring 75 artists, young Western Sydney dancers and musicians, presented at Four Winds Spring Festival 2019 and Sydney Festival 2020. Currently, Annette is Executive Producer of Kairos, directed by Meryl Tankard AO, with composer Elena Kats-Chernin AO, visual artist, Regis Lansac OAM, collaborating with the next generation of Australian dance makers, presented in Sydney Festival 2023.
Prior to FORM Annette worked for major arts organisations and festivals in Australia. Annette has worked as Film Program Manager for Perth International Arts Festival (WA) and Program Manager for Bundanon Trust (NSW). At Bundanon Trust, Annette was responsible for curating and developing the multi-disciplinary international and national artist-in-residence program and the public event program featuring many of Australia’s leading visual artists, writers, musicians and performers.
As Bundanon Program Manager, Annette reached out to the local Yuin-Wodi Wodi indigenous community in Nowra to forge stronger connections between Bundanon Trust and the Nowra Land Council, Donooch Dancers and the Aboriginal teachers at local public schools. During this time, the inaugural Bundanon Indigenous Reference Group was established which included Frances Rings and Brook Andrew. The community outreach culminated in a very significant Welcome to Country at Bundanon, with 110 participants predominantly First Nations, welcoming the participants of the inaugural Indigenous Performance Lab facilitated by Lily Shearer for Performance Space. The ceremony included Elders from the Nowra Local Aboriginal Land Council, Boolarng Nangamia artists, and visiting guest artists from Papunya Tula including Michael Tjakamarra. These initiatives led to successful funding by the Australia Council for the Arts of Bundanon Blak, a mentored visual and performing arts skills program for local indigenous young people. There was also a significant increase in renowned professional Indigenous artists participating in the curated Bundanon artist in residence program and public events which continues to this day. Annette was the producer of Bundanon’s 15th Birthday celebration, 2008, celebrating the legacy of Arthur Boyd’s gift to Australia, featuring Jimmy Little, Kate-Miller Heidke and William Barton.
While at PIAF Annette curated and presented the international art house film festival and a new program Somerville Live 2005 featuring films with live soundtracks performed by Slava Grigoryan (The Widower), Jen Anderson (The Sentimental Bloke) and Ed Kuepper and Jeffrey Wegener (Len Lye animations) in the Somerville cathedral of pines.
Annette has 20 years experience in strategic planning, marketing, partnership and philanthropic development for art organisations and not-for-profits.
Annette has a Master of Arts in Film and TV from the Australian Film Television and Radio School, 1999, and has worked as a producer and editor on documentaries and animations in Australia and Europe.
Email: amclernon_form@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au
Vicki Van Hout is is an Indigenous independent artist with Wiradjuri, Dutch, Scottish, and Afghan heritage, and over 20 years’ experience as a director, choreographer, performer, dramaturg and mentor.
A graduate of NAISDA Dance College and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York, she went on to perform with major Indigenous dance companies, Bangarra Dance Theatre and the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, before joining forces with Marilyn Miller as a founding member of Fresh Dancers. With Marilyn, Vicki performed Dear Carrie for Oneextra Dance and Quinkin for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Her show Briwyant was the first ever show by an independent Indigenous choreographer to tour nationally and was nominated for an Australian Dance Award for Best Achievement in Independent Dance. Vicki was awarded the 2014 NSW Dance Fellowship for established and mid-career artists – the first Indigenous winner of the Fellowship. She has also completed various residencies in Australia and overseas, including in Austria and Singapore.
FORM Dance Projects has commissioned Vicki as Blogger in Residence since 2013, and during this time Vicki has been a voice for valuable critical discourse within the dance community and arts world, around traditional and contemporary dance in Australia. FORM Dance Projects premiered Vicki’s award winning solo plenty serious Talk Talk in Dance Bites 2018. Vicki Van Hout was the recipient of The Australia Council Dance Award in 2019, which recognised Vicki’s outstanding and sustainable contribution to Australian dance and the impact on Australia’s cultural narrative through “her commitment to charting new territories through her work, challenging existing stories and prompting contemporary conversations.”
