ADSA CONFERENCE 2021
PERFORMERS, MAKERS, METHODOLOGIES
CRAFTING CONDITIONS FOR DECENTRING SCHOLARSHIP AND PEDAGOGY IN DRAMA, THEATRE, PERFORMANCE STUDIES AND DANCE
Richard J. Frankland is one of Australia’s most experienced Aboriginal singer/songwriters, authors and film makers. Born in Melbourne, but raised mostly on the coast in south-west Victoria, Richard is a proud Gunditjmara man who has worked as a Soldier, Fisherman, and Field Officer during the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. His work with the Royal Commission led to his appearance as presenter in the award winning Australian documentary Who Killed Malcolm Smith? Richard has written, directed and produced over fifty video, documentary and film projects including the award winning No Way to Forget, After Mabo, Harry’s War and The Convincing Ground documentaries.
Richard is currently Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts, in the School of Communication and Creative Arts (SCCA) – Faculty of Arts and Education, on Deakin University’s Warrnambool campus and is working to build a healing centre on Gunditjmara country. With a PhD in Visual and Performing Arts from University of Melbourne (2019) Richard was formerly the Head of Programs and Curriculum at The Wilin Centre and Associate Dean (Inclusion & Diversity) – Victorian College of the Arts – University of Melbourne (2017-2020).
From 2016-2019 Richard has been involved in Treaty Consultations in which Aboriginal people in Victoria called on the Victorian Government to negotiate a treaty and in 2018 spoke about this work at the Gama Festival.
Richard’s company Koorreen Enterprises has been involved in significant culture building work over the past ten years. In 2014, it was named as a finalist in the Business Category, of the Australian Human Rights Commission Awards for the work in Lateral Violence Education prevention programs and Community Capacity Building and continues to present Cultural Awareness Sessions to work places and community groups with our current client list including Courts Victoria, Dept of Justice, VACCA, Suicide Prevention Program – Western Plains Regional Development Inc, Parrawang Youth Arts, Dept of Health Human Services (Victoria).
Other awards and recognition include Victorian Regional Achievement & Community Awards nominations, Green Room nomination in the Category of Theatre Companies for Best Production and Best Ensemble for Walking into the Bigness which has since been published by Currency Press (2017). Richard is also an acclaimed musician whose music features on the soundtracks to many of his films.
ADSA 2021 Conference website 