Aimee Chan is an award-nominated writer, podcaster, content creator and project manager. She has published 10 books and multiple podcasts including Mother Country for SBS. She has developed several public art projects such as Our First Responders and Women of the River. Her exhibition Juvenilia is booked to tour regional NSW, Victoria, Adelaide and the ACT and her show The Happy Mask has been performed to over 600 children. She is also the founder of local creative collaboration Albury Wodonga Creatives. She has been involved in numerous local events such as Write Around the Murray and The Winter Solstice. Her work has been published all over the world by CNN, Harper’s BAZAAR, ELLE, The Weekend Australian and Time Out.

Specialising in the making and directing of stories set outside our big cities with a sense of spirit that is Out of Line.

Art Starts Here is a creative workshop and facilitation business run by artist, Kylie Biltris.
With a focus on creating tailor-made experiences, Art Starts Here offers a range of mediums including mosaic, sculpture, resin, alcohol ink, polymer clay, macrame, and silk scarf marbling.
Kylie’s expertise in working with diverse groups of people and her ability to communicate and inspire make her a great teacher and enabler.
She has worked on projects for councils, funded initiatives, schools, aged care, women’s groups, and more.
Whether it’s a private group, function, or staff development day, Art Starts Here provides a unique and engaging experience, requiring no previous skill or natural talent.
Some of the organisations Kylie has collaborated with include:
Regional Art Victoria, Shire of Towong, City of Albury, Wagga Wagga & Wodonga, Tallangatta Health Services, Gateway Health, local Neighbourhood Houses, and the Country Women’s Association.
These partnerships have provided opportunities to create inspiring art projects in various settings and have proven effective in promoting creativity and fostering a sense of connection and wellbeing.
Contact Kylie to have a conversation about how we can help you to realise an arts project for your group, school or community.

I work in contemporary textiles, ecoprint, mixed media, painting and teaching from my large bushland studio. I maintain a sustainable ecofriendly practice.

Bettina developed a strong interest in both the visual and performing arts at a very young age. In her early adolescence, she wrote and directed plays in the family attic, complete with lights and curtains. The neighboring children were selected for various acting roles and several plays were performed over the course of the summer months.
Bettina had intended to study theatre and English at Acadia University but was side-tracked into Psychology. Many years later while attending graduate school in Sydney, Australia she enrolled in and completed a diploma in Expressive Arts offered through Rozelle Hospital. The facilitation training included: Moreno’s Psychodrama, authentic movement, art therapy, journalling, puppetry and clowning and developing and presenting short performances. She has utilized these skills when working with children, adults and couples for years to come. Bettina is a passionate believer in that creativity is inherently healing.
Returning to Halifax, Nova Scotia her and a business partner owned and operated a private art gallery for new and emerging artists in the area. This project accepted all types of artistic expression and was strongly supported by the local community. Unfortunately, the heritage home was sold and my business partner returned to Germany.
Bettina then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where she worked with very marginalized, vulnerable street artists on a program called Out of the Rain. The artists were provided with studio space, art supplies, nutritional lunches, educational workshops etc. Many of these artists were extremely talented but often sold their art pieces for drugs at a margin of what they would procur in a gallery.
The funding was discontinued and Bettina felt this was very unethical. She then spent the next year researching and writing an arts-based social enterprise, which would provide street artists with a liveable income. The product had enormous appeal with high-end retailers, cruise ships, the travel and gift industry. However, despite an enormous effort, Bettina was unable to raise the capital needed for seed/start-up stages.
During her years in Vancouver, she was very involved in the arts community and was fortunate to be involved in several group and solo exhibitions She also developed several art programs for Vancouver Native Housing, Fraser Health-Bolivar Court, and for a girl’s orphange in Ecuador.
Bettina is a self-taught artist, who has painted exclusively in watercolour, although she has a strong interest in mixed medium and fiber arts. Her work hangs in private collections in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United States of America and Germany.
Bettina has lived in Albury for 2.5 years and is really looking forward to connecting with other artists and creative community groups.

Blissful Love specailises in wedding, family, newborn, maternity and business photography.

Brendan Hogan is a multi-award-winning playwright and theatre-maker from Yackandandah, who is passionate about writing for young people and communities.

He was the winner of the 2018 and 2019 Martin-Lysicrates Prize for his plays, Farewell Mr Nippy and The Incomplete Works of Willow Baker (formerly Play Number Four), both of which are currently in development. Gamers for Life was a finalist in 2022 and Arty Fyshal in 2023. The Incomplete Works of Willow Baker was highly commended for the 2023 Griffin Award. His works have also been finalists for the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award (2021) and the Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize. His most recent work, All The Shining Lights, was commissioned by HotHouse Theatre and had its world premiere in November, 2022. The Last Boy on Earth, was performed by the Yackandandah Young Players as part of HotHouse Theatre’s 2019 season .His published works for children include, Scaredy-Cat (MICF, 2015), How to Beat a Bully (2016), The Last Boy on Earth (2019), all of which have been performed by youth ensembles in schools around Australia. In 2020, his monologue, Spiderweb, was one of fifty commissioned by Playwriting Australia as part of their Dear Australia project. He was part of Arena Theatre Company’s Bendigo Studio.

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Brendan has also worked with diverse groups to create original and inspiring theatre for regional communities. In 2016, he collaborated with Yackandandah Cemetery Trust and Yackandandah Museum to create and produce From Here To There. In 2017, he collaborated with the residents of a local aged-care facility to explore the themes of resilience and growing old to produce a new show, Living Memory.

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Brendan has featured in national print, radio and television media, including The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine and Back Roads (ABC TV). He has written and directed shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and presented at several conferences and festivals as a writer and an advocate for arts in the community, including the War Widows Guild of Victoria and the Writers, Readers and Poets (WRAP) festival.

Chris is a professional and community theatre practitioner with a passion for suicide prevention. He has worked in all areas of the performing arts as producer, director, performer, and stage manager.
Chris’ current theatre practice has a suicide prevention focus. He has directed and performed in Carpe Diem, a play about men’s mental health, which has toured to over 120 locations in regional and remote Australia.
Chris has also played a variety of other roles, including Antonio Salieri in Amadeus, P.T. Barnum in Barnum, Cliff in Cabaret, and The Baker in Into the Woods. He has directed the Opening of the Shearers Hall of Fame, the Bonegilla Migrant Experience multicultural festival, and the opening festival for the Albury Library Museum.
Chris’ backstage experience is extensive. He has been Stage Manager and Student Crew Mentor on Mulan, Guys and Dolls, and Beauty and the Beast for Murray High School, Assistant Stage Manager on Addams Family with Centre Stage Event Company, and Backstage Manager on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Revolution Theatre Productions.
In addition to his work in theatre, Chris is also a talented singer and musician. He has been a soloist at the Albury Carols and has co-directed and music directed Wind in the Willows for Murray High School and RTP.
Chris is a passionate advocate for suicide prevention and his work in the theatre is a powerful way to raise awareness of this important issue.

Creative, personal pet portrait photography with a focus on the special connection and place our pets hold within the family. I provide clients with quality images with a strong narrative that evokes feelings and memories which last a lifetime. By including family, these images may be appreciated by the whole family and be a source of enjoyment for many years.

Donna’s practice is based in mixed media with a focus on textiles, collage and assemblage.
Donna exhibits regularly with Gateway Gallery and in both joint and solo exhibitions.
Donna enjoys sharing her skills in both collage and stitch in workshops and with her peers and the community. She has run collage workshops in conjunction with exhibitions at the Albury Library Museum, Write Around the Murray Festival and at Gateway Gallery and facilitates contemporary play mixed media stitch groups. Her collaged works were part of the City of Wodonga Ephemeral Art Public display in 2022. Two of her stitched works form part of the Southern Midlands Council (Tas) Art Collection.
Donna’s work is thematic and influenced by an idea, material at hand and surroundings. Donna’s work can be found on her website. She welcomes commission and workshop enquiries.