Remote Schools Attendance Strategy
Program Lead · Music + Creative Engagement
Music-based engagement with Aboriginal young people, families and remote communities through songwriting, performance, recording and participation.
← Selected work
Community
Community development · Cultural story · Public practice
Community
+ Cultural Practice
Music and sound become ways to build relationship, carry story and create meaningful participation across communities, generations and place.
01 / The Practice
Listening before
making.
Community development is not separate from the art. It shapes how the art is made.
Across remote-community programs, Aboriginal oral histories, First Nations screen work, public art, digital cultural platforms and civic events, Sam has used music, sound and technology to create connection, participation and a place for people to be heard.
Formal study in International Community Development supports a practice grounded in relationship, cultural responsibility and collaboration. The role changes from composer and producer to facilitator, program lead or creative director, but the principle remains: listen first, understand the context and build with people.
02 / Community Development
Relationship is
the infrastructure.
The strongest creative outcome begins before the first note is played.
Through the Remote Schools Attendance Strategy for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Sam led music and creative engagement with Aboriginal young people, families and remote communities across Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
The work used songwriting, performance, recording and shared creative activity to support identity, confidence, participation and educational engagement.
In Community
Presence, participation
and shared ownership.
03 / Public + Cultural Work
From testimony
to public scale.
Public work can be intimate in meaning and immense in form.
Recorded voice, oral history, public screens, civic sites and live events each require a different form of care. Sam builds the production around the integrity of the people, story and source material. Technical scale is never allowed to overwhelm cultural meaning.
04 / Selected Projects
Community, story
and shared memory.
Trakka
Lead Developer · Community Technology
Developed a mobile cultural platform connecting Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal users with Noongar cultural events, significant places, dates and services. Launched at Walyalup Aboriginal Cultural Centre during NAIDOC and supported by a $20,000 City of Fremantle grant.
Whadjuk to Wadjemup
Composer
Original composition for a cultural screen work exploring Whadjuk history, truth-telling, Country and the journey to Wadjemup.
Aboriginal Oral History Projects
Producer · Audio Lead
Recording Elders and community members for archival, public-art and cultural outcomes created in relationship with local communities.
NAIDOC + Reconciliation Programs
Sound · Event Production
Public programs and cultural events with the cities of Perth, Cockburn, Fremantle, Armadale, Mandurah and Kwinana.
Whadjuk Women Mural
Community Connector · Senior Lecturer
Introduced Whadjuk artist Marcia McGuire to SAE for a mural acknowledging the traditional Whadjuk women connected with the campus land and bringing culture, education and belonging into the learning environment.
Arcadia: The Spider Spirit
Producer · Large-scale performance
A major public event bringing artists, music, technology and spectacle together in the opening of Arcadia’s monumental performance structure. Watch the performance ↗
Yagan Tower Activation
Composition · Audio Production
Sound created for a prominent public platform, connecting visual material, Aboriginal identity, location and the rhythms of the city.
Visual Archive
Culture, place
and public encounter.
05 / Responsibility
The work is held in relationship
Story is not material.
It belongs to people, place and memory. The artist’s role is to listen carefully, build trust and create the conditions in which people can shape how their story is carried.