Youth Advisory Council

Amy is a young professional working as a Program Support Coordinator at DVassist – a not-for-profit supporting those experiencing domestic and family violence in regional, rural and remote Western Australia.  She graduated from the University of Western Australia in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Political Science and International Relations, and Law and Society.

Amy has a strong passion for social justice, in particular for those impacted by family and domestic violence, youth rights and women’s rights. In her spare time you can find her mentoring students at the University of Western Australia or volunteering.

Amy is excited to be working with the Perth Festival 2021 Youth Advisory Council to respond to youth topics and issues. She is looking forward to exploring the innovative ways that the Perth Festival can address social justice through artistic mediums.

Apu Karajagi is an art enthusiast and has great understanding of culture, access and inclusion issues that exist for people with disabilities, multicultural backgrounds and Indigenous communities. She works in the health sector – her job involves working with local Aboriginal communities and people with disability.

Apu is a passionate lover of the arts; frequenting museums, art galleries, and cinemas. She is also passionate about the environment and sustainability, and hopes to combine her passion for the environment, access and inclusion, and the arts together to help people connect with community and get inspired to make local and positive change.

She believes art is a great way to connect with people, hear stories and understand different cultures and perspectives, and hopes by being part of the Youth Advisory Council, can get young people more involved and educated with the arts to connect with country.

Brianne Yarran is a proud Whadjuk,Balladong, Wagyl Kaip woman from the South West of Western Australia. She is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Art double majoring in Law and Society and Indigenous knowledge, history and heritage.

Brianne values educating the community on her culture’s dark and stolen past which allows people to have a better understanding as to why certain social issues are present in today’s society. Her plans for the future are to become a lawyer and to be a voice and fight for herself and her people. She has been the recipient of numerous awards such as the encouragement NAIDOC Award, National Future Leaders Award and WA Youth Award which all acknowledged her work and involvement in the community. Brianne had the privilege of being chosen to represent Western Australia in the 2017 National Indigenous Youth Parliament in Canberra where she addressed key issues such as Stolen Generations, lack of Indigenous history and culture in Australian school curriculum and the need for more support for Young people both in and out of schools. 

She now works with Boorloo Justice (organisers of the BLM Perth Protest) and a Follow the dream tutor for the Graham Polly Farmer Foundation.

Josef is nineteen years old and currently residing in Bunbury WA where he volunteers at the local art gallery and has a casual job as a cashier. With a passion for art, Josef thoroughly enjoys creating and having the ability to express himself through all mediums.  Josef plans to study art in the near future and wants to become more socially engaged.

As a Consumer Representative with the Western Australia Children Health Services, Josef represents his age demographic in the South West and speaks about challenges the youth are facing in the medical field, and within mental health services.

As a child Josef was quite sporty and loved the community and companionship it created. Over the past few years, his interests have turned towards art and he has fallen in love with the community that comes along with it. He wants to immerse himself within the arts world and this opportunity to be a part of the Youth Advisory Council for the Perth Festival 2021 came just at the right time.

Kailyn Crabbe is an Arts Administrator and Event Manager. Hailing from a small town in the south-west, she is currently studying at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in pursuit of a BA in Arts Management. In the past several years she has held various roles across Event Management and Production, Marketing, Public Relations, Event Ticketing, and Music Journalism in organisations such as Perth Festival, Perth Theatre Trust, Fringe World, WASO, and WAM.

She enjoys searching for new sounds, ideas and forms of expression. In 2020 this led her to become a regular host of the Out to Lunch new music on community radio station RTRFM. She is also the co-founder of up-and-coming Perth based dance music collective Crab Claw, and has began to establish herself as a tastemaker within the wider Perth music community. By night you’ll find her commanding dance floors across the city as an eclectic selector and DJ.

Kailyn Crabbe is passionate about diversity, accessibility and inclusivity within the arts. She believes that the arts bring people together to share experiences, push boundaries, and create new understanding of the world we live in. She looks forward to collaborating with Perth Festival as a part of the Youth Advisory Council platform to help promote young voices and ideas. 

Kate is a composer, conductor, and researcher. She is currently working with the Perth Symphony Orchestra (PSO) as the inaugural Conducting Fellow and as an Artistic Planner. She is an alumni of the PSO’s Women on the Podium Program and is a participant in the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s 2020 Emerging Conductors Program.

Kate is mid-way through a Master of Music by research at the University of Western Australia, examining the gendered conditions of orchestral conducting in a neoliberal feminist context. She graduated from her undergraduate degree in composition in 2018, and has since been commissioned by a range of Perth-based ensembles including Decibel, Perth Orchestra Project, and Intercurrent. This year, she is a participant in the national Summers Night Project for emerging female and non-binary composers, with a new work due to premiere across the country in early 2021.

Kate is passionate about diversity and accessibility in the arts and has been avidly involved in community music-making for several years. She conducted the WA Medical Students’ Orchestra throughout their 2018 and 2019 seasons, performing to—and raising money for—asylum seekers, refugees, and detainees. These performances remain the most treasured and rewarding of her career thus far.

Lawrence is a passionate and active member of all things music in Perth.

After completing a Curtin University Bachelor of Arts Journalism degree he can be heard hosting regular talk and current affairs radio program On The Record, whilst also broadcasting monthly funky DJ mixes full of classic boogie and deep disco sounds on The Rounds for local independent community radio station RTR FM 92.1.

Also known as Larry D, the DJ can be caught playing for a wealth of eclectic and underground dance nights in Perth including Outer Body, Turnt Tables, Crab Claw and more from Connections Nightclub, The Bird, Ezra Pound and every backyard rave cave between.

More recently he’s started teaching other music lovers the skills to DJ their own music under the Larry D DJ Degree. Programming events for new student DJ’s taking on the industry with other prominent Perth DJ’s at The Bird in Northbridge with a mission to teach all the skills needed to

perform on any club equipment on the planet to anyone with a passion for music, including some of Perth’s most underprivileged.

Positivity is the message to progress music, arts and culture in Perth!

Peter Farmer is a Minang Man who’s paternal lineage hail from Albany & Gnowangerup regions in the South West of the state. His mother being Ballardong and his father Minang; Peter claims connections through his paternal Grandmother’s country “Whadjak”, and his birthplace (Subiaco).

Peter is currently completing a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Deakin Uni, Geelong. Peter’s father Peter Farmer Snr encouraged him to apply for Public Artworks Commissions; the first awarded to him was in 2015 – Royal Perth Hospital – “Cafeteria Floor”. In 2016 both Peter & Kylie Graham were awarded “Moorn Barndi” (Black-Bream) the City of Belmont’s new Lookout Park, renamed ‘Beliya Kard Boodja’ & WINNER of the National Landscape Architectural Award for Cultural Heritage. In early 2017 the City of Cockburn awarded Peter “The New Aquatic Centre” – Aboriginal Sculpture welcoming visitors to the state-of-the-art facility and space. Peter has been fortunate to have shown in a myriad of selected group Exhibition in 2014, 2015 and 2016; and was the only Aboriginal Artist to showcase and exhibit at “Fringe World” All Ages 2017, YMCA, HQ, Leederville, WA. In 2018 Peter was awarded two more important Public Art installations, as part of the new branding at the New Perth Airport, and the Royal Perth Hospital’s Aboriginal Uniforms for their Aboriginal Liaison Staff; as well as way-finding signage throughout the City complex.

In early 2018 Peter was the first Pop-up retail store to launch the “Fill This Space” campaign launched by Activate Perth. “Chirriger Dreaming” and the Young Aboriginal Artists Collective was a success in identifying a need for a more central ‘Aboriginal Arts Gallery’ in the City of Perth.

In 2019 Peter was chosen from the best Noongar Artist in the state to install the “SKY STORIES”, Aboriginal Astronomy Project at the Perth Observatory

Rachel is currently on her gap year after graduating high school in 2019. Instead of traveling, she has been spending her time in community theatre. Rachel loves the art of storytelling and has enjoyed working with many different people to bring a range of stories to life on stage here in Perth. Her passion lies in the production team as she takes on the role of Stage Manager or Assistant Stage Manager within productions. Rachel has worked with multiple theatre companies include GRADS at UWA, the Old Mill Theatre in South Perth as well as with high school students with Snapshot Youth Theatre Company in the northern suburbs.

Rachel was drawn to the Youth Advisory Council, due to her love of the arts and wanting to have an impact on the wider community in Perth. She is honoured to be part of the first Youth Advisory Council for the Perth Festival, and is very excited to work with fellow council members and the team at Perth Festival to increase inclusion, see the topics that can be tackled and ultimately what can be achieved together to make Perth Festival 2021 the best one yet.