Aseel Tayah

Aseel is a force to be reckoned with - an artist and producer, a cultural leader and a vocal advocate, creating waves and opening pathways for underrepresented and marginal people in the arts. Never content with doing one thing at a time, Aseel’s boundless energy is strategically directed at those in the arts sector whose rhetoric of cultural equity may not match their actions. Aseel is passionate about reform through doing. Partnership is her methodology for transformation, as she works constructively with others to build spaces for people to come together, exchange and grow. Aseel is nurturing the next generation of diverse practitioners through her multiple projects, ceding control in ways that enables her to share power, decision-making and creativity. She is adept at creating inclusive spaces for experimentation and risk taking, creating powerful works that tell the stories of our contested pluralism in urgent and important ways. She is the future of our sector; self-determined, unapologetically diverse, brave and full of heart.
CEO
Multiculture Art Vic

We have a proud history of supporting Tayah’s practice, most notably through her participation in the Emerging Cultural Leaders Program, and presentation Bukjeh, presented as part of Due West Arts Festival in 2019. Aseel’s practice is deeply informed by best-practice community engagement principals and a commitment to meaningfully engaging communities in cultural and political dialogues through storytelling and performance. Tayah’s multidisciplinary approach brings other practitioners and makers on a journey. Her steadfast and tenacious work has constantly challenged existing power structures in the arts for the better. We believe a fellowship will support her to create even greater waves of impact in the national landscape.
Robyn Gawenda

Aseels work explores important themes many independent artists find challenging to work with, such as highlighting the universal connection to home, our sense of belonging and celebrating cultural diversity. Through presenting her work we have seen a diverse range of artists offered the opportunity to establish themselves as performers and producers in a culturally safe environment.
It’s essential we encourage creative visionaries in this area of the sector, enriching our artistic community and educating audiences through powerful arts experiences.
Senior Manager
Arts & Education

Aseel Tayah is an inspiring artist and activist who uses art, culture and her charismatic nature, to advocate for human rights. Her warm heart enables her to rapidly connect with others, forming links to, and within, communities. Her strong sense of social justice means she leaps to the aid of others wherever she sees need, using any tools at her disposal (food, art, culture) to build connections, create opportunities and forge networks (professional, personal and social). Her artwork embeds cultural knowledge into various creative forms then invites audiences to sample these, encouraging them(us) to see/ hear/ feel differently. She introduces audiences to worlds we might not otherwise encounter and brings us face to face with the realities of others, especially refugees, living alongside us in this country. A performer herself, Aseel collects and curates extraordinary artistic teams giving a voice to artists from marginal backgrounds, enriching in our creative landscape
Art & Culture City of Whittlesea

Aseel began to sing and our audience held their breath; her music and storytelling are so resonant and moving. She is a vital and passionate artist whose approach to her art, with its message of building bridges between new and established communities, is inspiring and never more important than in Australia today. I have worked with Aseel for panel discussions, live children's performance and online workshops and every step of the way she brings a thoughtfulness, integrity and a questioning perspective to her practice. Her capacity for collaboration with artists of all disciplines and backgrounds is extraordinary.
Performing Art
Monash University

Aseel Tayah is a force of nature. She sees issues, road blocks, policy gaps and inequality and turns them into projects, research proposals and social change. Her creative work is unique and personal, highlighting little heard stories. Aseel’s creative projects bring a fresh take on community engagement and actually showcase and develop local talent, planting seeds for the arts to flourish as she goes. It’s a honour working closely with Aseel who takes her professional and creative partnerships seriously. She has established a strong feedback loop which has an impact on her projects and on the places that are privileged enough to host them. If all of the projects and productions that we presented had someone like Aseel at the helm our theatre, community and creative industry would be a better place.
Theatre & Public Programs Officer
Drum Theatre, Dandenong

Aseel Tayah is fiercely independent artist who creates shared experiences that build bridges of empathy, understanding and insight between communities. Her powerful practice of performance and storytelling attracts skilful artistic collaborators who enrich the creative programs she offers. She designs and delivers opportunities and support for minoritized creatives to connect with communities that often do not have access to these platforms and processes in the cultural sector and cultural institutions. She has an extraordinary capacity to connect with people and a clarity about what she and the communities she is advocating for need. She is fearless in her experimentation and capacity to overcome challenges – creating a strong online presence during the Melbourne lockdowns, delivering food based storytelling experiences online. There is nothing that Aseel is not capable of achieving when she puts her mind to it.
Head of Engagement
State Library of Victoria