This fellowship gives me space to re-establish my practice as an independent artist in a new region at a pivotal moment in my life. It allows me to develop a new model of artistic practice that accommodates my role as a solo parent, build trust and understanding within a new community, strengthen my skills as a community artist, and return to my writing practice after years of prioritising community leadership.

A friend recently compared starting over to Snakes and Ladders: Sometimes you’re progressing steadily, one foot in front of the other, and then you make a faux pas, step on a landmine you didn’t know was there or a snake that sends you fifteen squares back. “Oh yeah, you shouldn’t have mentioned that to her. That sh*t goes way back.” Other times, a good chat can lead me up a ladder and offer shortcuts. “Oh, you need to talk to So And So. She’s exactly the kind of person you’re looking for. And she works with This And That! And he’s been wanting to start something like that for years!”

And then mum kind of was just like, “I think you've done a really wonderful thing.” That’s the first thing she said. “You’ve done a really wonderful thing for your friend. That’s absolutely beautiful.” And my dad said “you’re not even a dad. why did you make me pause the movie?”

In development through Create SA, 2025-2026.

Beginnings is a theatrical work about donor conception, kinship, and the messy, joyful construction of non-traditional families. It’s told by the two people who made a baby together; not through romance or tradition, but through a conversation, a syringe, a bit of porn and two decades of trust. Beginnings invites its adult audiences into a radically honest space where uncertainty, love, and humour co-exist.

Artists: Fleur Kilpatrick, Nate Charles Karagiannis-Trosis with Katherine Sortini

“I learnt how to organise a group of my friends and figure out how to save your school.

I learnt how to tell Socialist Alternative to f*ck off.

I learnt how to pester an organisation's social media accounts to the point they write an internal 76 page dossier documenting everything you're saying publicly about them.

I learnt how to run a vote of no confidence and I learnt how to talk to journalists and how to speak on TV and how to rally a community and make a website and put up with your annoying comrades because actually you're all in it together.

Worst of all I learnt how it feels to lose.” Ryan Hamilton

Very foetal.

In the midst of Melbourne lockdowns, Monash theatre students learnt a lot of things they didn’t want to learn (and the university probably wasn’t too happy about it either.)

It has been five years since these lessons and a small group of us are ready to look back on the education we received and how it has served us in the arts. We think we might have the start of some documentary theatre brewing and, if you were a part of this time, we would love your memories and creative responses.

We are starting small and curious. If you’re keen, we’ll go old school pandemic style and do a few zoom workshops, facilitated by former lecturer Fleur Kilpatrick. This is just about seeing what we remember, what lessons we’ve retained and how these lessons have impacted us as artists.

Join us for a chat and some generative writing (with no commitment to be involved further or share your writing with us at this stage) on Sunday March 1st, 4pm-6pm. Contact ryan@ryanhamilton.work to join us.

Paris Balla, Ryan Hamilton, Fleur Kilpatrick, Freya Solnordal