Sydney Festival’s Festival Commons is a new initiative for the next wave of Indigenous, Black and People of Colour creators, curators and cultural conveners.  

The pilot program includes a ten day Festival immersion featuring masterclasses, talks, workshops, roundtables, site visits, networking with top international and local artists and makers, and, of course, field trips to Festival shows. 

The Commons program will create a supportive, ongoing peer community of artists and arts workers, where diverse leaders can come together, share expertise, build solidarities new and existing, and where designing alternate futures through festival-making becomes possible.  

It’s designed to pass the microphone to, and support the ascendance of, the next wave of curators and cultural conveners, supercharging a generation of festival-makers across Australia and the Asia Pacific. 

As Sydney Festival Artistic Associate Nithya Nagarajan puts it, Festival Commons is “a structural intervention for people who are done waiting for permission…who are already leading, already convening community,” across Greater Sydney and the Asia Pacific. 

The cohort of six people comprises impresarios and community builders who create programs that centre joy, resilience and even rage – all anchored in community knowledge. Four are from Greater Sydney (with a focus on Western Sydney), with two international places for participants from the Asia Pacific. 

Selected through a competitive EOI process, the 2026 cohort spans street dancers, DJs, curators and programmers, presenters and producers, publishers and provocateurs. For its inaugural year, Festival Commons invites broadcaster, curator, presenter and founder of AGNT BLAK Bianca Hunt; DJ, storyteller and co-founder of KERFEW Munasib Hamid; street dancer and co-Chair of Cypher Culture, Dylan Goh; and screen producer and community convener Chidiebube Uba. From the Asia Pacific, Indian editor, researcher and cultural producer Mithran R. T. Samuel, and Bangladeshi DJ and musician Hasib Mahmud. 

The cohort will immerse themselves in the Festival to build lasting connections, experience how a festival works from within the fold, and develop their own ideas for future projects and programming at scale. 

Read more about the inaugural 2026 cohort below. 

NSW Participants

Bianca Hunt (Sydney, NSW)

As a TV presenter, media personality, interviewer and author, Bianca’s career spans sport, travel, fashion and music journalism. Her TV roles include SBS’s Going Places with Ernie Dingo, Coles Healthy Kicks, Yokayi Footy, and even a stint on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! In the brand world, Bianca has fronted campaigns for Bonds, LinkedIn and Intrepid Travel. A proud Kamilaroi, Barkindji, Ballardong and Whadjuk woman, with a passion for hearing other people’s stories and for sharing her own, Bianca has dedicated her career to uplifting First Nations people and platforming women in media. Bianca is an ambassador for The Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Wyanga Elders, and she founded AGNT BLAK, a groundbreaking talent agency for First Nations people. 

Chidiebube Uba (Sydney, NSW)

Chidiebube Uba is an Igbo-Nigerian emerging screen producer and curator based in Sydney, Australia. Her interdisciplinary and highly collaborative practice across screen and arts programming aims to push relevant social and cultural discourse to the forefront. After completing a Bachelor of Communication at Western Sydney University (2019), she leapt into further creative practice development and study at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (2022 MAS: Producing graduate). This was followed by Chidiebube being selected to take part in the Inclusive Producers program with Bus Stop Films (2023). In addition to producing for screen, Chidiebube’s role as a program producer and curator sees her working closely with industry and community to facilitate art opportunities for underrepresented groups and individuals.

Dylan Goh (Sydney, NSW)

Dylan is an independent street dancer, producer and curator with a decade of experience in the creative industries. His work champions underrepresented artforms and communities, particularly queer and diasporic youth, and he brings a deep commitment to inclusive governance, cultural literacy and transnational artistic exchange. Dylan is the Australian founder of Palette Session, a cross-cultural dance collective in Sydney and Seoul providing spaces for dancers from all backgrounds to experiment, connect and grow creatively. As Co-Chair of Cypher Culture, he is also shaping national street dance initiatives in so-called ‘Australia’. As a dancer, Dylan’s artistry is rooted in the gay dance of punking / w*acking which emerged from underground gay clubs of Los Angeles in the 1970s such as Paradise Ballroom, Ginos and Ginos II. He currently leads community jam sessions for local punkers / w*ackers through Sydney City W_acking.

Munasib Hamid (Sydney, NSW)

Munasib is an Australian-born Bengali DJ, radio host and curator shaping a new wave of Australian music culture. Based in Eora/Sydney, she’s the brains behind Spice Trail at the Sydney Opera House, a South Asian music showcase featuring Sid Sriram, Raf Saperra and Priya Ragu. As part of the South Asian collective Kerfew, she’s curated sold-out events with institutions like the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Festival and the NGV. Her programming work extends internationally, including curating and performing at Bangladesh’s first Mixmag Lab. A former member of tastemakers Astral People, Munasib’s curatorial eye bridges global club sounds with community-led storytelling. She’s also hosted national radio shows for CADA and Triple J, platforming artists such as Jyoty and Soulection’s J.Robb. Whether behind the decks or behind the lineup, Munasib brings together scenes, sounds and stories that reflect a more expansive, multicultural Australia. 

International Participants

Hasib Mahmud (Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Hasib Mahmud is a cultural organiser, producer and co-founder of Bhai Bhai Soundsystem and Bhai Bhai Productions, platforms shaping the contemporary underground arts landscape in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His practice merges music, spatial design and community building, rooted in creating accessible, artist-led spaces for experimental sound, gathering and collaboration. Hasib’s work cultivates ecosystems and experiences for emerging artists to grow, experiment and take up space in Bangladesh’s often fragmented creative infrastructures. Building new pathways for talent through mentorship, collaborative creation and designing environments, Hasib prioritises care, inclusion and shared ownership. Curation, production and visual language built into experiences that highlight the agency and joy of creativity within the Bangladeshi youth, expanding the community’s cultural imagination through contemporary vocabularies of expression. His platforms aim for an openness of skill exchange and mutual growth where knowledges are collectively built, circulated and strengthened across the community.

Mithran R. T. Samuel (New Delhi, India)

R T Samuel is a multidisciplinary researcher and ad-hoc cultural producer working across underground hip-hop, independent publishing and public programming. He manages the swiftly rising New Delhi-based rapper and producer Kinari, whose recent single 'Animal' crossed nearly half a million views. Samuel commissioned and co-edited The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF, which was helmed by a viral fundraiser that made it the second most successful Indian publishing campaign in Kickstarter history. The book involved working with close to 30 authors, translators and artists, and features prose, graphic narratives and visual art. He is currently developing research-based soundscapes for podcast and radio, exploring Indian Christian organisational ecologies, Dalit liberation theology, solarpunk imaginaries and subaltern futurist granularity. Despite moving between time zones, industries and mediums, the core of Samuel's practice centres on connection, resonance, accessibility and pleasure. A lapsed beat journalist, he has an MSc in Anthropology and Professional Practice from UCL.

Festival Commons is facilitated in collaboration with Encounter Theatre, Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, Blacktown Arts and funded by Creative Australia.