ABOUT US

PACT is situated on the unceded land of the Gadigal. We are privileged to gather and create on their land and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.

PACT sits in a low-lying area in inner-city Erskineville. Once a watercourse wound its way through the area from the Black Wattle swamp of Glebe to Camperdown, Redfern and Waterloo – a source of freshwater and food for Gadigal and Wangal, a meeting place.

We recognise the unbroken relationship First Peoples have had with this place since time immemorial and its ongoing significance as an urban centre, a birthplace of the Aboriginal civil rights movement and the National Black Theatre, for First Peoples from across Warrane, the Sydney basin, and beyond.

Gadigal, Bidjigal, and Yuin Elder and artist Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor remembers growing up around the corner from PACT on Sydney Street, in the house of her Aunty Ursula Stuart, and visiting her mother who worked at the TV factory that is now PACT. We acknowledge the living connection to land and waters, culture and arts, language, ceremony, protocol and lore that is embodied by Aunty Rhonda and other knowledge holders. We commit to supporting First Peoples’ cultural leadership and creative aspiration.

Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

Nura is Mother Earth (land). Nura for Aboriginal people is everything. It is our whole existence. To First Nations People Nura is our culture, our dreaming, our art, our ceremony… It is who we are as First Nations People and the custodians of the land, animals and water. We are one. Everything is connected. Nura, Mother Earth needs us, and we need her.

– Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, 2023

OUR STORY

PACT’s vision is driven by the belief that emerging artists are the engines that power the arts sector, producing the most ground-breaking works of today and tomorrow.

Founded in 1964 by Robert Allnut, Jack Mannix and Patrick Milligan, in the period just before the New Wave of the late 1960s and early 70s, PACT Cooperative was the place for a burgeoning Australian arts scene and artists who would go on to make major contributions to Australian theatre, film, and television such as alumni Peter Weir, Jack Thompson, Leonard Teale, Grahame Bond, Alex Buzo and Dorothy Hewett.

By the mid 1970s, Jane Street, Nimrod Theatre, La Mama and The Pram Factory were providing a platform for new work and PACT shifted its focus to young people, becoming PACT Youth Theatre in 1974. In the 1980s and 90s we moved to our current theatre in Erskineville and were at the forefront of a new movement in multicultural storytelling.

In 2009, a new generation sought a new name – PACT Centre for Emerging Artists – marking a return to the company’s original vision, the creation of new Australian work by experimental artists.

Highlights include groundbreaking works such as 1991’s bilingual Al Qamareya (The Moongate); the premiere of the stage adaptation of Looking for Alibrandi in 1995; the training ground imPACT Ensemble through the early 2000s; and public domain events Gathering Ground in collaboration with Redfern Community Centre 2006-2010, Tiny Stadiums 2010-2014, and Sound Out the Streets 2022-2023.

The true measure of our success is our artists – from Zoe Carides to Zoe Coombs Marr, Lara Thoms to Thomas ES Kelly, Taga Theatre Group to re:group and thousands more – 2020 analysis showed 1 in 5 artists programmed in Australia’s contemporary performance festivals had their start at PACT.

TODAY…

PACT is highly regarded for the innovative and values-led way we champion artists and arts workers across our areas of operation:

Artist Development Program an annual program of labs, residencies, and masterclasses to seed ideas, develop practice and build career pathways for emerging makers, designers, and theatre technicians.

Associate Artists 4 outstanding mid-career artists who come together in a unique multi-arts model of collaborative cultural leadership.

Presentations including mainstage commissioning program PACT Presents, micro-festival series PACT House for emerging curators, and PACT Underground, an open platform led by our BOH and FOH crew.

Hyperlocal our public program connecting community to big ideas through artist talks, exhibitions, interactive performances, workshops.

Partnerships with peer orgs such as Performance Space, Sydney Fringe, Catapult and DirtyFeet to increase development and presentation opportunities for artists throughout NSW and nationally.

staff

Black and white of Justine Shih Pearson looking away from camera with serious expression

Justine Shih Pearson
Executive Director / CEO

Nick Power
Senior Producer

Shayne de Groot
Marketing & Engagement Manager

Milo Mclaughlin
Production Manager

Anwyn Brook-Evans, Theo Carroll, Noah Cohen-Stoddard, Sonnet Cure, Justice Georgopolis, William Phillips, Sebastian Richardson, Juan Guillermo Robayo Gomez, Roisin Spencer, Nick Vagne, Gaby Whalland