Future Creatives

Emma Holgate

Proud Mandaburra woman Emma Holgate, raised on Ngarigo Country, found her passion for live performance shadowing her DJ father from a young age. Moving to Naarm during COVID, she completed a Production Traineeship in Sound & Vision at Arts Centre Melbourne in 2023, earning Trainee of the Year at the Victorian Training Awards and Runner-Up at the Australian Training Awards in 2024. Emma has worked in production with a wide range of companies in Victoria and interstate and is now expanding her skills in the design space, with a background in sound, projection and lighting.

Ishan Vivekanantham

Ishan Vivekanantham is a multidisciplinary artist specialising in set and costume design for live performance. A graduate of the Master of Production Design at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), his work spans theatre, cabaret, musical, opera, and ballet. His recent credits include Inconsolable + 4 (dir. Georgina Naidu); My Mum Died and I Wanna Sing About It (Theatreworks, dir. Lincoln Gidney); Krapp’s Last Tape (dir. Lincoln Gidney); I Love You, Faustus (Unspooled Theatre Collective, dir. Sabina Donato); Twelfth Night (Melbourne Shakespeare Company, dir. Jennifer Sarah Dean); The Lyrebird’s Voice (Victorian Opera, dir. Elizabeth Hill); and Storytime: Cinderella (The Australian Ballet, dir. David McAllister). Ishan’s craft and passion for scenography have been recognised with the Cassidy Bequest – Production Scholarship (2022) and the Trina Parker Scholarship (2023). In 2025, he joined Melbourne Theatre Company’s Future Creatives program and was the inaugural recipient of the Truscott Prize, awarded in recognition of his artistic vision and commitment to the future of theatrical storytelling.

John Sharp

John Sharp is a composer and sound designer who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Interactive Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He enjoys contributing to the Melbourne theatre scene, composing and co-writing for multiple shows and musicals, such as When Henry, which was recently workshopped with the Be You Group, and Destination Earth, which premiered at the 2023 Melbourne Fringe Festival. Beyond composition, John is a dedicated music educator and performer, trained in piano, clarinet, and voice.

Silvia Shao

Silvia Shao is intrigued by conceptual and abstract art works and enjoys exercising her creativity. She completed a Master of Design for Performance at VCA in 2022. In the same year, she made her design debut with set and costumes for Caught (Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre). Although specifically trained as a set and costume designer, she loves working closely with lighting and sound. During her time at VCA, she developed interests in architecture, graphic design, and contemporary dance. She believes there is no boundary to what she can do, either as a 'designer' or as a 'human', an ideology carrier.

Todd J. Bennett

Todd J. Bennett is a Wiradjuri and Filipino composer and sound designer for theatre, film and games.

He is currently part of Melbourne Theatre Company’s inaugural Future Creatives cohort, where he is being mentored and trained to work at a mainstage level. He is also a BlackStage participant through Ilbijerri Theatre Company, Australia’s oldest First Nations theatre company.

In 2024, Todd was Assistant Sound Designer on Cost of Living at Melbourne Theatre Company, and Sound Design Secondee on Blak in the Room, a series of one-act plays produced by Ilbijerri Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company in a historic partnership.

Todd also contributed original compositions for Blak in the Lounge, a popup workshop and gallery space at Southbank Theatre, hosting a suite of events celebrating Blak in the Room.

He also composed an experimental piece for Merri-Bek City Band’s Colonists Can’t Dance showcase event.

He sound designed for Αριάδνη/Ariadne, written and directed by Alkisti Pitsaki for La Mama’s Mother Tongue Festival 2024.

Between 2022 and 2023, Todd composed for a number of sound installations, including at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and through being invited to contribute to an installation at ABC’s Melbourne offices to as part of their commemoration of Reconciliation Week.

Todd wrote compositions for the indie game, Bridge Control: Traffic Mayhem.

Todd was previously the lead guitarist and songwriter for The Standby Heroes, based in regional NSW.

He is currently finishing his Masters of Interactive Composition at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Giovanna Yate Gonzalez

Giovanna Yate Gonzalez is a Colombian professional dancer who has expanded her skill set in Australia through the production bachelor at VCA in Lighting Design. Across 2022, she worked as lighting designer for the dance piece “Siren Dance” by Lilian Steiner at not only performed at Dance House but also at Sydney Dance Company and Homo Novus Festival, also, theatre performances such as “Fast Food” at Red Stitch and “Slutnik TM” at Melbourne and Adelaide Fringe Festivals.

In 2023, She was able to design different performances such as the dance shows “Queers of Java” with Lengger artist Rianto Manali at Sydney Dance Company and at Melbourne Fringe “STAUNCH ASF” with Amelia O’Leary at the Meat Market and “LUSH” by gemma+molly, which won Best Dance and Physical Theatre. Also, designed theatre performances such as “Shhhh” at Red Stitch directed by Emma Valente and “Warp and Woof” directed by Kim Durban at Federation University in Ballarat. 

Moreover, Giovanna was one of the five placements for 2023 of the Besen Artistic Program at Malthouse as Lighting Designer. 

Bianca Pardo

Bianca is a passionate Melbourne/Naarm based designer and maker. Both set and costume excite her and she endeavours to create visceral storytelling experiences through her craft.

Her credits throughout 2018 include costume construction roles on 'The Gallery Workout' with the National Gallery of Victoria, 'The Dressmaker - A Musical Adaptation' and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s the 'School of Rock'. She was also awarded the Orloff Family Charitable Trust Scholarship in 2018.

Throughout 2019, Bianca’s graduate year at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), she was the Set Designer for ‘Fucking A’ in April and completed two internships in Prague for Semafor Theatre and Česká Televize in June. She completed the Costume Design for the VCA production of ‘Mad Forest’ in September and an internship with Set and Costume Designer, Christina Smith, on productions including ‘Ragtime’ with the Production Company and ‘Salome’ with the Victorian Opera.

In 2021, Bianca designed for two femme-BIPOC projects, 'TakeBack!' in March and 'Ngarngk: Giver of Life' in May, powerful pieces championing femmes of colour.

Bianca spent 2022 dressing for 'Jagged Little Pill' at the Comedy Theatre, and 'Hamilton' at Her Majesty's Theatre, dressing the Schuyler Sisters. Bianca also completed the Set and Costume Design for 'Passing Strange' in June.

2023 has seen Bianca complete some exciting projects including the Set and Costume Design for 'Guys and Dolls' in August and the Costume Design for a brand video with Moo Motion for Kenworth in September.

Savanna Wegman

Savanna Wegman is a stage designer, maker and writer working across theatre, opera and dance. She is New Zealand born, of Chinese Malaysian and Dutch descent and is now based on unceded Wurundjeri land in Naarm (Melbourne). 

Recent Design credits include: Set & Costume design ‘Biographica’ (Lyric Opera, Theatreworks), Set & Costume design ‘Brittany and The Mannequins’ (Fever103 Theatre, Green Room Award Nominated for Best Set & Costume Design 2022), Set & Costume design ‘Climbers’ (Fever103 Theatre, fortyfivedownstairs), Set & Costume design ‘STAUNCH ASF’ (Amelia Jean O’Leary, Melbourne Fringe), Set design 'A Certain Mumble' (Amelia Jean O’Leary, Darebin Arts Speakeasy) and AudioVisual Production Design ‘WE ARE AIR’ (Melbourne Fringe).

Associate Design credits include: 'Candide' (Victorian Opera), 'The Crocodile' (Spinning Plates Co. fortyfivedownstairs), ‘Far Away’ (Patalog Theatre, fortyfivedownstairs), ‘The Dream Laboratory’ (Essential Theatre) and ‘The Mermaid’ (La Mama).

Savanna has also completed Assistant Stage Management roles for ‘The Invisible Opera’ (RISING Festival) and 'My Dearworthy Darling’ (THE RABBLE, The Malthouse). She was the Co-founder of the STRANGEkit Performance Collective and completed her Bachelor of Arts at Monash University’s Centre for Theatre and Performance.