Tutti Arts appoints next Artistic Director

South Australian disability arts organisation Tutti Arts has appointed award-winning theatre designer, collaborator and consultant Gaelle Mellis as its new Artistic Director. Founding Artistic Director Pat Rix will retire in September after 24 years at the helm of this ground-breaking organisation.

Gaelle Mellis’ outstanding and sustained contribution to the arts was most recently recognised with the Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award at the 2020 Ruby Awards, which honour the best of South Australia’s arts and culture sector, and with the prestigious 2020 Australia Council National Arts and Disability Award for an Established Artist.

Gaelle Mellis Says:

I am excited for the future of Tutti Arts, its extraordinary artists and the role I can play. I believe in disability-led practice and that disabled people must be the producers of our own image and storytellers of our own lives.

I will support and encourage Tutti artists to be authentic, bold, curious and fierce in everything they undertake. I will honour Pat Rix’s legacy and ensure that Tutti is a place to take risks, allow failure, and explore new possibilities.

Bringing a passion for provoking conversation and change around disability, Ms Mellis’ appointment heralds an exciting new era for Tutti Arts as it moves toward realising its goal to be a disability-led organisation.

Pat Rix Says:

I am absolutely thrilled that Gaelle has been appointed as Tutti’s new Artistic Director. Gaelle and I have been close colleagues for many years and I have always valued her insight and artistic integrity.

Gaelle’s knowledge of the local, national and international disability arts sector, her lived experience of disability and her capacity to advocate will be invaluable to Tutti. As a respected disabled artist, Gaelle will illuminate deeper and broader pathways that the incredibly talented artists and collectives at Tutti can explore.

Gaelle Mellis will commence at Tutti Arts on Monday 12 July 2021.

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Photo Credit: Gaelle Mellis