The company identifies diverse emerging artists and arts workers seeking to advance their practice-pairing them with established artist mentors and producers to develop, scope, resource and produce their work, supporting long term career pathways. This program drives and informs our Major Works, offers an aspirational vehicle for our Community Access participants, and places a flagship ensemble with a fresh outer urban voice in the broader Australian and international performing arts sectors.

Associate Artist Program

Ruci Kaisila | PERFORMER | WRITER

Ruci is a musically gifted performer in gospel and soul. From a young age, Ruci, along with her twin sister Joanne, developed a passion for music through singing and performing at their local church. With Ruci on piano and vocals and Joanne on guitar and vocals, the dynamic duo captivated audiences with their soulful ballads. Ruci has featured in many Outer Urban Projects works including GRAND DIVISIONS - A MOVED URBAN CANTATA presented at Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Festival; Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre opening POETIC LICENSE, The Big Anxiety's TAKEOVER and HUME STUDIOS Residency projects, REVELATIONS recording project in URBAN STUDIO and 125BPM Concert, Melbourne Recital Centre.

Ruci worked alongside some of Australia’s finest writers and theatre artists in Anthem, a new Australian work of scale supported through the Major Festivals Initiative, that toured nationally. Ruci works as a performer on Outer Urban Projects’ Fee for Service gigs and workshops and is a key artist and driver of KIN - DUDI AND JOJO a transnational Australian-Fijian performance and film work.
Joanne Kaisila | PERFORMER | WRITER

Joanne is a proud Fijian-Australian. She is a vocalist and multiinstrumentalist performer – playing guitar, drums and bass. From a young age Joanne developed a passion for gospel and soul music and has performed in many seminal shows for Outer Urban Projects including GRAND DIVISIONS – A MOVED URBAN CANCATA at Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Festival, POETIC LICENSE opening at Darebin Arts Centre and HUME STUDIOS at Kangan Tafe. She recorded on REVELATIONS in URBAN STUDIO, performed in the TAKEOVER residency and is a key artist on the Australian/Fijian collaboration of the transnational performance and film project, KIN - DUDI AND JOJO. She is also a videographer, making music clips for her community and is a regular performer on Outer Urban Projects’ Fee for Service program.

Kush Kuiy | WRITER

Kush Kuiy loves building new things and transforming it into something impactful and for positive change. In collaboration with the Nuer Community Foundation of Australia and City of Monash, Kush successfully inaugurated Rise of South Sudan in 2018. This annual benefit concert celebrates Melbourne’s vibrant South-Sudanese and wider African populations, highlighting individual artistic excellence and collective creative capacity. She is also the creator of Blaxcellence, a networking platform for Afro Diaspora, First Peoples and black identifying creatives. Kush has worked for Outer Urban Projects as an associate producer and is joining Outer Urban Projects as a writer on the VIGIL project.

Georgia Rudd | DANCER

Georgia is an independent contemporary dancer, performer and teacher originating from Aotearoa (New Zealand). She is now living and working in Naarm (Melbourne). Prior to this she was part of the creation in many works with various artists during 6 years with Dancenorth Australia under the directorship of Kyle Page and Amber Haines including; Melanie Lane, Lucy Guerin, Stephanie Lake, Alisdair MacIndoe, Gideon Obarzanek, Lee Serle, Jo Lloyd and Ross McCormack, performing and touring works at festivals nationally and internationally.

Georgia is the first inaugural recipient of the Naarm/Solo dance exchange where she is working with Indonesian artist Riyo Tulus Pernando to develop work across countries and cultures. She has choreographed 3 short works, ‘Sifting Through All The Forgets', 'Construction and Contemplation' and 'Together Indecision' for Dancenorth’s annual Tomorrow Maker’s seasons 2017-2020. Currently, Georgia continues to refine her practice where the body is the basis for questioning, processing and transformation. Her embodiment practices honour the complexity and intelligence of the body and its ability to reflect the world in which it is in. As a dance artist and performer, she has contributed to the development of the company’s major work VIGIL.
TAJ ALDEEB | MUSICIAN | COMMUNITY ARTIST FACILITATOR

A multi-hyphenate, Taj Aldeeb is a truly exciting performer of Syrian heritage. Motivated by her own journey, Taj explores stories through collaboration and experimentation, that demonstrate the challenges, triumphs, and diverse experiences of migration through sound, stage, screen, radio, and dance. She holds a Bachelor of Music (Piano) from Monash University and a Bachelor of Design (Digital Media) from RMIT. Taj is a radio presenter at ABC Classic, a pre-concert speaker and production assistant with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Front of House with Arts Centre Melbourne, and Head of Percussion (2024) with Melbourne Youth Orchestra.

Taj performs regularly with multicultural bands that blend Arabic, Latin, and alternative influences, appearing at venues ranging from local community spaces to festivals and the Melbourne Recital Centre. Her acting credits include the SBS series Four Years Later (dir. Mohini Herse and Fadia Abboud), short films The Fall (lead role, dir. Mert Berdilek, Dendy Awards finalist), Get to the Wire (dir. Paul Burns), and stage roles in THEM (dir. Bagryana Popov) and Zaffé (dir. Stéphanie Ghajar). A passionate advocate for refugee and migrant communities, Taj received the 2021 Young Leader Award for her advocacy and youth mentorship work. Taj is a 2025 Melbourne Fringe Awards judge on the panel for the Music category.
JOSHINDER CHAGGAR | DANCER

Joshinder Chaggar is an award-winning dance theatre artist & filmmaker. She is currently in the final stages of a PhD doctorate, where her research intersects her intercultural identity with storytelling. Her solo dance work, created through the PhD, Dancing in Infinite Worlds, won Best in Dance & Physical Theatre, at Melbourne Fringe 2024.

She has worked in the dance and theatre industry for the past 17 years, across Melbourne, Sydney & Pakistan. Her work is influenced by physical theatre, Indian folk, Indian classical dance & experimental movement. She has participated in festivals locally and internationally: the Edinburgh showcase 2017, Mapping Melbourne 2017, Karachi Biennale 2017, Kunstareal Fest 2017 (Munich), Emerge in Yarra (2018), India @Mindil 2019 (Darwin), NAPA International theatre festival (Karachi 2019), IndiaFest 2022 (Townsville), Castlemaine festival 2023 & FRAME festival - Maloya Moshpit and AsiaTOPA 2024. She is the recipient of a collaborative Green Room Award (2022), ‘Best Cabaret’, For The Ensemble Work Takeback!. Her directorial film debut – More Than Cute, a 15-minute short film that unpacks age and highlights how dance can help form communities, won Best Doc at The Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival 2022, in New York & screened widely at film festivals across the globe. She is currently in post-production for her feature documentary, Crones.
Natasha Lakkis (nee Hanna) | MUSICIAN

Natasha is fast becoming a well-known name in Melbourne’s orchestra scene. The eldest of 8 children of a musical family from Roxburgh Park, she began violin at 3 years of age. In 2014 Natasha was the principal 2nd violinist for the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and collaborated with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra on their tour to New Zealand. She was violin concertmaster in 2012 & 2013 for Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight conducted by John Foreman.

For Outer Urban Projects Natasha has performed in URBAN CHAMBER - BEYOND at The Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne Festival, GRAND DIVISIONS - A MOVED URBAN CANTATA at Fairfax Studios, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Festival, and is lead performer in the Outer Urban Projects STRING QUARTET. Natasha is the lead artist on Outer Urban Projects’ Triple Violin Concerto collaboration with The Impossible Orchestra. Natasha will take part in KIN – The Hanna's in 2026.
Josef Hanna | MUSCIAN

Josef Hanna is an Associate Artist. He began playing the violin at the age of 4. He has been playing the violin for 18 years and has recently started learning guitar. Josef was raised and educated in Roxburgh Park. His past teachers include Helge Thelen, Elizabeth Sellars and Roy Theaker. Josef is currently studying under Sophie Rowell.

Josef has been a member of the Melbourne Youth Orchestra (MYO) since 2012. In 2015, he was appointed the position of Concertmaster and has retained the position into 2016.

He has performed at various venues with MYO including Deakin Edge - Federation Square, Iwaki Auditorium, Hawthorn Arts Centre, Windsor Hotel and Melbourne Recital Centre. Josef is currently 1st violinist of the MYO String Quartet. Josef performed in Outer Urban Projects GRAND DIVISIONS, URBAN CHAMBER - BEYOND, LIBERIAN BOY and gigs regularly with Outer Urban Projects and is part of the Outer Urban String Quartet. Josef will take part in KIN – The Hanna's in 2026.
Karla Hanna | MUSICIAN

Karla Hanna is an Associate Artist. Karla is a Lebanese-Australian born in Melbourne (Naarm), Victoria. She is a professional violinist with extensive experience in performance and teaching for over 20 years.

Karla has worked as a freelance musician, performing with orchestras such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, as well as working regularly with different Chamber groups around Australia. She studied at the Australian National Academy of Music from 2015-2017 and is currently in her final year of a Bachelor of Music.

During her time with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, she collaborated with Outer Urban Projects on various occasions and am looking forward to performing with two of my siblings in an upcoming project which will involve a recording of Olli Mustonen’s triple violin concerto with a small orchestra. Karla will take part in KIN – The Hanna's in 2026.
Milad Norouzi | WRITER | MUSICIAN | PERFORMER

Milad is a rapper, singer-songwriter and performer. Milad’s creative life began in the underground rap studios of Tehran. He joined Outer Urban Projects in 2015 after attending its remount of POETIC LICENSE at Darebin Arts Centre. As a writer/performer/actor he has written and performed in the company's major works POETIC LICENSE at fortyfivedownstairs (2017), GRAND DIVISONS, A Moved Urban Cantata at the Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne (2015), LIBERIAN BOY (2018), THE AUDITION premiered at La Mama in 2019 and was remounted in 2024 at La Mama Theatre, The Bowery Theatre, and Bunjil Place. Milad has also recently recorded his moody underground EP THE LITTLE LIONHEART in the company’s URBAN STUDIO.

Sahra Davoudi | WRITER | ACTOR

Sahra graduated in art and architecture at the University of Tehran with a Bachelor of Theatre Art in 2009. Sahra was involved in many student productions as a writer, actor, costume and set designer. Her dissertation thesis was an adaptation of the short story by Raymond Carver - ‘Neighbors’. Her first professional work as an actor and writer in Australia was with Outer Urban Projects dance theatre work, VESSEL at the Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Fringe (2017). She then went on to work as a writer and actor in THE AUDITION premiered at La Mama in 2019 and was remounted in 2024 at La Mama Theatre, The Bowery Theatre, and Bunjil Place.

Sahra was granted permanent residency in 2019 and has since become an Australian citizen. Sahra performed In the Mirror by Mammad Aidani for La Mama Theatre and the interdisciplinary dance work Conquest of the Garden by Nebahat Erpolat. Sahra is a writer/performer in Outer Urban Projects upcoming Major Work VIGIL.
Emmanuel Kaisila | Vocalist

Emmanuel is the youngest of the talented Kaisila family. He is also musically gifted through his family roots in gospel and soul. From a young age, Emmanuel, along with his twin sisters Joanne and Ruci, developed a passion for music through singing and performances at their local church. The trio captivate audiences with their soulful ballads. Emmanuel’s work with Outer Urban Projects includes 125 BMP, Melbourne Recital Centre, HUME STUDIOS, TAKEOVER residencies, and the upcoming transnational performance and film project, KIN - DUDI AND JOJO.

Tangata Tupou | SONGWRITER | MUSICIAN | VOCALIST

Tangata Tupou aka Ta, began singing at a young age. Born to a musically gifted family, Tangata's passion for music started in the family living room and at her local church. Tangata's Cook Island heritage has a huge influence on her style of music. She and sister Fakaoho have been performing together for many years. Both artists learned how to play musical instruments and sing from their dad. She is an independent vocalist, performing with sister Fakaoho and cousins, Ruci, Joanne, and Emmanuel Kaisila. Tangata is a recipient of a Hume Art Award.

She has featured in many Outer Urban Projects works including GRAND DIVISIONS - A MOVED URBAN CANTATA at Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Festival, opening of POETIC LICENSE Darebin Arts Centre, TAKEOVER and HUME STUDIOS residencies, REVELATIONS recording project in URBAN STUDIO. Ta performs on Outer Urban Projects’ Fee for Service program, astonishing audiences with her sublime voice. Ta is a key artist on the 4th project of the KIN series of works - The Tupou’s.
Fakaoho Tupou | MUSICIAN | VOCALIST

Blending Māori and Pacific Islander influences with her love for Gospel and Hip Hop, Fakaoho Tupou aka Foxy is an asset to any concert or performance. She is a musically gifted singer with a strong following in the Pasifika and gospel community and a recipient of a Hume Art Award. Fakaoho has featured in many Outer Urban Projects works. URBAN CHAMBER BEYOND at the Melbourne Recital Centre, the opening for POETIC LICENSE at the Darebin Arts & Entertainment Centre, LIBERIAN BOY, REVELATIONS in URBAN STUDIO, HUME STUDIOS and TAKEOVER residencies and GRAND DIVISONS – A MOVED URBAN CANTATA at Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Festival.

Fakaoho also performs on Outer Urban Projects’ Fee for Service program, always delighting audiences with her vocal talent, warmth and charisma. Fakaoho is a key artist on the fourth project of the KIN series of works - The Tupou’s.

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