Interdisciplinary artist, director & facilitator
Working across performance, installation and public art, Melinda Hetzel has been pursuing her passion for collaborative, inter-disciplinary, processes for over 25 years. Her artistic practice is grounded in an extensive body of work featuring visually stunning, image-based theatre, site-responsive performance and participatory works within public space. As an arts leader and facilitator she is fascinated by the places where arts and the 'real world' intersect.
A graduate in Creative Arts (Victorian College of the Arts, 2000), Melinda has presented a wide range of work in Australia, as well as Singapore and Germany. In 2002 Melinda was invited to Germany to direct and devise an Australian-German co-production, Einst zu einer Zeit... which received the Arena Festival Audience Award, returning in 2005 as a jury member for the festival.
Melinda was founding member and Artistic Director of Peepshow Inc 2003-13. During this time she directed and co-devised the company’s entire repertoire, including: Slanting into the Void (Arts House, 2006), The Mysteries of the Convent (Abbotsford Convent, 2006-08), The Lost Story of the Magdalen Asylum, (Abbotsford Convent, 2010) nominated for a Green Room Award for Best Site-specific Performance, Divine: Part One (Abbotsford Convent, 2011) nominated for a Green Room Award for Costume and Set Design by Dayna Morrissey and, lastly, A Bird, a Tree, the Moon (City Square, 2012).
Melinda was Artistic Director of artist-led collective, Melinda Hetzel & Co. 2013-2024. This collective created a diverse suite of works including - participatory performance-installation, Urban Cocoon (Melbourne City Square, 2013) augmented reality experience, Fly By Night (Hamer Hall, 2015), live fortune-telling machine, Madame Tulalah's Magnificent Box (Melbourne Fringe, 2016), interactive, musical tree-installation, Between the Trees (Glow Winter Arts Festival, 2018), durational, live and live-streamed performance-installation, Conservatory (Melbourne Fringe, 2020), photographic pavement exhibition, Here We Walk (Westmeadows, 2022) and interactive, sensory art-app, Solace (State Library Victoria, 2023-24).
Amongst her programming adventures, Melinda has been interim Artistic Director/ CEO of St Martins Youth Arts Centre in 2012, Conference Organiser for PSi 22 - Performance Climates 2016, Creative Director of Open Spaces 2016, a large scale, multi-arts event at the Abbotsford Convent, and Programming and Operations Lead for the Darebin Intercultural Centre 2023-25.
Melinda facilitates creative workshops and co-creation processes. Her work with Artist Made Productions between 2017-2023 co-created authentic stories with performers, health practitioners and lived experience partners. The resulting stories became resources for Emerging Minds: the National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health.
Melinda has been a panel member for Creative Victoria, City of Melbourne, a Melbourne Fringe Judge, member of the Contemporary and Experimental Performance Panel for the Green Room Awards, and board member of Open Arts Festival (OAF), UK. She is a long-time member of, and previous consultant with, Theatre Network Australia.
Melinda lives in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country with her family, and four chickens.
Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge and pay respect to the Sovereign owners and true custodians of the unceded lands where I live and create, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present, and future leaders, and extend that respect to all First Peoples.
I also acknowledge that we are facing a Climate Emergency and pay respect to the pivotal role First Peoples continue to play in protecting and caring for Country.
I also acknowledge that we are facing a Climate Emergency and pay respect to the pivotal role First Peoples continue to play in protecting and caring for Country.
Image Description: A person in yellow puffer jacket kneels and points to an artwork stuck to the concrete footpath. The artwork features a person in a blue top leaning against large eucalyptus tree.
Photo by Pia Johnson, documentation of Here We Walk pavement exhibition, Westmeadows, 2022.
Photo by Pia Johnson, documentation of Here We Walk pavement exhibition, Westmeadows, 2022.
