Our Board of Advisors
We value every member of our Executive Board and benefit from their expertise, leadership, compassion, and generosity. Our Board of Advisors are advocates of our training methodology and gather once a year to exchange ideas and share insights.
Thank you for all that you do.
Dr Rachel Morley
Chair / Script Advisor
Dr Rachel Morley is Director of Academic Program for Communication, Screen Media and Creative Industries in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. She is also a member of the Writing and Society Research Centre and the Digital Humanities Research Group.
Rachel teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in creative writing, networked writing cultures, and media studies. She has received numerous awards for her contributions to student learning including two Western Sydney University Citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2013 and 2014), a Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Postgraduate Training and Supervision (highly commended, 2014), a Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Learning and Teaching (2015), and a Vice Chancellor’s Professional Development Scholarship (2015).
Dr Kaushik Ram
Neuroscientist / The Actors Mind
With a PhD in neurosciences Dr. Kaushik Ram works with forward-thinking global cooperation, government departments and leading education providers to unlock their natural abilities. He has pioneered research into the intelligence of the nervous system and led groundbreaking talks in Australia and internationally. Founding Director of the Institute for Implicit Intelligence, his research specialises in non-cognitive intelligence such as intuition, instinct and various elevated brain states such as hypnotic, trance-like and flow states. He pools this research under the collective term – implicit intelligence. He has pioneered techniques to re-establish a connection to this intelligence and recover from diseases that are mental, physical and physiological.
Siobhan Keaton
Marketing / Branding & Strategic Growth
What is the most valuable gift you can give a young actor? Siobhan Keaton believes it’s the ability to practice their art. With a background in adolescent education and brand building Siobhan Keaton knows the art of storytelling has become an imperative in the digital age. Siobhan says “We live in the great screen-age where we spend more time on devices, suffer from information overload and our attention spans are short. For Australia’s youth, what will separate those who are successful will be the ability to be great storytellers, to capture people’s attention, create interest and inspire others. That’s why the most valuable gift you can give a young actor is the time and space to practice their art.”
“Storytelling encourages creativity, innovation and problem solving. The ability for a young actor to practice this through The Young Actors Assembly drives their personal confidence, allowing them to communicate more effectively and express themselves more freely. This leads to a better human, and ultimately a better culture for us all.”
Siobhan has a reputation as an inspiring mentor, she has taught visual art at secondary school level and now works in marketing re-invigorating blue chip brands, managing multimillion-dollar advertising budgets and leading high-performance teams. She joined the Young Actors Assembly Board of Advisors to help young actors access excellent educators and invaluable hands-on learning experiences.
Gary Freitas
Film Production Partner / Founder of Lumapixel
Gary is a qualified helicopter aerial cinematographer, creative director and founder of Lumapixel, a film production company servicing an ever expanding macro and micro based marketplace that includes TV, social media, websites, thought leadership and internal communication, events, drone content, recruitment, training and education, music video as well as the rise-and-rise of animated video in the corporate space. A directing veteran of over 5,000 TV commercials and brand videos, Gary believes stories are our best connection to the past but also a mirror unto our future. For 18 years he’s excelled in innovative ideation accompanied with realising commercial outcomes for clients through beautifully crafted stories and films.