Festival Arts Ambassadors
In 2024 the Sunshine Coast Chamber Music Festival (SCCMF) is launching a new program to identify, nurture, and profile ambitious future arts leaders.
The Arts Ambassador Program is part of the festival’s mission to support emerging artists and grow a rich and vibrant arts ecology on the Sunshine Coast. It’s also about giving young people who aspire to become professional artists the opportunity to taste what it’s like to be involved in a national festival.
The SCCMF Arts Ambassadors represent what we believe the future of the Australian arts sector looks like.
Introducing the 2024 Festival Arts Ambassadors:
Natascha Bryant
Natascha is a year 12 student at Chancellor State College who has a passion for classical music. She began learning piano at 6, picked up violin at 9, and started percussion at 13. Natascha currently is a member of the Sunshine Coast Youth Orchestra (SCYO), the Young Conservatorium, and the Chancellor SC music ensemble, where she plays a range of instruments. In addition, Natasha has participated in a number of programs, including the State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP), Creative Generations (C-GEN) and its biannual extension program MOST. In 2025 Natascha hopes to study music at a tertiary level and gain a Bachelor of Music, before heading to Europe to study a Masters degree.
Jack Simpson
Jack Simpson is passionate about both theatre and music, and enjoys working as both a performer and composer. His approach involves exploring the endless tastes of music - similar to enjoying a scoop of rocky road ice cream, focusing on the individual ingredients, and then pairing them with flavours of cheesecake to create new and exciting compositions! Jack studied Theatre and Music at the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries (QACI). He has been involved in productions and tours including Creative Generation (C-GEN), Birralee Blokes, The Outsiders (Sunshine Coast), and the Anywhere Festival.
Ava Sky Stewart
Ava is a multifaceted creative working across cinematography, photography and acting. She started her career as a touring actor with Perseverance Street Theatre Company, before co-creating the documentary series Mud Stories. She continued her work in documentary filmmaking on the World Premiere of David Williamson’s ARIA. Ava is an avid learner of many fields and has worked both as a performing artist and behind the scenes - across stage and screen.
Jackson O’Sullivan
Jackson holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) from QUT. He has performed in numerous plays on the Sunshine Coast in recent years. In 2022 he played Colonel Pickering in Noosa Arts’ Pygmalion, followed by Conrad in David Williamson’s Money and Friends in 2023. He’s also performed in several plays as part of Shorts on Stage, and was awarded ‘Best Actor’ at the Sunshine Coast Theatre Festival in 2017 for his work in Take the Fish. He co-produced and performed in The Turn of the Screw and The Eight: Reindeer Monologues with Firelight Theatre. He also works across TV and film, most recently playing Mitch in Two Weeks, an award-winning Brisbane based web series. Jackson is a Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre core company member and acting coach.
Mia Sibley
Mia is an emerging performance artist with a background in Western dance styles, primarily ballet and contemporary. From a young age Mia has performed in music-theatre, dance recitals & competitions, and played trombone in her primary school band! Her university studies at QUT (in dance & technical production) uncovered a passion for collaborative multidisciplinary performance praxis with a focus on dramaturgy. Currently, Mia is training regularly with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre and has just completed the Barebones program for invited artists with The Farm on the Gold Coast.