Emerging Producers Lab (CIPI) 

The Emerging Producers Lab supported four emerging independent producers for Circus and Physical Theatre, facilitating their professional development and capacity to work with Victorian CaPT artists and organisations. 

The Program

Participants in the Lab were supported throughout a 12-month program from April 2023 – March 2024.  

There were 10 professional development workshops co-designed with the Lab participants over the course of the program. These group sessions formed the core learning units, bespoke to the most urgent needs, skills and conversations that the participants have identified. The sessions were facilitated by a mix of external presenters and the participants themselves.    

Some topics covered by guest presentations included:

  • Pitching circus works to arts marketplaces in Australia and overseas and how to build a strategy for pitching as an independent producer;

  • How to build a sustainable CaPT producing practice including models of producing, building relationships with presenters and structuring your capacity;

  • Cultural safety and inclusivity in circus and physical theatre and the actions producers can take in their projects and collaborations;

  • Engaging with fundraising, philanthropy, and sponsorships;

  • Audience development for CaPT works; and

  • Touring CaPT works internationally and pathways for getting work overseas.

Throughout the 12-month Lab program the producers were also paid as employees of TNA, employed to work 2 days a week on their independent producing practices, as well as a mental wellbeing allowance to put towards accessing mental health support.

The Producers

Dylan Singh
Headshot of Dylan Singh

Dylan Singh, a proud Wiradjuri man hailing from Albury, is a second-generation circus performer and has performed with some of Australia biggest circus companies such as Circus Oz, Casus and Company 2. He is founder of all First Nations arts company The Dreaming Project. Dylan’s aim is to help new generations of First Nations artists express their culture in new ways whilst still being imbedded in culture, bridging the gap between traditional and modern. Dylan combines different styles of storytelling by blending circus, dance, and physical theatre to help bring these stories to life.


Harlow Carey 
Headshot of Harlow Carey

Since moving to Melbourne in 2011 Harlow co-founded the award-winning circus-theatre company Gravity Dolls, completed Certificate IV of Small Business Management at RMIT, a Master of Writing for Performance at VCA and has performed across theatre, TV and circus. Her approach to work is cumulative, drawing on her multidisciplinary practice in order to explore the space between. She is most passionate about work that experiments with form and is keen to work with artists whose voices and stories are currently underrepresented on Australian stages.


Karina Schiller
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Karina is an enthusiastic, adventurous and inquisitive circus artist and emerging producer. She has been teaching and performing around the world for the last 8 years with companies big and small. With a love of learning, Karina thrives when creating ensemble collaborations. Her passion is exploring and developing unique apparatus and creating safe spaces for creative exploration. Karina is a co-founder of Statera Circus, a joyous new collective based in Naarm, Melbourne. Statera uses circus performances and extended community engagement programs to facilitate accessible and inclusive artistic opportunities for young people including those from vulnerable communities.


Samantha Martin
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Samantha Martin is an award-winning creative producer in the intersection of circus, social impact, and community care. Her decade-spanning career has produced a number of grassroots change-making projects, and has travelled across arts festivals, community development, indie screen, production, and creative copywriting. She recently graduated from NIDA's Master of Fine Arts - Cultural Leadership with exemplary studies in arts worker sustainability and festival access models, grounded in her heartland for accessibility and inclusion. Her practice centres creative authenticity, proudly helming emerging performance collectives Get Well Circus and CAKE in celebrating intersectional identities both on and off the stage, and in our shared cultural lives.


Program Aims

Through supporting CaPT independent producers the Emerging Producers Lab aims to:  

  • Improve career and development opportunities for CaPT independent producers working in Victoria to increase their numbers and capacities; 
  • Increase the number of Victorian-based independent CaPT artists and companies who are working with independent producers;  
  • Improve the sustainable practice of Victorian-based independent CaPT artists and companies;, and; 
  • Build the diversity of CaPT independent producers working in Victoria, in representation and diversity of practice. 

This initiative has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.