Celia Coulthard

Celia Coulthard
She/Her
Programming Executive – First Nations, Adelaide Festival Centre (Literary programs OUR WORDS and defi-Nations)

I am an Adnyamathanha woman and member of Arts SA’s inaugural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy Panel, a board member for Artlink Magazine, a mother, a reader, and an occasional practitioner of paper and word-based art.

My career in the Arts began on a whim. After years in hospitality, I was working in the public sector while raising two young boys when a family member sent me a job ad with a note saying, ‘you might be interested in this.’ The job was the Steel Ryan Fellowship, an opportunity for emerging arts workers to gain experience across marketing and programming departments at AFC. In 2019, I was awarded the fellowship, and one of the first programs I worked on was the beloved annual exhibition OUR MOB: Art by South Australian Aboriginal Artists.

Later that year, with support from the AFC team and the local First Nations literary community, I applied for funding to produce small storytelling and literary events, resulting in OUR WORDS and OUR STORIES. When the pandemic hit in 2020, funding arrived for the early digital iterations of OUR WORDS and OUR STORIES. These events had their fourth presentations in September 2023, continuing to elevate and showcase Aboriginal voices and culture from across South Australia and beyond.

One particularly exciting aspect is the growth of OUR WORDS as the program expands to include more writers and storytellers, providing a platform for inspiring and important conversations, including the new defi-Nations [first-languages-in-verse] and poetic exhibition celebrating the diversity and nuance of our First languages.

I am endlessly motivated by my colleagues and the artists I work with, finding the arts sector to be an inspiring and supporting community. I encourage anyone considering an arts career to be curious and open – there’s no better place to learn and grow a truly fulfilling career.

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This article is part of the Festival & Event Industry Career Profiles series, a collection highlighting the diverse stories of Adelaide’s finest festival professionals. 

Photography by: Jack Fenby