Meet the Team
Bloodfest was co-founded in 2017 by friends Nat Richards and Curly Fernandez. This passion-project turned fully-fledged film festival was born out of their combined extensive experience in and passion for working with youth in the arts industry.
Between them, Nat and Curly have worked with The Arts Unit - Department of Education, Sydney Opera House, Bell Shakespeare, Australian Theatre For Young People and the Australian Institute for Performing Arts.
Between them, Nat and Curly have worked with The Arts Unit - Department of Education, Sydney Opera House, Bell Shakespeare, Australian Theatre For Young People and the Australian Institute for Performing Arts.
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Natalie Richards - Festival Director
Natalie continually considers and is confounded by the contradictions of the human spirit. We have a need for and obsession with beauty and yet are equally fascinated by the horrific. Natalie is a Lecoq trained performer with many theatre and television credits, and 20 years experience teaching as an industry professional. With a view to exploring what it is like to be a creator of fear, in 2008 Natalie conceptualised Midnight Theatre, and subsequently produced and directed several horror plays, inspired by the original 1950s Paris theatre of horror - the Grand Guignol. Natalie is passionate about providing creative opportunities for young people, and using these artistic experiences to help them discover and strengthen their own personal power. In 2007 she founded her own drama school, Action Atelier, run from Bondi Pavilion and she currently runs the drama club program for the Montessori East School. Natalie has tutored for the Australian Theatre for Young People, The Arts Unit – Department of Education, the Australian Institute of Performing Arts and other independent youth acting studios. She is currently writing her first horror feature. |
Curly Fernandez - Festival Director
Curly Fernandez is an Australian Performance artist with Indian and Portuguese ancestry. His work combines disruptive art with social experiments that are incendiary, experiential and provocative explorations of humanity.
As a teaching artist Curly is a specialist creator in hybrid drama techniques, weaving literacy, leadership and visual arts for Young People to unleash creativity through Play Theory and Artistic Anarchy.
Notably he works with young people with Refugee status, English as a second language, Indigenous youth and Queer youth, giving these young people confidence and freedom to penetrate the world regardless of societal rules and norms.
Curly is a classically trained actor having appeared on theatre, television, film and online platforms.
As a Performance Artist Curly’s The Leftovers Collective has been commissioned by The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Powerhouse Museum, Mardi Gras and Sydney Opera House.
As a tutor and Teaching Artist for young people, Curly has lead projects and continues to teach for youth cultural institutions and departments such as Bell Shakespeare, The Arts Unit - Department of Education, Poetry In Action - Central desert Indigenous Program, Sydney Opera House - Kids and Families, Sydney Opera House - Creative Play, Sydney Opera House - Digital Incursions, Sydney Opera House - Creative Leadership in Learning, Sydney Opera House - Reconciliation Action Plan member and Indigenous Work Experience, MCA Accessibility, The Multicultural Playwrights Course - Department of Education, and Australian Theatre for Young People.
Curly also works as a Clown Doctor in paediatrics for the Humour foundation at Westmead Children’s, Sydney Children’s Hospital, royal North Shore and Bear Cottage Palliative Care.
For Curly’s teaching artistry | testimonials, www.drcurlyfries.com
For Curly’s Performance artistry | www.theleftoverscollective.com
Curly’s core philosophy with his arts practice is liberation and freedom of your personal artistic expectation, giving participants a safe place to experience their true creative anarchy, exploring their personal beliefs and values in a safe, supported non judgemental space.
Curly’s influences are the Dadaist Movement, Chiara Guidi, Lurtja and Gadigal storytelling, Matthew Barney, Marina Abramovic Jean Baudrillard, and Michel Foucault.
Bloodfest is a culmination of Curly’s practice of mentoring, teaching, creating with young people, subversion, and liberation from society.
Curly Fernandez is an Australian Performance artist with Indian and Portuguese ancestry. His work combines disruptive art with social experiments that are incendiary, experiential and provocative explorations of humanity.
As a teaching artist Curly is a specialist creator in hybrid drama techniques, weaving literacy, leadership and visual arts for Young People to unleash creativity through Play Theory and Artistic Anarchy.
Notably he works with young people with Refugee status, English as a second language, Indigenous youth and Queer youth, giving these young people confidence and freedom to penetrate the world regardless of societal rules and norms.
Curly is a classically trained actor having appeared on theatre, television, film and online platforms.
As a Performance Artist Curly’s The Leftovers Collective has been commissioned by The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Powerhouse Museum, Mardi Gras and Sydney Opera House.
As a tutor and Teaching Artist for young people, Curly has lead projects and continues to teach for youth cultural institutions and departments such as Bell Shakespeare, The Arts Unit - Department of Education, Poetry In Action - Central desert Indigenous Program, Sydney Opera House - Kids and Families, Sydney Opera House - Creative Play, Sydney Opera House - Digital Incursions, Sydney Opera House - Creative Leadership in Learning, Sydney Opera House - Reconciliation Action Plan member and Indigenous Work Experience, MCA Accessibility, The Multicultural Playwrights Course - Department of Education, and Australian Theatre for Young People.
Curly also works as a Clown Doctor in paediatrics for the Humour foundation at Westmead Children’s, Sydney Children’s Hospital, royal North Shore and Bear Cottage Palliative Care.
For Curly’s teaching artistry | testimonials, www.drcurlyfries.com
For Curly’s Performance artistry | www.theleftoverscollective.com
Curly’s core philosophy with his arts practice is liberation and freedom of your personal artistic expectation, giving participants a safe place to experience their true creative anarchy, exploring their personal beliefs and values in a safe, supported non judgemental space.
Curly’s influences are the Dadaist Movement, Chiara Guidi, Lurtja and Gadigal storytelling, Matthew Barney, Marina Abramovic Jean Baudrillard, and Michel Foucault.
Bloodfest is a culmination of Curly’s practice of mentoring, teaching, creating with young people, subversion, and liberation from society.
Grace Mulders - Social Media Manager
Grace is a communications professional, particularly passionate about working in the arts and education industries. She loves that all three industries collide in Bloodfest.
Grace holds qualifications in communications and early childhood education. While obtaining those qualifications she balanced multiple extra curriculars and roles, including working in early childhood education and dance teaching, where she taught students aged 1 - teens, and mentored junior assistant teachers. It's now been 10 years since she started working with children and she still feels just as fulfilled seeing them connect to themselves and others through the arts as she did a decade ago.
Grace currently works in communications for the Sydney Opera House, having previously worked at an integrated public relations agency and as a manager of a kids event entertainment company.
Fun fact - during her studies Grace wrote an essay on transnational remakes in Horror for a unit on Global Cinema.
Grace is a communications professional, particularly passionate about working in the arts and education industries. She loves that all three industries collide in Bloodfest.
Grace holds qualifications in communications and early childhood education. While obtaining those qualifications she balanced multiple extra curriculars and roles, including working in early childhood education and dance teaching, where she taught students aged 1 - teens, and mentored junior assistant teachers. It's now been 10 years since she started working with children and she still feels just as fulfilled seeing them connect to themselves and others through the arts as she did a decade ago.
Grace currently works in communications for the Sydney Opera House, having previously worked at an integrated public relations agency and as a manager of a kids event entertainment company.
Fun fact - during her studies Grace wrote an essay on transnational remakes in Horror for a unit on Global Cinema.
