Play-Grow Creations:
The Giddy Garden Multi-Arts Program
Project description
Giddy Garden will transform a Brunswick warehouse into a multi-arts community hub where the very walls, décor, and installations are created by artists. Through this project, we will commission and pay local artists to design and build immersive fit-out elements—murals, sculptures, lighting, and interactive installations—that become a living stage for ongoing programs.
Alongside the build, we will deliver a season of multi-arts events including cabaret, storytelling, immersive parties, and music, employing performers and musicians while engaging audiences in participatory cultural experiences. Rooted in sustainability and inclusivity, the project merges venue creation with arts creation, providing fair wages, skill development, and a platform for diverse voices.
About Giddy Garden
Giddy Garden is a space where play, creativity, and self-discovery come together - more than just a venue for entertainment; it is a sanctuary for adults to rediscover joy, creativity, and authentic connection.
Born from Eri and Nathan’s background in providing events at festivals, performances, and running workshops, Giddy Garden provides a permanent and dynamic hub for immersive events, adult play, and therapeutic experiences designed to create community.
It nourishes emotional, mental, and physical well-being, allowing for a more fulfilling life.
Eri McGinniskin
Creative Director
Eri (she/her) is a multi-arts producer, designer, and performer dedicated to creating inclusive spaces where people can express their true selves and connect through play, creativity, and community. With a background spanning health, design, and performance, Eri brings a distinctive ability to merge artistic innovation with personal growth and sustainability. With training in costume and fashion design, she founded Costume Courtesan—an upcycled costume studio set within a Dr Seuss–inspired art installation wonderland, built with 80% recycled materials. Eri co-created the space with artist-carpenter Mark Rennwald and lighting designer Nathan Power.
Eri’s creative work extends across Melbourne’s festival and performance landscape, including roles as Stage Manager, Decor Lead, and Performer with theme camps like Kamp Kraken and Syncity. She was part of the team behind the Kraken Submarine art car, has coordinated décor for multiple festivals, and continues to perform as a burlesque performer and storyteller. At Giddy Garden, Eri weaves this experience into producing participatory, multi-arts events, employing artists across various disciplines.
Nathan Power
Operations Director
Nathan (he/him) is an operations and technical producer with over 20 years’ experience in IT, live production, and event design. Alongside his career in technology, he is an audio-lighting artist, DJ and photographer contributing to events, festivals, cabarets, and art installations.
Equally passionate about people as he is about production, Nathan has played a central role in organising creative community groups and events, building networks that foster collaboration, inclusion, and play. His experience as a community arts administrator adds depth to his practice, ensuring that projects not only run smoothly but also cultivate strong and supportive creative communities.
Nathan was a pivotal force behind the Kraken Submarine mutant art car, a mobile stage for performance and music, and has delivered lighting and audio design for cabarets with Giddy Garden, Costume Courtesan, Syncity, and Kamp Kraken. Known for his versatility as both organiser and maker, Nathan brings a rare combination of technical expertise, community leadership, and collaborative spirit to Giddy Garden, ensuring ambitious multi-arts projects are delivered with professionalism and impact.
Space Aesthetics
Giddy Garden’s warehouse will be transformed into a quirky, colourful, and enchanting space that feels like stepping into another world. Bold colours, organic shapes, and garden-inspired elements such as flowers, leaves, and mushrooms will be expressed through immersive art installations and décor.
The design blends natural warmth with vibrant, otherworldly energy, creating an atmosphere of safety, curiosity, and childlike wonder. This playful, welcoming aesthetic invites diverse communities to explore creativity, connection, and self-expression.
Supporting Installation Artists
As part of transforming our Brunswick warehouse into a living cultural hub, we are commissioning a team of extraordinary artists to create installations, sculptures, and décor. These collaborators bring diverse practices in kinetic sculpture, culinary art, carpentry, and recycled materials, and will help make the building itself a work of art.
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Multi-disciplinary kinetic artist Callan Morgan works at the intersection of art, technology, and innovation. With a background spanning circus performance, visual art, and engineering, he integrates the natural and mechanical in ways that surprise and inspire. Since transitioning to sculpture in 2013, Callan has developed a practice that is both technically agile and creatively ambitious.
His acclaimed works include UKI, a robotic insect vehicle that has appeared at White Night Melbourne and Burning Man, Nevada. Callan has also fabricated and installed large-scale projects with leading artists such as Dr Vicki Couzens and Stelarc, and for clients including the University of Melbourne, City of Melbourne, and Melbourne Science Gallery. His practice continues to push artistic boundaries while fostering community engagement.
Website: https://www.callanmorgan.com
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Renee Bazerghi is a culinary artist, sculptor, and lighting designer who weaves ritual and art into food and installation. Her practice spans quirky, statement-making sculptures, immersive light works, and edible experiences that blur the line between nourishment and art.
Renee has contributed art installations to festivals including Burning Seed (2018), created lighting works with designer Christopher Boots, and produced culinary art for events such as Church of Slts. She has also facilitated unique workshops, including The Messy Edge of Eroticism at ASSFEST 2025. Her work invites audiences to engage with art in playful, sensory, and unexpected ways.
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Carpenter and artist Mark Renwald works primarily with wood, often using foraged and discarded materials. His practice is rooted in sustainability—building striking works almost entirely from recycled and reclaimed resources.
Mark’s creations include whimsical installations for Melbourne Zoo (fairy houses in swamps, gum leaf benches, and a 3-metre woven “egg” for children to play in), bone-inspired lamps, and the Dr Seuss-inspired wonderland space for Costume Courtesan, built with 80% recycled materials. He has also contributed internationally with installations at Garbicz Festival (2023).
Most recently, Mark was on the design crew for the Pobblebonk effigy at Underland Festival (2024)—a climbable, interactive sculpture that culminated in a dramatic burn sequence. His work embodies playfulness, interactivity, and deep respect for natural and salvaged materials.
Together, Callan, Renee, and Mark will help shape Giddy Garden into an immersive landscape where art is woven into every wall, surface, and corner. Their practices—spanning kinetic sculpture, culinary ritual, lighting design, carpentry, and sustainable installation—reflect our core values of creativity, play, and community. By using recycled and repurposed materials alongside bold artistic vision, they will transform the warehouse fit-out into a living artwork that celebrates both innovation and sustainability, inviting all who enter to step into a world of imagination and connection.
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Noel is an award-winning architect with over 15 years of experience. In the past decade, he has worked on high-profile residential and commercial projects in Australia, collaborating with renowned Melbourne design practices such as StudioY and Placeformspace. His experience spans the globe, from large-scale projects in China to small, rammed earth huts in West Africa. Noel's work has earned him prestigious accolades, including the Dezeen Awards, the Melbourne Design Awards, and the LA+ Journal Award.
In addition to his practical work, Noel has shared his expertise as a guest lecturer at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and exhibited his projects at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture in South Korea. His work has been featured in some of the most influential design blogs and magazines like Dezeen, Archdaily, Designboom and LA+ magazine. Before relocating to Australia, he was co-founder of Freischaerler Architecture in his hometown of Berlin, where he completed his Master of Architecture and studied under Pritzker Prize winners Francis Kéré and Lacaton Vassal.
Noel is also an alumnus of the Glenn Murcutt Masterclass in Australia, where he embraced a holistic approach to architecture that fuses the human experience, the environment, and a sense of beauty, deeply rooted in the Australian context. His sensible pragmatism, paired with a wild imagination, produces simple yet creative design solutions that not only meet but exceed his clients' needs, providing them with exceptional value and tailored, functional, inspiring spaces.
His approach to Giddy Garden has been invaluable, embracing our vision of balancing the raw, industrial character of the warehouse with quirky, art-filled interiors, while supporting our collaborative approach that weaves artists and builders together in the design and build process.
Website: https://pompom-design.com
SUPPORTING PERFORMERS
Our performers are the heart of Giddy Garden’s multi-arts program. Each brings a unique blend of talent, vision, and presence—ranging from spoken word and storytelling to music, clowning, ritual theatre, and immersive performance. Together they embody our values of play, creativity, connection, and inclusivity, shaping events where audiences are not only entertained but also invited into meaningful moments of reflection, discovery, and joy. These bios represent just a handful of the talented and diverse performers within the wider Giddy Garden network.
HELEN EVANS
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Helen Evans is a multidisciplinary artist, storyteller, coach, and facilitator whose practice is rooted in play, connection, and joy. With a background spanning over 100 diverse roles—from teacher to clown—she brings a unique perspective to creative work, blending humour, risk-taking, and unconventional paths to success. Helen creates interactive games and puzzles that spark connection and has collaborated with Melbourne-based team-building companies to bring play into corporate environments.
As a coach, she supports individuals to find confidence in their voice, embrace their unique journeys, and communicate with impact through her Hell Yeah Life programs. Helen’s ability to merge art, facilitation, and playful connection makes her a valued contributor to Giddy Garden’s immersive, participatory ethos.
Instagram pages: @innerjoyartist, @thehellyeahlife
WILL TAIT
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Will Tait is a singer, composer, and storyteller whose work inspires wonder, connection, and joy. Combining whole-heartedness, humour, and poignancy, he creates performances that invite audiences into shared moments of meaning and celebration.
As both MC and musician, Will has contributed original compositions and performances to Giddy Garden’s Cobweb Cabaret and OUTSPOKEN, making him an integral member of the creative team. He also performs with the duo El Rey Miel and as part of 8 Foot Felix, a foot-stomping, playful band well known across Melbourne venues and festivals nationally.
Photographer credit @hmerlfoto
Instagram: @willtaitsongsmith
VELVET LILITH
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Velvet Lilith is a performer, facilitator, and ritual artist whose practice explores embodiment, pleasure, and shame resilience through immersive, participatory experiences. She creates workshops, events, and performance rituals that invite people into deeper relationship with their bodies, boundaries, and desires.
Her work honours curiosity and consent, crafting spaces that feel both playful and profound, where all identities are welcome. Velvet’s practice focuses on transforming cultural narratives around sexuality and the body into sources of creativity, empowerment, and connection.
She has contributed to Giddy Garden events including OUTSPOKEN, Cobweb Cabaret, Imagination, and CAMP, bringing her unique ability to hold space that balances provocation, artistry, and community care. Through this, Velvet supports Giddy Garden’s mission to create inclusive cultural experiences that foster personal growth and collective transformation.
Website: https://www.velvetlilith.com
Instagram: @velvettempleeros, @thevelvetlilith
ESTHER OGILVIE
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Esther Ogilvie is a therapist, coach, and performer whose practice bridges theatre, ritual, and embodiment. Drawing on her professional background in trauma and family violence therapy, as well as sex, relationship, and embodiment coaching, Esther creates performances and workshops that combine artistic expression with meaningful ritual.
Under the performance name The Divine Wild, she explores themes of power, sovereignty, and transformation through movement, storytelling, and ritual theatre. Her work invites audiences to reflect on the body as a site of resilience, rebellion, and renewal, blending playfulness with depth and intention.
Esther has contributed to multiple Giddy Garden events, including OUTSPOKEN, Cobweb Cabaret, and Imagination, where her unique ability to weave performance, ritual, and facilitation has enriched both the artistic program and the community experience.
Instagram: @estherogilvie
EZEL DORUK
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Ezel Doruk is a performer and facilitator whose practice blends clowning, improvisation, and ritual with a focus on play, vulnerability, and connection. His work embraces absurdity and silliness as pathways to joy and self-discovery, creating performances that are both entertaining and transformative.
Through Soulsuality, Ezel facilitates workshops in “sacred silliness” and improvisation, inviting participants to explore creativity, embodiment, and authentic expression. With Giddy Garden, he has contributed as both performer and facilitator at OUTSPOKEN and Imagination, bringing his unique mix of humour, heart, and playfulness to diverse audiences.
Photo credit: @_vaschakraphotography_
Find out more here: @ezldrk
PHOEBE BOND
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Phoebe Bond is an actor, spoken word artist, and improviser known for her ability to combine truth-telling with quick wit. A regular Giddy Garden collaborator, she has twice performed at OUTSPOKEN and now returns as MC, bringing humour, presence, and care to create spaces where laughter and deep listening sit side by side. Phoebe is also an experienced facilitator, bringing warmth and playfulness to workshops such as Imagination, where she fosters inclusive spaces for self-discovery and growth. Her practice bridges performance and facilitation, making her a vital contributor to both the artistic and community-building aspects of Giddy Garden’s work.
Photo credit: @_vaschakraphotogrpahy_
THE KINKY CHEF
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The Kinky Chef is a performer and creator specialising in immersive culinary art and food-based performance. Her practice combines the sensory with the theatrical, transforming meals into interactive experiences that blur the boundaries between art, ritual, and celebration. From body platters to participatory banquets, she invites audiences to engage with food as a site of connection, play, and creativity.
She has collaborated with Giddy Garden at Cobweb Cabaret and has been the regular food creator at Imagination Festival, where her work adds a unique layer of sensory immersion to the program. By integrating performance with shared meals, The Kinky Chef reimagines food as both nourishment and performance, fostering community through playfulness and shared ritual.
Photographer @portsbyme
Instagram: @the.kinky.chef
KATE CONSTANCE
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Kate Constance is classically trained on Pianoforte, and immersed in music for over 40 years. She currently composes and performs regularly in 2 Melbourne music groups - El Rey Miel & 8Foot Felix. Kate also has extensive experience in Allied Health as a Counsellor, Group Facilitator, and Manager in the Addiction Specialist sector, working within many frameworks, including Trauma Informed Care.
With the addition of the study of sound as a healing modality to her vast repertoire of skills, Kate leads immersive sound journeys that invite humans into a dreamlike world where breathwork, meditation, and sonic healing intertwine as medicine. She has performed with Giddy Garden at Costume Courtesan Cabaret, Cobweb Cabaret, and OUTSPOKEN, as well as presenting her sound journey Becoming Sound at Imagination Festival.
Instagram: @becomingsoundaustralia
Website: WillandKate.com.au
MILBAGS MAGEE
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Milbags Magee is a soulful singer-songwriter and storyteller whose vocals blend raw honesty, vulnerability, and sincerity. For the past eight years she has performed with Dane Blacklock & the Preacher’s Daughters, contributing her distinctive voice and Saxophone to the band’s theatrical sound.
With saxophone and loop pedal in hand, Milbags crafts performances that are both unconventional and versatile, moving seamlessly between heartfelt sincerity and playful irreverence. Her work carries a touch of humour and taboo, creating engaging, memorable experiences for audiences.
A beloved collaborator, Milbags has been a repeat performer at Giddy Garden events including two OUTSPOKEN storytelling nights, CAMP, and the Costume Courtesan Cabaret. Her presence brings both depth and playfulness to the stage, making her an integral part of the growing Giddy Garden creative community.
Instagram: @amso18
As a collective, these performers weave diverse practices into a vibrant tapestry of voices, humans, and stories. Their artistry transforms stages, rooms, and even meals into spaces of connection and possibility.
By collaborating with Giddy Garden, they help us cultivate a living cultural hub where performance becomes both celebration and catalyst, sparking creativity, reducing shame, and nurturing community through the transformative power of art.
Future Brand Design
While not yet launched publicly, our brand design captures Giddy Garden’s playful spirit—quirky, vibrant, and inclusive—inviting people into a world of creativity, connection, and authentic self-expression. This work forms part of the project, with its public release planned to align with council approvals and our opening for the greatest impact.
