Panel session: Diversity

Music in Me Summit presenter

Rachael Jacobs is an Associate Professor of Arts Education at Western Sydney University. Working in teacher education programs, her research focuses on arts education for racial and social justice. She has authored reports on arts education for the United Nations, and the OECD and partnered with Education departments around the world to develop racial justice initiatives. 

Rachael facilitates art projects in community settings all over Australia, mostly working in migrant and refugee communities. She is also a community activist, aerial artist, South Asian choreographer and runs her own intercultural dance company. 

Music in Me Summit presenter

Alfira, born in Perth of Acehnese-Irish descent, is a movement artist and dance educator specialising in traditional and contemporary Indonesian dance. Having studied in Indonesia at the Institute of the Arts in Central Java and in Aceh, Indonesia, Alfira is a solo and group artist with strong cultural connections. She holds degrees in International Studies (UNSW) and Indonesian Studies (University of Sydney). In 2001, she founded Suara Indonesia Dance, a performing arts company that boasts national and international presence. 

With a passion for sharing her knowledge and skill, Alfira regularly conducts traditional Acehnese body percussion workshops (communal dances), inspiring regional and remote communities including Yirrkala, East Arnhem Land where historical connections between Indonesia and Yolngu communities predate European settlement through trade. 

A fierce collaborator and interdisciplinary artist, Alfira has successfully collaborated with a number of Indonesian and Australian contemporary music ensembles and artists including: Lyn Williams AM and the Gondwana Choirs, Valla Voices, Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) the late Slamet Gundono, Rendra Freestone & The Rhythm Hunters, Agung Gunawan, Sawung Jabo, Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal and Wei Zen Ho and collaborated on a new work Bunyi Bunyi Bumi lead by First Nations senior choreographer Raymond Blanco and Dr Priya Srinavasen, produced by AsiaTopa and Blakdance. And recently premiered her solo work, SISA-SISA for Sydney Festival 2026.

She has presented new choreographed work informed by her traditional practice in Australia, Indonesia and Europe and conducted trauma healing dance and music workshops in Palestine, Aceh post 2004 tsunami, Yogyakarta and Papua New Guinea. She is frequently interviewed as a scholarly reference and has presented at international conferences on the topic of Acehnese body percussion in Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines and Australia. 

Alfira resides between Campsie in Western Sydney, Dharug Country and Ngambaa Country, the mid north coast of NSW where she engages with and for her local community in performing and visual art classes through a local ‘Art House’ that she initiated after the bushfires of 2020. She is enthusiastic to continue building Asian-Australian arts practices in regional spaces and is a strong advocate for inclusion, cultural safety and social justice. 

Alfira is a Board Member of the Australia Indonesia Institute (DFAT) and has been featured in the Australian Foreign Policy White Paper in 2017, has won Australia Indonesia Association’s Art category award in 2014, Australia Indonesia Institute’s Cultural Leadership Award in 2023.

Music in Me Summit presenter

Originally from Aceh in North Sumatra, Murtala is a distinguished choreographer in Aceh, Indonesia, and one of the few artists in his region to hold both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Dance. He began his dance journey at the age of eleven at Sanggar Mandaya in Banda Aceh.

His primary expertise includes Acehnese body-percussion dances, sitting song-dances, and Rapai Geleng – a seated group dance performed with the rapai, the traditional Acehnese frame drum. Murtala is frequently sought after as a cultural and academic reference on Acehnese dance.

After graduating from high school, he continued pursuing his passion for dance by studying at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) Padangpanjang) for seven years. Alongside rigorous practical and theoretical dance training, he was also introduced to the world of contemporary dance. During his studies, he created several works, including Berpangku Kaki (2002) and Hantu Hutan Tahun Tuhan (2004).

Shortly after the 2004 Aceh tsunami, Murtala returned to his hometown to take part in emergency relief efforts. He undertook various roles and responsibilities, including the evacuation of the deceased and logistical coordination. As part of his contribution to the community’s recovery, he founded a local NGO where he taught traditional Acehnese dance as a trauma-healing method for children affected by the tsunami and conflict.

In 2008, he pursued a Master of Dance at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Surakarta, Central Java. Since then, he has travelled to various provinces across Indonesia, as well as to Australia, Europe, Fiji, and Singapore, teaching Acehnese dance and music to primary school students, high school students, and university students. Murtala also actively performs at festivals across Australia, teaches choirs, and participates in theatre and film. Some of his dance works include Rapai Ombak (2010), Rantau (2012), Ratoh Gaki (2018), and Cicem Story of Migration with Alfira (2021)

Murtala received the Cultural Leadership Award from the Australia Indonesia Institute (DFAT) 2023. In 2024, he was commissioned by AsiaTOPA to develop the work Bunyi Bunyi Bumi, in collaboration with senior First Nations artist Raymond Blanco. The work premiered as a headline production at AsiaTOPA Melbourne 2025.

His first solo dance work, Gelumbang Raya, will premiere at the Sydney Festival co-commisioned by Bankstown Arts Centre in 2026, exploring embodied memories brought to life through movement.

Music in Me Summit presenter

Rachel Scott is a professional cellist and a primary school music educator who has been teaching in classrooms for over 20 years. She is currently the Education Manager of the Australian Children’s Music Foundation, a job that finds her delivering music lessons to disadvantaged children in the state, generating teaching resources, and training generalist teachers to feel more confident teaching music to their classes when she’s not there.

Rachel has developed workshops in partnership with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Australian Navy Band and the School of the Air. She teaches in metropolitan, regional and remote schools and has also worked in behavioural schools and taught via video-link. For many years, Rachel travelled to Timor Leste, working with Mary McKillop International training local Timorese teachers to deliver music lessons for both pre-school-aged children and children in primary classes.

Music in Me Summit presenter

Adam Manning is a Kamilaroi musician, composer, and educator based in Newcastle, NSW. His creative practice sits at the intersection of music, rhythm, sound, and visual art, with a strong focus on Indigenous methodologies, listening practices, and relational approaches to making. Adam works across composition, performance, and sound design, often integrating clapsticks, percussion, electronics, and spatial sound into contemporary contexts.

He has collaborated with organisations including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Art Orchestra, ABC Classic, and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Adam is a lecturer at the University of Newcastle, where he teaches music, sound, and visual media, and his work frequently explores how First Nations perspectives can be meaningfully embedded in contemporary music education and practice.