Overview
Agenda
- 4:30pm – 5:00pm
Registration and networking
- 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Discussion and audience Q&A
- 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Networking reception
- 7:30pm
Event concludes
Speakers
Ro Allen
Ro Allen is an experienced and longstanding advocate for LGBTI Victorians and has held leadership positions in the community and government sectors.
Ro has been a member of three Victorian Government LGBTI ministerial advisory groups and chaired the ministerial advisory committee on LGBTI Health and Wellbeing between 2007 and 2009.
As founding CEO of UnitingCare Cutting Edge, Ro established Victoria’s first rural support group for young LGBTI people, giving Ro a particular understanding of the issues faced in rural and regional areas.
Ro is a former Chair of the Adult, Community and Further Education Board, the Victorian Skills Commission, the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVIC), and former member of the Hume Regional Development Australia Committee.
Ro has been recognised for extensive community service: in 2003 Ro received a Centenary Medal and in 2009 was inducted into the Victorian Government Honour Roll for Women.
Recently Ro was recognised in the Top 50 Public Sector Women (Victoria) 2017 and won Hero of the Year in the 2017 Australian LGBTI Awards.
Dani Boi
Dani Boi is a genderfluid dragtivist. Dani began performing and speaking out on LGBTQIA+ rights while living in San Francisco for 1.5yrs, and since returning to Melbourne has performed at a variety of queer club nights and community events, including Midsumma Horizon, Honcho Disko, Macquarie University’s Sex & Consent Week, and hosted Dani Boi’s Art of Drag in Warrnambool – an educational nonbinary drag showcase. Performing as a drag king, they explore topics of toxic masculinity, gender fluidity, and consent education through passionate lipsyncs and collaborations with other queer artists.
In 2016, they were published in Archer Magazine’s THEY/THEIRS issue, and have since become the magazine’s Events Producer. They are also published in The Guardian “How I fell in love with performing as a drag king” in the wake of their feature in short documentary DANI BOI as part of the Love Bites series, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Mardi Gras.
Dani has been interviewed by Triple J, JOY 94.9, PBS, and featured on panels for Midsumma Festival, Parents of Gender Diverse Children. They co-produce The Cocoa Butter Club, a quarterly performance night for Indigenous and/or People of Colour, which had a showcase for Midsumma Festival 2017 at The Arts Centre Melbourne. When not performing as Dani Boi and producing events, Dani travels around Victoria and Australia running cyberbullying and social leadership workshops in schools with PROJECT ROCKIT.
Nevo Zisin
Photo credit: Jacinta Oaten
Nevo is a Jewish, Queer, non-binary activist, public speaker and author of the newly released Finding Nevo, a memoir on gender transition. They run workshops and professional development in schools and workplaces around gender inclusivity. They have appeared on SBS Insight, Hack Live, One Plus One, The Morning Show and many radio interviews and articles discussing their complex relationship with gender. Nevo is a contact point in the Jewish community for other children and families confronting issues of gender and sexuality in their own lives.
When & Where
Thursday 24 May 2018
4:30pm
The Wheeler Centre
176 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000