Adriana Nordin Manan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Adriana is a writer, translator, playwright and researcher from Kuala Lumpur. Her current writing practice is one which doesn’t see writing as a mere device to convey ideas, but is eager to see how writing can be shaped and used as a dynamic means to improve processes, narrate with precision, and come into conversation with areas such as the natural sciences, design, architecture, and the social sciences to build deeper connections among people and the ideas they carry.
Her arts writing has primarily comprised reviews and artist profiles, and she tends to land on analyses of colonialism, world views, and belonging. This is likely due to her training in and enduring interest in the social sciences and questions of identity.
Dendi Madiya (Bekasi and Jakarta, Indonesia)
Dendi is experienced in writing reviews of theatre performances in Indonesia since 2013 until now. His interest in writing performing arts originated from his involvement as a participant in a theatre criticism workshop organized by the Jakarta Arts Council. From there he started writing reviews of theatre performances. These activities became routine when he worked as an editorial staff for the Dramakala tabloid, a media information and theatre communication published monthly by the London School of Public Relations, Jakarta. When he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Jakarta Theater Festival newspaper, he continued to write performance reviews. Furthermore, his writing activities also developed when he worked on the website of the Jakarta Arts Council, Theater and the City, where he also worked as a researcher on the themes of theatre relations with the city.
Gladhys Elliona (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)
Gladhys is an active arts writer and researcher covering theatre and visual arts. Her interests are usually about various artistic interactions and the intersections between arts, social changes, mental health, gender, and community. She has written in-depth writings and reviews for various arts institution in Indonesia, such as: Komunitas Salihara, Indonesian Visual Arts Archive, Cemeti Institute for Arts and Society, Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja, Huma Ark, and Biennale Jogja XVI. Along with her independent writing career, she is currently doing her thesis research on theatrical presence and theatre artist’s resilience for her MA degree at Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta. She is also incorporated in Perkumpulan Nasional Teater Indonesia (National Association of Indonesian Theatre) as a theatre researcher and work as part of the association’s public relations.
James Harvey Estrada (Quezon City, Philippines)
James Harvey Estrada has been with GMA News and Public Affairs for more than a decade now. He has been creating segments for the network’s morning program Unang Hirit as Team Head/Broadcast Journalist from 2010 to 2015. He has also been part of GMA’s election coverage and other documentary productions as writer and segment producer. After which, he shifted his writing career to TV drama and theatre from 2015 to present. He has been actively participating in international collaboration specifically creating works in Japan and Korea and is now part of co-designing team for Innovation for Change-East Asia network. He is also a part-time university lecturer at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines under the Broadcasting Department of the College of Communication where he teaches media production.
Ke Weiliang (Singapore)
Ke Weiliang is a Singaporean arts practitioner-critic who graduated from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Arts Management. As a practitioner, Weiliang’s creative practice is currently centred around explorations of how relationships and intimacy can be cultivated over scattered, physically distanced interpersonal interactions. He was recently an artist-in-residence of Centre 42’s inaugural The Vault: Lite programme. As a critic, he writes regularly for ArtsEquator, and is the founding editor of Gee Dock Convos. He is also the founding administrator of Channel NewsTheatre (http://t.me/s/channelnewstheatre).
Kiki Rahmatika (Indonesia)
Kiki is a young choreographer and researcher from Indonesia. She finished her studies in Magister of Dance Creativity in 2016 from Indonesian Instititute of the Art Yogyakarta under the supervision of dance critic (Sal Murgiyanto).
For the last five years, Kiki has been very interested in researching about women, especially about the legend of Dajang Rindu from South Sumatra. Her research on Dajang Rindu has opened the opportunity for her to participate in an international conference ICAPAS (International Conference Asia Pacific for Arts Studies) as a panelist where her research was selected to be published in IJCAS (International Journal Creative Arts Studies). The object of her research has mainly been about dance, women and resistance.
Mathori Brilyan (Yogykarta, Indonesia)
Mathori’s experience in writing, begins from his observations regarding the indications of performing arts, especially contemporary theatre, which tries to find the ideas to learn about social and culture until finding the forms of artistic expression. He is interested in contemporary art discourse, especially the connection between performing arts and local values to be the basis of Indonesian human life. Mathori is currently compiling a book related to performing arts experiences in the 2018-2020 period.
Michael HB Raditya (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)
Michael has been writing critics since 2014, three years for news papers (2014-2017) and four years for online platform (2017-2021), such as: teraseni.id, gelaran.id, artsequator.com. In 2018, he published a book about performing arts criticism titled Merangkai Ingatan Mencipta Peristiwa. This book consists of 50 selected reviews of from his practice as an arts writer between 2014-2018.
Muhammad Dinu Imansyah (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)
For the last five years, Dinu has been writing reviews and criticism for art performances, especially in theatre and dance in Yogyakarta, the city where he currently resides. He is one of the contributors for gelaran.id, a website about art performance in Indonesia. He is also a researcher and is currently doing a research on alternative methods in theatre teaching and development. He also works as a dramaturg on some art projects (theatre and dance).
Ng Zu En Casidhe (Singapore)
Casidhe’s current writing practice involves responding to mediums of film, theatre, and dance through the lenses of world literature, the global south, and theories of development. Most recently, he was a youth juror in SGIFF 2020’s Youth Jury and Critics Programme, where he watched over 12 short films from Southeast Asia and learned about the nuances of film criticism. One particularly memorable writing experience from the programme was responding to Nishok Nishok’s The Smell of Coffee with Anne Carson’s theory of grief. Prior to that, he wrote six articles on theatre performances for ArtsEquator under their criticism mentorship programme with Corrie Tan, and a stand-alone review of PheNoumenon, a contemporary dance piece by T.H.E. Dance Company. Finally, he was also part of Centre42’s Citizens Reviews program for two years and the Flying Inkpot’s Critics’ Circle. These experiences have provided him with the opportunity to delve into how writing can serve different mediums, as well as contribute to ongoing critical discussions about the work.
Nhuan Dong (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam)
Based in Saigon and Vietnam-born, Nhuan Dong is an aspiring art writer and an art history enthusiast-advocate. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree at McGill University (Montreal, Canada). His ongoing research tracks the spontaneous developments of contemporary art in Vietnam and the diaspora as well as the academic discourse on the subject. He is also paying attention to the individual and transnational advancements of art in Southeast Asia. His present writing interest is synthesizing and analyzing the contributions of female art practitioners of Vietnamese descent, with a focus on artists that work with image-based media.
Nhuan Dong started freelance writing in March 2020. Since then, he has contributed to various local platforms such as Saigoneer, Matca, Hanoi Grapevine and Art Republik Vietnam (ARV). His most extensive article up to date is “2020 Tribute: An Extensive List of 20+ Female Figures in Vietnamese Contemporary Art,” published on the first two print issues of ARV. In June 2020, he was awarded the winning writer of ARV Next Gen Contest 2020, celebrated among other 18 emerging and established art professionals.
Sukhbir (Seremban, Malaysia)
Sukhbir is the co-founder of Eksentrika, an arts & culture community platform based in Malaysia. Since 2016, Eksentrika has featured over 600 creatives who’ve been listed under its artist registry. They also regularly review the performing arts, literary works, and other arts & culture works.
Terisha Tan (Singapore)
Terisha is currently a penultimate year student at the Nanyang Technological University, majoring in English Literature and Art History with a minor in Creative Writing. She also possess a Diploma in Creative Writing for Television and New Media and a Certificate in Theatre Performance and Production from Singapore Polytechnic. As a professional screenwriter, Terisha has written scripts for television shows and short films along with non-fiction, current affairs series.
In university, she wrote academic essays analysing literature, theatre, film and the visual arts. Outside of class, she write for a student-run publication dedicated to the arts and culture. Over the past three years, Terisha has had the opportunity to review an extensive variety of arts events, writing about anything from Broadway musicals at the Marina Bay Sands to independent contemporary dance works. She also writes about trends in the local arts scene and interview key creatives such as directors, performers and playwrights. She has interviewed creatives at various stages of their career, whether its the Artistic Director of a multi-national entertainment company or a local playwright producing her first play.