SPUN: True Stories Told in the Territory is a live storytelling event showcasing some of the extraordinary people and their stories that make up the Northern Territory. Popping up at different venues around Darwin every three months, SPUN brings people from all walks of life together to share stories under a theme.
True stories told live are incredibly powerful. They have the potential to move, confront and inspire us, reframing the way we see ourselves, and others. At a time when we're bombarded by social media and manufactured narratives, SPUN offers a refreshingly candid snapshot of life in the Territory.
The Northern Territory certainly punches above its weight when it comes to storytelling. From our backyards, paddocks, boats and campervans, comes a collection of remarkable storytellers who love to tell a good yarn. SPUN is run by a team of professionals who are passionate about oral storytelling. Every storyteller is matched with a story producer who helps bring out the best in their story.
If you can't make it to a SPUN event, all is not lost. You can wrap your ears around a curated selection of stories from our live events via our podcast! You can also find out more about upcoming events, and if you've got a story you'd like to share, you can do so right here.
We look forward to sitting with you for some stories soon!
THE TEAM
SPUN is presented by StoryProjects, a Darwin-based creative consultancy specialising in live storytelling events.
Johanna Bell - Founder
Johanna is an award-winning author and the founder of StoryProjects. She works with diverse communities to create works that promote empathy and bring landscapes and culture to life, through story. Interested in hybrid storytelling, Johanna fuses fiction, poetry, podcasting, social research and theatre. No two weeks are the same which is just how she likes it.
Jess Ong - Podcast Host and Producer, Story Producer
Jess is a bit of a busy body and likes to ask a lot of questions, a curiosity that serves her well when digging for stories and new best friends. While nattering away as a presenter on ABC Radio, Jess is also a Communications Manager in the private sector. When time permits, she flirts with the world of audio storytelling.
Lori Uden - Creative Director & Producer, Online & Story Producer
Lori loves working as a freelance director, producer, facilitator and enabler in the arts, and is inspired by creativity, diversity and stories.
In fact, she firmly believes that we can all achieve greatness, or close enough to it, by joining forces and sharing stories.
Celia Neilson - Graphic Designer
Celia Neilson is a graphic designer with a love for bold, bright prints and has a bit of an obsession with foliage - drawn, in the garden, or on a cake. Celia is a big fan of the NT, and although originally from New Zealand, she considers herself a lifelong member of the delightful Darwin club.
Alpha Capaque - Story Producer
When Alpha was chairing the youth group Multicultural Youth NT, she discovered the power of stories in transforming the young people they mentored, as they looked into their own experiences and found their voice. A number-cruncher by day, Alpha hopes to use storytelling to get in touch with her creative side, and help others find their own voices along the way.
Rachael Chisolm - Story Producer
Rachael is a local radio broadcaster, news reader, actor and emerging playwright who is from one of the pioneer families of Darwin.
Rachael is passionate about the preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories and history so they're available for the next generation.
Alex Edmonson - Story Producer
An award winning filmmaker, Alex began her career working in script development for Baz Luhrmann before writing and directing her own films and starting her production company Wolfgarden. Perpetually intrigued and perplexed by this world, Alex sees storytelling as a way of seeking to understand the world and herself. She has recently moved beyond film into creating multimedia installations.
Gaia Osborne - Podcast Co-Producer and Audio Recordist
Gaia Osborne is a freelance producer working in media, film and community arts. Gaia has worked in remote Indigenous broadcasting for 7+ years, which developed her love of creative audio production and strong belief in the power of storytelling.
Gaia is also a casual producer at ABC Radio and a musician.
Sean Pardy - Story Producer
Sean loves stories and living in the Top End. Sean has been working in theatre for over 25 years and is currently the Director of Brown’s Mart Theatre.
Sean used to run an independent theatre touring company called Critical Stages and was the technical director for the Darlinghurst Theatre Company. Given the opportunity, he will watch too much cricket.
Sarah Reuben - Story Producer
Coming from a background in theatre making and comedy, telling stories
is at the heart of all of Sarah’s work. Whether producing, performing or
traveling around Australia with an a’capella choir that only sings Shania
Twain songs, Sarah is dedicated to engaging audiences with experiences
that stay with them on far beyond the theatre walls.
Kylie Stevenson - Story Producer
Kylie crossed the border into the Northern Territory in 2007 to take up a
job as a sub-editor at the NT News. She spent the next eight-and-a-half
years reading, writing and headlining yarns that made her laugh, cry,
and everything in between. Since then she has worked as a producer at
ABC Radio Darwin, written for several national publications and is currently completing a Doctorate of Creative Arts.
Photography by Jett Street, Sarah Mackie, Aaron Burton, Jano Gibson, Elise Derwin and Helen Orr.
A huge thanks to past SPUN story producers Tamara Howie, Caro Macdonald, Jess Ong, Rosa Ellen, Caddie Brain, Oscar Schwartz, James Purtill, Jennifer Pinkerton, Pat Horton, Gemma Blackwood and Shankar Kasynathan. Thanks to Ryan McArthur, Hamish Robertson and Will Tinapple who help, and have helped, with our audio.