Meet Grace.
Photo Credit: Paul Furse, Frontrow Foto
Grace is a playwright, director, poet, and creative producer whose work centres identity, disability, and acts of reclamation. Born in Yei River County, South Sudan, and raised across cultures, her practice navigates the intersections of race, migration, and disability with clarity, courage, and unflinching honesty.
Her artistic journey began in childhood and has evolved into a multidisciplinary practice spanning theatre, poetry, and advocacy. Grace holds a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary and Applied Theatre and a Master of Creative Industries (Creative Production and Arts Management). Her work is deeply grounded in community engagement, using storytelling as a tool for connection, resistance, and social change.
As a playwright and director, Grace has co-written, produced, and directed four theatre works in Brisbane, including Linking Generations (2018 QMC& BEMAC), Skin Deep (Backbone Festival, 2019), Tales from the Colony (2020 Voices of Colour & Backbone Youth Arts Festival 202), and People of Colours (Melt Festival, 2021). In 2025, she made her mainstage debut as playwright and director with Resist the Switch presented by JUTE Theatre Company as part of the Ubuntu Theatre Project.
Beyond the stage, Grace co-founded the Youth CALD Disability Collective in 2020, creating space for culturally and linguistically diverse young people with lived experience of disability. In 2023, she served as an International Day of People with Disabilities Ambassador, contributing to national conversations on intersectionality, visibility, and representation
Hi Grace, tell us about how you first got involved with MYAN.
I first learned about MYAN through the Queensland Multicultural Youth Council and later engaged with Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network Australia in 2016 when I attended their second FUSE Youth Summit in Melbourne. I was also part of the second cohort of the MYAN Youth Ambassador Network, representing Queensland.
The FUSE Youth Summit was my first real introduction to MYAN and its work. This three-day event had a profound impact on me, primarily because it connected me with other young people navigating similar challenges who were motivated to create change. At the time, I was frustrated by the gaps in the system and the tendency to talk about them without acting. Before the summit, I lacked the knowledge, pathways, and platforms to move forward.
The summit featured workshops exploring topics such as leadership, advocacy, and the power of storytelling within advocacy. It was here that I began to understand how small, intentional actions within your community can build awareness and lead to meaningful change.
The opportunity to connect with others was invaluable. I met young people with shared lived experiences, including some who had been in the same refugee camp as me, which made the experience even more powerful and affirming.
How did attending the Youth Summit influence your advocacy work?
Attending the Youth Summit was deeply inspiring and instrumental in the further development of the MYQ Council. Paul Joseph initiated the groundwork, and after returning from the summit, I helped build on that momentum. Together, we recruited more members, developed projects, and participated in conferences to advocate for young people from multicultural backgrounds. This work eventually led to the delivery of our own Youth Matters Conference in 2019.
The summit expanded my understanding of the pathways available to influence policymakers and the platforms through which multicultural youth voices can be elevated. Connecting with other young people provided a strong sense of validation—it affirmed that I was not alone and that these issues were shared, urgent, and worth advocating for.
Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network Australia was the first organisation I encountered that supported multicultural youth connection on a national level. To this day, I maintain a network of peers across Australia whom I met through MYAN—people I can reach out to for collaboration, support, and shared advocacy.
Engaging with MYAN and building these connections also played a significant role in shaping my master’s thesis, grounding it in both lived experience and a broader national context.
Tell us more about what actions you’ve taken with your thesis.
I completed a Master of Creative Industries, specialising in creative production and arts management. The Youth Summit came at a pivotal time, as I was beginning to shape my voice and deepen my understanding of what I wanted to explore and express through my art.
My practice focuses on applied theatre—using theatre within different contexts to raise awareness of social issues and support exploration through role play and participatory methods. A key project was Linking Generations, supported by funding from Brisbane City Council in 2018. This project emerged from conversations with young people about the generational gap in Australia and how the pressures of acculturation were showing up in our daily lives. I facilitated workshops with Sudanese and South Sudanese community members in Brisbane to explore these experiences.
Around 2019 and 2020, there was significant media attention on youth crime and violence. Reflecting on this project, I could see early signs of the deeper, systemic issues at play—particularly the lack of culturally responsive support for young people from multicultural backgrounds. This included the pressure of cultural expectations around career pathways, as well as the tension between individualistic and collectivist value systems.
The Linking Generations workshop series culminated in a forum theatre performance. Forum theatre presents an issue through performance without offering a fixed resolution, inviting the audience to step in and explore possible outcomes and solutions. This process is carefully facilitated to ensure safety, with counsellors present and actors remaining separate from the participating communities. As my first theatre production, it was a significant learning experience that ultimately set me on the path I am on today.
And what are you up to now?
I am currently editing my first feature-length script, Resist the Switch, originally presented by JUTE Theatre Company in Cairns, Far North Queensland, as part of the Ubuntu Theatre Project, for publication.
The play explores themes of code-switching, identity, and belonging within the African diaspora. Set in a high school, it follows a new student arriving from Congo, navigating the complexities of settling into a new environment. Notably, the pressure to conform does not come from white Australian peers, but from fellow African students—who, in their own way, are attempting to protect the newcomer by encouraging assimilation.
What’s an issue or topic relevant to youth settlement that you think we should be talking about more?
A lot has changed since I arrived in Australia as an adolescent in 2003, but there is still a long way to go. I’ve seen positive shifts in settlement services, particularly the growing inclusion of parents in a child’s settlement journey—something I have advocated for over many years.
When I first arrived, information was delivered to parents and children separately, often in different rooms. While young people tend to adapt more quickly and shift their perspectives with greater ease, this is not always the case for parents. This approach often created tension within families, as young people were given information without the broader cultural context being shared with their parents.
In many cases, the messaging implied that the ways we were raised were inherently oppressive. This led to frustration among parents, who felt their authority and role within the family were being undermined, particularly when children were encouraged to dismiss or question their cultural values.
Coming from a culture grounded in deep respect for parents and elders, this disconnect was significant. The cultural frameworks of respect, hierarchy, and boundaries were not always understood or acknowledged within the settlement process.
I believe it is crucial that young people’s agency and autonomy are supported in ways that are culturally responsive and guided within the context of their family’s values, rather than positioned in opposition to them.
What’s your opinion on what the wider community can do to support and advocate for the rights and perspectives of multicultural young people in Australia?
Take the time to learn about everyone. There is often a blanket approach to “cultural safety” that I find limiting—because whose culture are we referring to?
I grew up in Kenya within a South Sudanese family, so the cultures that have shaped me are far more complex than what is written on my humanitarian visa.
The key is to remain person-centred and avoid making assumptions. Share information about how systems work in Australia with both the young person and their family together, so everyone has the same understanding and context.
Thank you for reading MYAN’s Alumni Highlights. You can stay connected with Grace and her work through her instagram: @______gures Paul