NATHAN (NATE) GILKES is a Helpmann award winning musician, arts educator and artistic director working across disciplines of New Music Theatre, Arts Education and Training and Community Works. His practice sits at the collision points of music, theatre and opera, often using multiples modes and artforms to convey story and build engagement and participation. As a creator of work for young people, Nate composed the score for the Helpmann Award winning production, Robot Song with Arena Theatre Company (Best Production for Children and Young People) and Imagine Live(Riverside and Geelong Arts Centre) both shows undertaking tours nationally as well as North America and Canada. As a community facilitator and educator he has created works such as POWER (Force Majeure and Sydney Biennale), Hipbone Sticking Out (Big hART and Melbourne Festival), and Acoustic Life of Sheds (Ten Days on the Island) all building education and community outcomes into new large scale artworks. He is a former Artistic Director at Marian St Theatre for Young People in Sydney and currently the Head of Education, Learning and Participation at Opera Australia. Nates holds degrees from the Victorian College of the Arts in Directing, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Education and currently completing an MFA in Cultural Leadership at NIDA.