Our Team
Rebekah Hatfied
Board Member
Rebekah Hatfield is a proud Bundjalung, Yugumbeh, Darumbal & Wiradjuri woman originally from Grafton in northern NSW. She completed a Bachelor of Media at the University of New South Wales in 2016, where she majored in Communications and Journalism. Rebekah has also completed post graduate studies at AFTRS (Documentary).
She is passionate about building the capacity of individuals and communities and has worked extensively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students. Rebekah has a wealth of experience working for education institutions such as University of New South Wales, University of Sydney and Griffith University.
Rebekah is also founder and Artistic Director of the production company Ngoodjida and is an accomplished storyteller, producer and project manager.
Kodi Galleghan
Board Member
Kodi is a passionate Mulluk Mulluk, Nhunggabarra, Kooma and Muruwari woman working at the Commonwealth Bank as a Product Manager. Kodi is a champion of community collaboration and reframing local histories through arts advocacy, having had the privilege to work for Kaldor Public Arts Project 'barrangal dyara' (skin and bones) led by Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi Artist Jonathan Jones at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney followed by the Australian Museum in programming and exhibitions. Prior to Banking, Kodi worked for local and state government in project management and research, and found purpose in the non-profit space working in finance and communications which inspired her to pursue a career in Banking. Kodi is involved in Cheeky Transcripts; a 100% owned and run Aboriginal business that leverages technology to provide employment opportunities to Indigenous people in remote areas. She is a former member of the National Youth Advisory Committee for the Australian Red Cross and has recently become a mentor in the Digital Thinkers Program run by the Australian Business Community Network working to address educational disadvantage through structured workplace mentoring and business/school partnerships. Kodi is driven by a desire to ensure the next generation of young Indigenous leaders are empowered with the skills and confidence to achieve their goals.
Phillip Crawford
Board Member
In 2004, Phillip founded Beyond Empathy with long-time colleague Kim McConville. Phillip holds a Bachelor of Film and Television at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 1998 he started working with Big hART and over the following years he collaborated with communities across Australia on performance, installation and multi-media projects included in the programs of major arts festivals. He has won many awards for his work including an AFI (Australian Film Institute) Award for the ‘concept’ of the film HURT, a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Innovative Combination of Documentary and Fiction for HURT, the Inaugural Arts Fellowship from the NSW Law Foundation and a special jury prize in the Free Spirit Competition at the Warsaw Film Festival for Rites of Passage, the jury noting its interesting approach to film making based on community work. His films have screened at national and international festivals, screened on ARTE in Europe, Channel 4 in the UK, SBS and ABC in Australia.
Daniel de Filippo
CACD Producer - The Grit Report
Daniel de Filippo is a digital artist who has been involved with BE since 2010. He was awarded the Open Category Award for his Short Film in Newcastle Real Film Festival in 2012. Daniel’s art practice and exhibitions incorporate mixed media such as photography, video, projection mapping, sculpture, and interactive installation. For the last decade, Daniel has exhibited his digital work locally including Mixed Tape (2017), and Register (2020) at Project Art Space Wollongong. Daniel has a Bachelor of Digital Media from UOW and is currently completing his Masters of Philosophy.
Chris De Souza
CACD Producer - BE Studios + The Grit Report
Chris De Souza is a musician trained in audio engineering, a dad to three spicy children and cares about communities benefiting from the telling of their own stories.
He became involved with Beyond Empathy helping with sound editing for projects. He currently works on several projects from Podcasts from the Edge- creating musical references to pop-culture and editing podcasts to the best they can be.
Chris is a Konkani descendent (South India) born and raised on Turtle Island (Canada) and has been living on Dharawal Country for the past 15 years.
Aunty Jodi Edwards
Advisor
Aunty Jodi Edwards is a proud Yuin woman with kinship connection to Dharawal Country. Her work addresses continuity of cultural practices in the Yuin and Dharawal Nations through her company, Gumaraa Aboriginal Education.
She is currently a PHD candidate for Macquarie University and her work explores ‘Weaving the past into the future: Traditional Aboriginal Pedagogies’.
Aunty Jodi Edwards has a Masters in Language Education and a Graduate Diploma in Natural Cultural Resource Management which also informs her work sharing cultural knowledges and practices for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Aunty Jodi has been in the education sector for over 23 years. She has been involved in many Indigenous research and art projects including practices of fishnetting, boat making and possum skin cloaking. She has also exhibited at the Museum of Australia. Aunty Jodi Edwards is currently working for the Department of Education consulting and enabling cultural education in public schools.
Being authentic
is the cornerstone of being successful in this type
of community work.
Phil Crawford
Thomas Hurley
Board Member
Thomas Hurley is a Senior Spot Trader at Origin Energy with a background in community engagement. In his work with Origin Energy, Thomas has assisted in the implementation of their Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in NSW, and partner with Beyond Empathy on the following events; Sea of Bellies Exhibition in Barangaroo, Dendy’s Opera Quay’s Screening BE’s feature film Protection; Reconciliation Week Photo Exhibition and Australian Aboriginal Singer/Songwriter Performance David Leha’s in Australia Square. Thomas has previously worked as a Senior Consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Australia in Corporate Treasury.
Shaniece Igano
CACD Producer - Flow Bellambi Project
Shaniece was introduced to Beyond Empathy as a teenager starring in Rites of Passage and is now a full-time community project worker, producer and editor.
From producing her own short film LegoLand(2012)to becoming a lead editor in feature-length animated film Protection(2018), Shaniece is now running creative projects that include the location of where she grew up in.
From gaining her skills as a professional in certificates of Community Services, Screen and Media and Administration, she has become a strong role model in her community and hopes to carry on the cycle of grass-root community leaders for generations to come. She recently represented Australia in
One Young World.
Shaniece’s work always has the community’s interest in mind- to help create a space for people to share their stories, get creative and supporting people to grow.
Emma Korhonen
CACD Producer/Photographer - Flow Bellambi Project
Emma is an artist by passion and photographer by role who resides in Port Kembla, New South Wales. In the past 20 years, she has experimented with different art styles and has created art that have been showcased in Wollongong’s finest galleries- Wollongong City Library, Wollongong Botanic Gardens, Project Contemporary Workspace and even local shopping centres!
Emma came on-board in 2015 as a volunteer photographer for project Protection to document behind the scenes and has now progressed into a leader in her community.
Her main passion in her work with BE is to run photography workshops on Country where the young people have a hands-on experience taking photos-but also enjoys mentoring the young people in life-skills and confidence.
Alice McClintock
CEO/Executive Director
Alice McClintock is a producer, theatremaker, writer and arts management consultant with over 15 years experience in local government and the not-for-profit sector. Alice has a BA in Creative Arts (Performance and Creative Writing) and has commenced a Masters in Social Development at UNSW. She was nominated as an Australian Arrow Emerging Leader and graduated the Arrow program in 2017. Alice has worked in community development, events management and strategic partnerships for Rough Edges Community Centre in Kings Cross and Oasis Youth Support Network in Surry Hills in the areas of homelessness, youth and mental health. For the past four years, Alice has worked at Wollongong City Council in Community Cultural Development focusing on arts/culture sector development, strategic planning and supporting arts organisations and festivals.
Recently, Alice has worked with clients such as Wollongong Writers Festival, Department of Education and Verb Syndicate in partnership and funding development. She is currently a member of the Australasian Birth Trauma Association Fundraising and Development Committee. Alice also works as a freelance producer, writer and musician.
Daniel Potter
Board Member
Daniel is an arts management professional based in Sydney, Australia and holds a post-graduate degree in Arts and Entertainment Management (Deakin University), graduating with distinction. He commenced work in the creative industries at age 15 as a lighting technician at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, transitioning into event logistics and management upon leaving school. This culminated in forming and leading a collective of young creative and event professionals to manage productions and events across the Sydney and Wollongong regions. In late 2007, Daniel commenced work with Merrigong Theatre Company as Production Coordinator, and in 2008 took on the role of Production Services Manager with the same company, working as part of the executive team that won a Drovers Award for Excellence as a Theatre Presenter in 2010. Daniel took up the position of Venue and Production Manager at Belvoir in 2011 and soon after accepted the role of Director of Production. In this capacity, Daniel worked extensively with some of Australia’s most renowned theatre makers and administrators, leading production and creative teams to countless opening nights across the country and internationally.
Since 2015, Daniel has held the position of Executive Director / CEO of Shopfront Arts Co-op., a youth arts organisation based in Sydney, Australia. Daniel also serves on the boards of Beyond Empathy, and as chair of the board for Theatre Network NSW, NSW’s peak body for Theatre. He is a 2021 member of CreateNSW’s Artform Advisory board for Theatre & Musical Theatre.
Daniel believes creative expression is crucial to building strong and engaged communities and is passionate about utilising the arts as a tool of empowerment for adults and Young People alike.
Elias Rees
Board Member
Elias Rees is a proud Gomeroi, Warramungu and Chilean man. Elias Rees became involved with Beyond Empathy aged 11, participating in music, dance, visual arts and circus workshops. With BE he attended two Youth Leadership Camps and in 2009 got into film work with the short film 2506, Indigenous Health Promotion “Your Choice Now” and feature film Rites Of Passage. Elias landed feature roles on ABC’s Redfern Now, Sydney Film Festival Short ‘The Chuck In’ and feature film Around The Block; working alongside icons like Jack Thompson and Christina Ricci. Elias has more recently appeared in ABC’s Cleverman and BE’s latest feature film Protection. Elias Rees is an emerging producer, project coordinator, editor and community leader. Elias is also a member of the Beyond Empathy Board. Elias is currently interested in developing his connection to Country and First Nations mentoring. His work integrates his personal journey as a proud Aboriginal man through his mentoring relationships with young people.