A new podcast that explores whether our arts and cultural sector truly reflects Australia’s multicultural society has been launched by Diversity Arts Australia. Hosted by DARTS Executive Director Lena Nahlous, The Colour Cycle is a seven-part series with an exciting line-up of guests including writer and actor Benjamin Law, Australian Race Discrimination Comissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane, performance poet Zainab Syed, refugee arts worker Carolina Triana, and writer Sunil Badami.

Lena Nahlous and Zainab Syed.

“We want our podcast to open up conversations about why our arts and screens don’t reflect Australia’s real cultural diversity”, said Nahlous. “We’re also showcasing some brilliant artists and creative workers along the way”.

As data collected by the 2016 Census demonstrates, Australia is an increasingly diverse nation, with nearly half of our population first or second-generation migrants. Yet as the Australia Council’s 2017 Making Art Work report has shown, artists identifying as being from a non-English speaking background have consistently been underrepresented compared to the Australian workforce: they make up only 10 percent of artists compared to 18 percent of the workforce.

Highlights of the series include Benjamin Law discussing the challenges of casting an Asian-Australian family in...