Outrage! 2025

Please join us for the annual RMIT Social Work and Human Services Outrage!

Kaleide Theatre 

360 Swanston Street Melbourne

Tuesday 18 March 2025 (World Social Work Day) FREE EVENT

5-7pm

In 2013, RMIT University Social Work held the first of the Outrage! series of public lectures in celebration of World Social Work Day, with this year’s theme of ‘Strengthening Intergenerational Solidarity for Enduring Wellbeing’, emphasising care and respect across generations for a better future.

This year, we explore socially just futures through the lens of critical hope which has a long history in liberatory social science projects. Educators, activists and practitioners have imagined futures where inequities are righted and marginalised peoples emancipated. In parallel, compelling cases have been made for the retirement and rejection of hope.

The 2025 Outrage lecture takes up the question of hope and hopelessness, of visions and accountabilities by bringing together a diverse panel to discuss these topics. Dancekin Collective and spoken word artist Tariro will share their ideas on hope through performance. We will conclude with light refreshments and opportunities to connect.

Panel members and performers

Dancekin Collective

Dancekin Collective are dancers with Down syndrome who shape their dance explorations and performances in community with dancers without Down syndrome.
The Dancekin Collective project sees dancers with Down syndrome integrally involved in the creative development and direction of works, including facilitating and leading within dance workshops. The Collective also works with RMIT social researchers and community organisations to inform and generate opportunities for dancers with Down syndrome. Dancekin Collective was established in 2024 by Tristan Sinclair who has worked with dancers with Down syndrome for many years with performance highlights at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. For the Outrage! performance, the dancers have developed the work through exploring their own ideas about hope and the role it plays in their lives

Michele Jarldorn, Senior Lecturer, Justice and Society, University of South Australia

Dr Michele Jarldorn (she/her) lives and works on unceded Kaurna Country. Michele is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of South Australia, where she coordinates the Social Work Honours Program and the course, Mental Health and Mental Wellbeing. Michele has a variety of research interests, that are connected by her commitment to prioritising the voices of research participants by using community-based, egalitarian and participatory co-design research methods. Her PhD thesis titled Radically Rethinking Imprisonment: A Photovoice Exploration of Life in and after Prison in South Australia was awarded the Flinders University Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Doctoral Excellence. Recently she co-edited a book titled Tutorial Ideas for Educators on the Run: Innovative and Engaging Social Justice Approaches and Teaching Activities. For the last decade, Michele has volunteered with Seeds of Affinity: Pathways for Women, a peer-led and driven community organisation that supports currently and formerly incarcerated women. Since 2017, Michele has been Chair of the Seeds Board of Management and exercises her advocacy skills at every opportunity. In 2023 Michele’s contributions to the community were recognised with her name added to the South Australian Women's Honour Roll.

Ted Johnston, Lived Experience Lead, Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing

Ted Johnston is a Queer, neurodivergent, First Nations person from Queensland. As a suicide survivor and having been bereaved by it, Ted leverages his lived experiences as a senior public servant to drive systemic change and better outcomes for marginalised people. Ted has worked across social policy, criminal justice, Indigenous Affairs, and currently works in the mental health sector.

Tariro Mavondo, Spoken Word Artist

Tariro Mavondo is an artist through and through, making poetry/spoken word and music with collaborators such as I Hold The Lion's Paw, being a dramaturg on a new Afro-futuristic play or working on the business side of the arts to champion communities and independent artists, Tariro lives and breathes creativity.

Alexandra Pierce, Australian Living Peace Museum

Alexandra Pierce is an editor, writer, podcaster, a board member of the Australian Living Peace Museum, helped create a Melbourne anti-conscription history walk and has been a teacher. In 2024 she launched the online journal Speculative Insight of thoughtful essays about science fiction and fantasy.

Warren Tyrell, Student, RMIT University

Warren is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, writer, and visual artist, with roots in Waanyi and Kalkadoon from the Gulf of Carpentaria Country, and Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Manu, Te Ātiawa from Aotearoa. His work bridges art and academia, weaving together cultural traditions, resilience, and a nuanced understanding of the Blak experience in a colonial context. Warren's practice spans music, visual arts, and printmaking, contributing to national collaborations and using cultural storytelling as a tool for connection, healing, and social change. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) at RMIT.