Turning World was awarded an ASEAN-Australia Centre grant for a strategy connecting the Southeast Asian and Australian creative industries at Australia’s largest gathering of performing arts professionals – the Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) 2026 and 2028.
Over two years, Turning World will research and visit ASEAN countries where the Australian cultural sector can benefit from better market knowledge to facilitate exchange and collaboration.
It is our hope that through this research, the Australian sector gets to know key cultural leaders from the ASEAN region, people-to-people connections develop, and more exchange and collaborations occur with Southeast Asia.
In 2025, our research took us to Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao in Thailand; to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang in Malaysia; and to Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Makassar in Indonesia.
In February 2026, Turning World hosted an incredible delegation of creative leaders from Southeast Asia as part of APAM. 11 ‘superconnectors’ from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam supported by the ASEAN-Australia Centre joined 20+ delegates from across Southeast Asia at Australia’s most important performing arts market.
Turning World hosted a ‘Southeast Asia Networking’ session and individual delegates were invited to participate in an ‘Artistic Exchange and Co-Creation with Asia’ Long Table and a ‘Free to Create’ Conversation. Thailand’s collective Thrixept and Red Nguyen from Vietnam pitched their ‘Street Dance Futures Across Southeast Asia’ project with Melbourne’s Cypher Culture. Alongside APAM, some delegates spent time before and after in Hobart and Melbourne hosted by various Australian arts orgs to seed deeper connections.
We continue our research in 2026. Read about inspiring people we meet along the way via an #ASEANsuperconnectors series on our instagram, facebook and linkedin
ASEAN-Australia Centre
The ASEAN-Australia Centre builds on the Australian Government’s commitment to deepen engagement with Southeast Asia for a peaceful, stable and prosperous region.
It delivers programs and initiatives across four strategic pillars – Southeast Asia literacy, economic linkages, education and cultural connections.
Find out more at aseanaustraliacentre.org.au and @aseanaustraliacentre
