Toni-Mia Scalora, Fairfax Youth Associate

Toni-Mia Scalora (She/Her)

Define your experience/ creative practice/ background.

Growing up I fell in love with dance and started lessons as a toddler. I later went onto playing the guitar and singing. These skills led me to be able to do lots of work alongside Youth Inc and the Youth Arts Festival, where I would do lots of performing and busking for them. I then went on to be an ambassador of the Youth Art Festival, which was a great experience! During this time I had also performed in many theatre shows at school, I was involved in every year of my schooling, this led me to the opportunity of being the arts captain at St Mary MacKillop College and later on the school captain. Leadership was something important to me and I have been lucky enough in my time to have had many leadership roles throughout my life. During this I was also a part of Fairfax for many years. This also led me to starting at Swan Hill Theatre Group where I have done many roles from sound tech, to onstage, costumes, directing and now I am the Vice-Chair of Swan Hill Theatre Group, and also the producer and mentor director for our upcoming musical Frozen Jr. During this time I had also taken up piano. 

Describe your connection to rural Australia or to the Mallee?

I grew up in a small town called Tooleybuc in NSW and as I went into the workforce I moved to Swan Hill, so I have lived in the Mallee my entire life. 

How long have you been involved with Fairfax?

I did my first performance with Fairfax when I was in year 9 and have been involved many times since, so that would have been 6 years ago. 

What is a favourite memory you have from Fairfax?

The group choir!!!

What is something that you learned from Fairfax that you still use today?

Skill development, especially when working with younger artists, I work with many young artists in Swan Hill, and Fairfax has taught me many things to aid me in that position that I have. 

What are you hoping to do in the future?

In the future, I am hoping to complete my uni course of Primary School Teaching and then later work for 12 months in Europe to explore the art and fashion scenes there.