Out of the Box

Karla Dickens is a cross cultural artist. She also crosses mediums on this episode of Out of the Box: poring through memories both sonic and visual. She talked about the music she loves, the places it takes her, and how much doing so feels like rifling through an old box of photos. Those photos show us a life that spans the city and the bush, a life that, at times, was coloured by psychedelia...

Dr Stephen Jurd is an addiction medicine specialist psychiatrist, Clinical Associate Professor at University of Sydney and has been instrumental in developing addiction recovery services and 12 step recovery centres across Australia, including The Sydney Retreat. Mia and Stephen sit down to talk about his personal experiences with addiction and how this lead him to specialise in such a stigma...

Acclaimed choreographer and dancer Martin del Amo sat down with Mia ahead of his show ‘Mirage’ as part of Sydney Festival 2022. He discussed how he came to develop his idiosyncratic, some might say “kooky” style of dance, Berlin’s creative community in the 90’s in comparison to Sydney’s, some of his big achievements as a dancer, and his upcoming...

2021 was a huge year for Out of the Box, and we're celebrating that by doing a huge end-of-year wrap-up.  We connected over Zoom a lot this year, and we walked through the chronologies of some very big stories. We looked at topics like race, gender, sexuality, politics, art, and religion.  It was really hard to whittle them down, but these are some of the guests/ stories/ songs that stuc...

Two weeks after wrapping up on FBi’s breakfast program Up For It, Courtney Ammenhauser made a grand return to the station to jump on the Out of the Box guest mic. It turns out she has a whole life outside of FBi and it spans many career trajectories and many spots along Australia’s east coast. Think calamine lotion, banana farming, a shiny backpack, a Tarago, lots of comedy, lots of ra...

Gabbi Bolt is a musical comedian, Tik Tok star, and writer for The Chaser. She sat down with Mia ahead of her first solo show, ‘I Hope My Keyboard Doesn’t Break’ to chat about the way people don’t pay attention to the radio (R.I.P), growing up in a small town with too many pubs, receiving a gift from former prime minister Kevin Rudd, the dad rat from ‘Ratatouille&rsqu...

Glace Chase is a multiple award-winning multi-disciplinary trans-queen, performer, playwright, comic, screenwriter, tour guide, and fixture in New York City's drag community. She sat down with Mia ahead of her show at Sydney Theatre Company 'Triple X' - a trans love story. She's been in Australia since the beginning of 2020 due to multiple COVID-related 'Triple X' cancellations, and boy has she be...

Miro Bilbrough is an artist, poet, screenwriter and filmmaker. She sat down with Mia to chat about her new memoir 'In the Time of the Manaroans', and tease out some of the stories it contains. From leaving home at an early age, to living in a commune in remote Malborough Sounds, to life modelling, to pursuing the arts, to discovering her knack for the written word, Miro's life is one of immense gr...

Rainbow Chan is a musician, producer, vocalist, and interdisciplinary artist of Hong Kong-Chinese descent, living in Sydney. She sat down with Mia to roll through her earliest memories in Hong Kong, entry into the world of performance and music, her first heartbreak, seeking uniqueness and authenticity in her musical and artistic odyssey, and creative passion projects moving forward. Rainbow'...

Michael Shafar is a standup comic, and writer for Network 10’s The Project and Studio 10. You might have also caught him on ABC’s Comedy Bites, and Triple J’s Good Az Friday. He sat down with Mia ahead of his standup show ‘For Sale: New Jokes, Never Told’ to chat about the moments in his life that got him to this point. They involved Subway meat, Judaism, good comedy,...

You might know Shane Jenek by their drag name Courtney Act. They’re a drag artist, singer, advocate, cultural provocateur, and now author, with their memoir ‘Caught in the Act’ hitting shelves ahead of their chat with Mia.  In this episode, they explored grey areas and bright moments: from the space between Courtney and Shane, to Brisbane in the 80s, to a kiss at the St...

Brendan Cowell is a master storyteller. I skill that’s shown its face in his acting, directing, plays, tv-series, books, and poetry. He caught up with Mia to discuss his new novel ‘Plum’, which chronicles the life of an ex-NRL player with a brain injury and a love for poetry. ‘Plum’ is one of the many stories Brendan has put his name to over years, and his life bares...

Paul McDermott makes a mean cup of tea. But you probably know him better as a member of the Doug Anthony All Stars and the former host of Good News Week. This week, he catches up with Mia to talk about growing from a demon-free twin into an instrument-eschewing artist with a pretty voice; falling into Adelaide Fringe Award-winning DAAS through a chance encounter outside a food truck; bei...

Sri Lankan-born contemporary artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran sat down with Mia ahead of his latest exhibition, 'The Guardians'. They discussed the materials and ideas that form his artistic practice, the migrant narrative, art education, and his diva-driven playlist. This episode was produced by Mary Ventura See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yehudis Milchtein reached out to FBi Radio from Paris to promote the band Moonage Hookers , which she manages, but Out of the Box EP Glen Wolter discovered that Yehudis herself had an incredible story to tell.  Yehudis chatted to Mia about her upbringing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in an Orthodox Jewish environment and discussed the Lubavitch Hasidic movement that her family followed as well as t...

Musician and (newly appointed) author AViVA sat down with Mia ahead of publishing her book 'SELF/LESS' - the first book in a young adult series. Along with reflecting on the contents of 'SELF/LESS', AViVA talked about growing up in a musical melting pot of genres, her classical training and early entry into music, the pursuit of dreams, fitting in, garnering an international fanbase, and her Disco...

Isabelle Reinecke is a movement lawyer: someone who uses the power of law to serve social movments. Isabelle is the Founder and Executive Director of Grata Fund, the 2021 Women's Leadership Institute of Australia Fellow and the 2016 Churchill fellow. Isabelle joins Mia to talk about her influential upbringing; fighting injustice at an early age, petitioning against funding cuts to ABC Kids in...

Instafluencer, artist and emerging TV personality Phil Ferguson, aka @chilyphilly, joins Mia to talk about growing up in a small-country town and the artistic influence of both their family and rural life; studying Fine Arts and coming to terms with a formal art practice while engaging with a diverse audience; creating @chilyphilly, going viral and rising to Instagram fame as well as evolving...

The proudly Labor Member for Sydney, Hon. Tanya Plibersek MP, joins Mia to talk about growing up in a politically engaged Slovenian-Australian family with two encouraging older brothers; her entry into (and temporary disenchantment with) the Labor Party, and her early election to Parliament; how a commitment to positive change and big ideas, rather than personal ambition, drives her work; her...

Dr George Gittoes AM is currently on his way back to Jalalabad in Afghanistan, where his Yellow House helps young people in the community, including young women, build their skills in creative arts and filmmaking. George has confronted extreme violence with art in places of conflict and warzones around the world for more than 50 years. He is an activist, artist, and filmmaker who is fiercely...

Bart Denaro — current MusicNSW Head of Content / former Kid Confucius drummer, Briscoe frontman, and FBi volunteer manager — conducts a long-overdue "exit interview" with Mia. He talks about bombing his FBi interview but still landing the dreamy job, maintaining and passing on his family's Italian traditions, false starting his way into drumming for a big Australian band, falling down...

Our guest today is creative industries innovator, Councillor, and Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney Jess Scully. Jess tells Mia about her childhood in the Western suburbs and Central Tablelands and on the Chilean coast; her high school discovery of Newtown's cultural life and her transformation into a 90s suburban Triple J kid; her post-school years, where her legal studies succumbed to...

It's fair to say that Chas Licciardello has become a phoenix within the Australian media landscape. In this episode, he talks to Mia about growing up as a perpetually sick and hyperrational kid from Maroubra; the rise and (inevitable and protracted) demise of The Chaser's War on Everything; and his new cause — trying to help solve the ills of Australian news media with illuminating...

Content warning: This episode contains discussions of domestic and family violence Amani Haydar is a writer, artist and advocate for women's safety. She has just published her memoir 'The Mother Wound', which deals with the insidious domestic abuse and eventual murder of her mother committed by her father. She's also made art that speaks to this tragedy; for which she became an Archibald Prize fin...

Alexandra Keddie and Bobbie-Jean Henning - creators, writers, superstars, and very famous people - dial in from Naarm/Melbourne to chat to Mia about their brand new mockumentary web series 'The Power of the Dream' and the way that their lives have run parallel and intersected on their pursuit of Olympic/ comedy gold. Come for the banter, stay for Alex and Bobbie's inspired musical theatre and powe...