Equity’s Diversity Committee works with industry stakeholders to help create an inclusive industry and develop a more realistic representation on Australia’s screens and stages.

The committee was established to recommend policies, advocate support structures and broadly address issues of diversity. The committee considers diverse casting to include the casting of culturally and linguistically diverse performers, women performers and performers with disability in roles where race, ethnicity, sexual preference, gender or the presence or absence of a disability is not relevant. For further information or to get involved, contact ashley.rose@meaa.org

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The Diversity Committee consists of more than 100 performers across Australia. Their elected leaders are:

Amy Sole (Co-Chair)
Amy Sole is a proud Wiradjuri/Worimi person. Amy is a playwright, director, actor, dramaturg and advocate. They are Creative Associate at Ilbijerri Theatre Company and a recent graduate of MFA (Directing) at NIDA and hold a Master of Theatre (Playwriting) from VCA. Recent works for theatre include Whitefella Yella Tree (co director, Griffin Theatre company) Benched (director, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, 2022), Burning (writer/director, NIDA, 2022) Amy regularly directs developments of new works, most recently Phoebe Grainer’s Sugarcane for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award and Dylan Ven Den Berg’s way back when at Darlinghurst Theatre Company. They have worked as assistant director on God’s Country (NIDA, 2022), Metamorphoses (NIDA, 2021), and RENT (Sydney Opera House, 2021). They are also Creative Director of Big Blak Bang, a festival of First Nations storytelling and Artist-in-Residence at Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Co-Founder of Puddle or Pond Theatre Company, and a sitting Co-Chair of the Equity Diversity Committee.

Jonathan Chan (Co-Chair)
Jonathan trained at the University of Wollongong with a Bachelor of Creative Arts (Performance: Theatre) and has since worked extensively all over the country and internationally for over 20 years.Theatre highlights include: Slow Boat (Lin Ghit) for Brisbane Festival, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Bun Foo) and The King & I for The Production Company, as well as National Tours of The Peasant Prince (Dia/Others), Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Masahiro/Father) and four productions with The Australian Theatre of the Deaf. In London, he appeared in the West End Transfer of It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman (Father Ling), The Last Days of Limehouse (Stanley Lim), Turandot Reimagined (Madarin/Timur) and The Secret Island (Uncle Huat). Jonathan was a member of The Three Waiters (Australia/Asia) and was a principal artist at The Venetian, Macau. Television appearances include Wakefield (ABC), Wok (UK), TFI Friday (Channel 4, UK), Old School (ABC), Hamster Wheel (ABC) and The Ronnie Johns Half Hour (TEN).

Saroni Roy (Co-Chair)
A Jill of many trades, Saroni is an Australian actor, model and social-entrepreneur based in Sydney. Saroni has worked in Australian and International screen projects including Film, TV, Web Series, Commercial Campaigns, Music Videos, and Documentaries and is Co-Chair, Equity Diversity. Saroni was recently awarded the 2020 NSW Volunteer of the Year Award for her contribution towards India-Australia friendship as a volunteer and MC at the multi-cultural United Indian Associations Inc. UIA-Mateship Fair 2019 and is also a 2020 Western Sydney Awards for Business Excellence (WSABE) finalist in the Commonwealth Bank Excellence in Arts & Culture category as a leading member of Greater Western Sydney’s business community.

Charley Sanders (Co-Chair)
Charley is a director, performer, and theatre-maker, and Co Artistic Director of House of Sand. She holds an Adv. Dip. Arts (Acting) from AC Arts and an MFA (Directing) from NIDA. Directorial credits Include That Was Friday, all h0urs, REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN. and The Split (HoS) Welcome The Bright World (HoS & STCSA), Titus Andronicus; Mother Courage; O Go My Man; Slavs (ACArts) TransScripts (Paul Lucas Prod. NYC) Love Child, Seven Jewish Children, Like A Fishbone (Early Worx). Assistant director: Cosi Fan Tutte (Opera Australia), Maggie Stone (STCSA), Julia (STC). Charley has appeared in King Lear (STCSA), Sweeney Todd (ACArts), RENT (Catchy Title) Angels In America (Papermoon), created and performed two award-winning cabaret’s A Modest Exhibit and Queer, and understudied the role of Dexie in Triple X (Glace Chase, STC). Charley has experience as an acting and directing teacher, drag artist, dramaturge, producer, is an audio describer for blind/low vision audiences, and consultant to creative entrepreneurs through Creative+Business.

Dan Graham (Co-Chair)
Dan Graham is a theatre director and disability advocate with a particular interest in access support for neuro-diverse performing artists. Dan has engaged with companies across Australia such as Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Festival, Sydney Fringe, Antipode Theatre Company, Opera House and La Mama. His recent collaborations in the US include the Atlantic Theatre Company, Roundabout Theatre Company and Pasadena Playhouse and in the UK the Globe Theatre. Dan is a Churchill Fellow, an ISPA Fellow for Australia, a fellow of the Australia Council’s Future Leaders Program, Create NSW fellowship recipient and a recipient of an Ian Potter Foundation Scholarship. As a professional theatre director with mild cerebral palsy with neuro-diverse issues Dan regularly acts as an advocate for trained performing artists with disabilities particularly of a neuro-diverse nature. Later this year Dan will be a guest speaker at The Kennedy Center’s Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) Conference in Boston. Dan is Access Cordinator of Brand X Productions in Sydney. Dan is on several boards championing accessible and inclusive arts across the sector.

Shewit Belay (Co-Chair)
Shewit Belay is an Eritrean-Australian performer currently making her professional debut in the Australian company of Hamilton. She holds a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from James Cook University and has been juggling her dual medical and musical careers for the last two years. Her experiences in both fields, although early, have been fulfilling, challenging and eye-opening, giving her a unique insight into issues of diversity and representation in the entertainment industry – the same problems that she has encountered in her time working as a doctor. Shewit is a staunch supporter of specific, inclusive and anti-racist policies as the standard in the workplace and looks forward to working as a co-chair to make the industry a better place for diverse artists. Shewit has been a proud member of Equity since 2022.