UTILITY aka Austin Benjamin is a Sydney-based composer, producer and founder/director of local label Trackwork. His work has brought together some of the finest underground artists from across the world including Kelman Duran (US), Brodinski (France), Mall Grab, Logic1000, Formation Boyz (South Africa), and Clementaum (Brazil) to work with local and diverse Australian artists in rap, club and electronic music.

UTILITY’s work reaches beyond solely producing music to developing both the sonic and visual branding of projects with innovating local, emerging artists and producers across multiple genres, with collaborators including: Vv Pete, T Breezy, Walkerboy, Snoee Badman, Jesswar, Gino October, Lil Jaye, Eco$ystem, Sevy, Bayang, DoloRRes, Cherry Chola and Mali. 

Curatorial & Performance Highlights:
SXSW Austin 2025 - Vv Pete x UTILITY showcases

Trackwork label showcase at Barrabuwarri, Sydney Opera House

Dark Mofo with T Breezy, Walkerboy & Vv Pete

‘Club Service’ Vivid Sydney feat. LA-Based Dominican ‘Dystopic Reggaeton’ pioneer Kelman Duran (Beyoncés Renaissance)

Phoenix Central Park, Sydney

Live: Listen out, Promiseland, Mode, Denzel Curry’s Australian tour with Vv Pete.

Becki Whitton is an engineer, songwriter and producer working out of Melbourne’s Carriage Studio. Respected and sought-after for her sound work, Becki has received ARIA, AWMA, MPEG and Music Victoria Award nominations for her engineering and production across a range of genres, from pop and hiphop (Jessica Mauboy, Allday) to theatre soundtracks (Fangirls) to post hardcore (Closure in Moscow) to left-field and classical work (Josh Hooke, Gelareh Pour, Rainbow Chan, Brambles). 

As Aphir, Becki has been hailed as part of ‘Australia’s new wave of female electronic innovators’ and has performed around Australia and internationally including performances at Music Tech Fest (Berlin), Denmark Arts (WA), and Falls Festival. Her sixth LP, ‘The Halo Is Shapeless’, was released in May 2023 and was created from vocal improvisations manipulated using a combination of guitar pedals and Ableton-based effects processing.

With the saltwater of the Far South Coast & crystal clear water of The Snowy Mountains running through his veins, Jack Biilmann has been surrounded by inspiration his whole life. This has been absorbed and used to write a signature brand of blues, rock, soul, country and folk influenced song collections. The adopted Canberran has seen 10 years of national and international touring festival appearances, world famous Fender & Maton guitar endorsements, millions of streams, five albums and a reputation for a world class live show, Biilmann is widely known as one of Australia’s most talented artists in blues/roots/rock circles.

Josh Milch is a music programmer and digital producer living and working on Gadigal land. At Phoenix Central Park, Josh leads the curation of its contemporary music and digital offerings, supporting a plurality of local subcultures and presenting many Australian debuts for visiting international acts. Phoenix is a performing arts centre and gallery in Sydney’s inner-city created by Australian philanthropist Judith Neilson AM. He has contributed programming for the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Vivid Sydney, Sydney Festival and SXSW Sydney. 

Previously Josh has developed video content, livestreams and podcasts for the Sydney Opera House, working with artists such as The Cure, Solange, Jon Hopkins, Kelsey Lu and Iggy Pop.

After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor in Classical Piano Performance, Heather became best known for her work as one quarter of internationally renowned independent rock band, The Jezabels. The band has sold over 300,000 records worldwide, won an ARIA award and the Australian Music Prize. Shannon has spent most the past decade writing and recording award winning albums and performing in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, The O2 Arena (London), Webster Hall (New York) and at festivals such as Glastonbury (UK) and Lollapalooza (USA).

As a composer, Heather has received commissions from the Australian Chamber Orchestra (2019), the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (2018) and The Metropolitan Orchestra (2023). In 2021 she released a solo piano album titled Midnight Sun which was described by Guardian Australia as a “collision of perfection and punk” and was written whilst partaking in ArtsIceland, an artist residency in the Wesfjords of Iceland. Other composition experiences include writing the score for three independent Australian Films ‘Book Week’ (2018), ‘Broke’ (2016) and Sharko (2024). Most recently, after recording with Peter Garrett on 'The True North' (2024) Heather has been touring nationally with Peter Garrett and the Alter Egos.

Heather holds a masters in composition from the Sydney Conservatorium and teaches contemporary music students at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and TAFE NSW.

2025 AIR Independent Publicity Team of the Year nominee Liz Ansley (she/they) - trading as publicity and curation agency Special Interest, founded in 2018 - is an autistic multi-disciplinary professional with 10 years experience in the music industry across publicity, curation and music library management - they were 4ZZZ’s Music Coordinator between 2017-2020 - as well as artist management and consulting, presenting & public speaking, radio production and presenting, live events, music journalism, copywriting and more.

Across her years of experience Liz has led campaigns for artists like history-makers ARIA winner Emily Wurramara and 3x ARIA-nominated artist Miss Kaninna, MUNA, Jesswar, Nilüfer Yanya, Arlo Parks, Damon Albarn, Milan Ring, Rainbow Chan, Merpire, Selve, WAAX, Ezra Furman, Tiana Khasi,Bumpy, Moonchild Sanelly, Mykki Blanco, HAAi,Annie Hamilton, Wet, Sevdaliza, Kojey Radical,Röyksopp, Okay Kaya, Arig, Ampe-kehne Ahelhe (Children's Ground Central Australia), Sia Ahmad, Miss Blanks, Ella Haber, LÂLKA and many more, worked with labels like ABC Music, [PIAS] Australia, Soul Has No Tempo, Angus Andrew’s (Liars) No Gold, Hobbledehoy Records; and via her work with Super Duper: artists like Tiny Habits (US),  Ruby Gill, A. Swayze & the Ghosts, and venues like City Recital Hall, also working across campaigns for the likes of Soccer Mommy and Indigo De Souza, ARIA-nominated artist Georgia Mooney, Winten, Papaphilia, Jerome Blazé and many more, with recent curation work for the Wettest 100 2024.

Particular passions include building a rock-solid foundation for emerging artists and helping them to grow & tell their story in a way that feels good to them, introducing international artists to new audiences, supporting and nurturing fellow or aspiring industry professionals, and centring safety, accessibility, accountability and inclusivity in all endeavours.

Aleisha has been singing since age 6, performing in amateur musical theatre and with various bands. As a member of all-girl group Sweethearts, she's played at festivals in Australia, Italy, and Switzerland. In 2024, she released her debut original song Light under her artist name, Leisha.

Alex Raupach is an improviser, trumpet player and composer. His music explores spaces between notated composition, improvisation and song, through work with outstanding jazz musicians and unique solo projects. These include a long-standing quartet with award-winning jazz musicians Steve Barry, Tom Botting and Alex Hirlian; ensemble FAUNA + FLORA, with improvisers Wilbur Whitta and Flora Carbo alongside ARIA winning Australian jazz legend Jonathan Zwartz; and a piano-drums duo, REVELATOR, with Jack Rosenzweig. 

Recent projects include P R E T T Y   S L O W   M U S I C, a piano-and-vocal-based solo song cycle; Line Is Drawn, an immersive half-hour of minimalist ensemble improvisation against a soundscape of super-slow Bob Dylan bathed in the light of colour-coded climate data; and Giffen, the Sydney chamber-folk group in which he sings and plays double bass. Through regular performances at Smith’s Alternative, curatorship of Jazz at Verity Lane, and his work with the Canberra International Music Festival and Sydney Improvised Music Association, Alex has facilitated many new collaborations between leading Australian musicians in both Canberra and Sydney. He was nominated for the 2021 Freedman Jazz Fellowship.

Bindi Holiday is the experimental project of flutist, improviser, and sound artist Emily Thornton. Rooted in over fourteen years of classical training, the project steps beyond the concert hall into improvisation, electronics, and field recordings. Guided by intuition rather than hierarchy, Emily weaves soundscapes, improvisation, and ancestral memory into new forms of storytelling. Her work is deeply connected to community and cultural preservation, driven by a belief in music’s power to connect, heal, and inspire. For Emily, music is more than sound—it is a form of magic that binds people to culture, to land, and to one another, carrying the potential to transform and give voice to untold stories.

Holly George is a singer-songwriter, producer and artist creating on Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands. Her practice focuses on experimentation with electronic, ambient and rhythmic sonic qualities, amalgamating in ethereal and dream-pop soundscapes. Conceptually she explores themes of mental health, femininity, the state of the world and understanding relationships. Through soft harmonies, intricate rhythms and honest lyricism Holly provides poetic insights into her perspectives.

Lucky Wheeler (mentored by Becki Whitton)
Lucky is based on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country, performing as umki. Their work gestures toward queer futurity, myth, memory, and the building of tender thresholds for unmasking and summoning. Working across sound and visual art, umki's soundscapes ebb between post-club destruction and ambient latency, tracing soft architectures of imagined spaces. They have supported artists including Nai Palm, Ana Roxanne, Perila and JS (Motion Ward) and founded [portal] in Canberra, a mutable platform which recently hosted its first show abroad at bonobo in Shibuya.

Sienna El Rhazouani, also known as Zi Sana, is a local event organiser, creative, DJ, and ‘punter,’ dedicated to community-minded dance floors and futures. Zi Sana co-founded ZOUINA, a new collective based in Canberra/Ngunnawal Country with a focus on sound, selection and space. Zi Sana is grateful for the music she gets to share with others, and for the rich musical histories that have been shared with her. In celebrating the sonic and historical legacies of her home, her practice aims to be a journey through the cosmos, a love letter to the footmarks made before her, and the ones yet to come.