About
I am an artist, practitioner and advocate currently living on Gadigal Land also known as Sydney, Australia, and come from a migrant background of Greek, German and Latvian heritage. I have worked for over 20 years as a leader in the Arts and Disability and Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) sector, as a director, facilitator, choreographer, and set designer; working in devised and multi artform theatre and performance.
I am currently Artistic Director of the revered Milk Crate Theatre company in Sydney, and through this role and those before it, as a person who also has lived experiences in mental health, I have had the utmost privilege of co-facilitating pathways with people with disability, mental ill health and experiences of homelessness and trauma, to find their place as artists. My core aim in all forms of my practice is to fortify artistic courage.
Across my career, I have developed core methodologies that balance Trauma-Informed Care (acknowledgement of a person’s lived experiences), and a Strengths-Based approach (identifying a person’s strengths, skills and fortitude) in facilitating the making of performance. I received my very first education in the field of Arts and Disability as an emerging artist, working with Adelaide’s stunning Restless Dance Theatre in 2004-8. Since then, I have continued my passion for person-led practice by learning, integrating and delivering processes underpinned by the tenets of the historic Disability Rights Movements (“Never About Us Without Us”), the Social Model of Disability, and the Dignity of Risk.
I have worked with so many people over the years, across a range of lived experiences, from ages 4 to 84, and in any process my aim is to develop a reciprocal trust with each person, to truly see a person’s inherent skills and intelligence, and to challenge people to believe they can be more than their stories of trauma and pain.
I support people in making performance work that does not ask for rehashing or re-living of traumatic experiences. I encourage people to investigate from a point of artistic enquiry first, then faciltate a transparent devising process. I aim to co-produce work that a community is proud of, that is beautiful and resonant, genuinely expressive of the community itself, presented with dignity and truth, and executed with high level production outcome.
BIOGRAPHY
Margot Politis is an impassioned artist and leader in Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) best practice, whose focus is to advocate and make space for the expression of people who do not have neurotypical access to professional arts practice. For over 20 years, Margot has worked as a performer, director, choreographer, film director, and devisor of interdisciplinary and immersive performance works comprising theatre, movement, light, sound and set design. She proudly identifies as living in mental health and addiction recovery.
Margot began her career performing with Adelaide’s Restless Dance Theatre in 2004, after graduating from the Flinders University Drama Centre. After moving to Sydney she worked until 2015 as the Accessibility Director at Shopfront Arts Co-op; establishing and directing the Bodylines and Harness Ensembles of young people with disability. Independently Margot has worked and studied with various inclusive companies and artists in Australia, the USA and the UK. In 2016 she premiered her independent work, The Forest Unyielding, part of a 2 year multi-faceted project addressing mental health and addiction. In 2019/20 Margot was awarded residencies with Ausdance NSW and the Inner West Council to develop her independent work, Temperance, about her recovery from alcoholism as viewed through her Greek heritage.
Margot was appointed Artistic Director of Milk Crate Theatre in 2018, designing and directing the company’s major productions Natural Order (2019), Tiny Universe (2021) with Natalie Rose / Shopfront Arts Co-op, MCT: A Retrospective (2022) and anniversary exhibition EMERGENCE (2023), DUST (2022), SOLACE (2023) with David Clarkson / Box of Birds. In 2024 Margot is co-directing Milk Crate’s second co-production with Natalie Rose / Shopfront Arts Harness Ensemble, Hello, Are You Still There?
Margot is currently deeply engaging with set design, aesthetics, space, DIY and ASMR for experiential accessibility of performers and audiences.
CVs
COMPANIES I WORK WITH
Milk Crate Theatre effects social change through the power of performance. We provide opportunities for people whose voices are under-represented in mainstream discourses to engage in artistic practice, sharing bold and resonant stories that build empathy and break down barriers. Our community of Collaborative Artists are generally living with, have experienced or are at risk of homelessness; living with mental health or disability support needs; have experienced domestic violence, or come from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. With a deep and genuine Community Arts and Cultural Development ethos, and employment of Sydney’s most exciting and community-versed contemporary artists, we make dynamic and impactful performance work that integrates film, sound, movement and aesthetic to achieve high level outcome in the expression of integral social justice subject matter.
Shopfront Arts Co-op is the home of youth arts. We stand as Sydney’s only cross-art form organisation led by and dedicated to the artistry of young people. For over four decades, Shopfront has amplified the voices of young people. Supported by practising, professional artists, our members make bold and ambitious works of creative expression. We champion acts of artistic bravery. We are acknowledged for this bravery through awards, recognition and support of arts bodies, and by the thousands of people who have at one time or another in the last four decades considered Shopfront to be their second home. Being a member of Shopfront means you are part of something. Our co-operative is an inclusive community of artists sharing a common goal of making great art (and having a lot of fun along the way). 
DirtyFeet is a not-for-profit contemporary organisation dedicated to nurturing creativity among emerging artists with and without disabilities. Through our programs, including The Right Foot, we provide contemporary dance workshops that offer young people a transformative experience. These workshops serve as a vital opportunity for participants to develop their skills in contemporary dance, build confidence, enhance their theatrical abilities, and learn the importance of teamwork and collaboration. Led by professional artists with and without disabilities, The Right Foot is a nurturing environment where individuals of all abilities can explore their creativity and express themselves through movement.