British Council Australia is proud to support Aisha Mirza’s visit to Australia this June for RISING Festival in Melbourne.
Aisha Mirza is a UK based DJ and founder of MISERY, a sober club night and mental health hub for queer folks. As part of the RISING festival, Aisha will headline Crip Rave Theory. Established by DJ Aquenta (Riana Head-Toussaint) in 2022, Crip Rave Theory is a club night that draws on disabled/crip knowledge to create more Intersectionality -accessible party spaces. The event emphasises community solidarity, self-expression, pleasure, and expanding club culture, welcoming all individuals and celebrating those traditionally marginalised in commercial nightlife spaces.
Additionally, they will join Riana Head-Toussaint for a panel discussion on the importance of community organising and advocacy. During the event, Aisha and Riana will share insights on how their values influence their curatorial practices and how their events have grown into vibrant community linchpins. The discussion, hosted by journalist and broadcaster Sosefina Fuamoli, will focus on creating accessible and intersectional club spaces in Australia, the UK and beyond. Aisha Mirza, a writer who explores mental health, sex, race, and gender, has contributed to various publications such as BuzzFeed, gal-dem, The Guardian, and The New York Times. Their work reflects on topics like racism, mental health, and emotional labour, with a particular focus on the impact of microaggressions on the psyche of queer black and brown individuals. Additionally, Aisha is a trained sexual assault, domestic violence, and suicide counsellor.
In 2018 Riana Head-Toussaint was an Australian Delegate at the Unlimited Festival and Symposium. The delegation was a partnership between British Council Australia, Accessible Arts NSW and Arts Access Victoria to support five Australian delegates to attend Unlimited for a week of performances, panel discussions and workshops.