Writing, curatorial, podcast and creative production work
Kate was trained as a journalist and worked as a story producer for ABC Radio and CBC Radio for close to a decade. She draws on these foundational story telling skills in her professional work as a content producer, communications manager or creative producer. Kate has written a number of long form magazine articles for a variety of publications and writes and produces an award winning podcast about people who research Victorian archives. In addition she has been hired to write heritage trails and content which reflect truth telling and diverse histories of place.
Podcast Producer, Writer and Editor: Look History in the Eye is an award winning history podcast produced by Kate and her team. In 2020 Kate and her team produced the first podcast for the Victorian Archives Centre in order to extend the reach of their public programs during the pandemic and to draw attention to lesser known urban history. The series interviews people who 'dig into archival boxes and bother to wonder why'. Kate wrote and produced a number of mini documentaries for the series including 'The Silent Prison: the Panopticon' about the design of Pentridge Gaol, 'From Deadtown to Musictown' on Melbourne bar culture, and 'They called her Madame B' about the infamous 19th Century brothel owner Caroline Hodgson. The series aims to reflect diverse histories of Melbourne people and places through archival records research.
Exhibition Curation: From 2016 Kate's team managed co-curated exhibitions for the VAC Gallery at the Victorian Archives Centre. She managed an operational team who wrote content for annual exhibitions and supported travelling exhibitions. She has co-written a number of exhibitions to promote archival photographic collections including From Mos to Mullets about the politics of hair; Beyond Bluestone featured archival photographs of major capital projects in Melbourne, which pushed architectural boundaries and transformed an international city. Of Kin and Kind, a celebration of Melbourne subcultures; and Tech School, the history of hands-on education and lost trades. All exhibitions are published online within the Google Cultural Institute.
Heritage Walking Trails and Signage: In 2022 Kate was hired by The Blue Print landscape architectural firm as a freelance writer to produce two walking trails for a revitalization project managed by the Hawkesbury River Council, for the town centres of Richmond and Windsor. Kate grew up on Dyarrubin | Hawkesbury River and is familiar with the region. In collaboration with local historical societies and Dharug and Darkinjung families and knowledge holders, and referencing the work of historian Grace Karskens, the fifty signs included histories of pre colonial river clan cultural practices, colonial invasion, European farming, sly grog production, Aboriginal song-lines as well as histories of local women, Italian fruit growers and Chinese market gardeners.
Photography: Kate has experience photographing landscapes and internal organisations.
The Road In 2021 Kate was one of the narrative curators of The Road, a 15 minute video art projection piece which aims to immerse the visitor in wide open landscapes. The piece forces a mental unraveling by moving the viewer from the harsh stimulating urban landscape of a city into and above expansive Australian deserts. Exhibited in Darwin for Untitled Gallery and then showcased at the 2022 Desert Arts Festival. The project was produced during the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown. This is a collaborative work using footage shot by Shez Cairney, edited by Trevor Almeida, curated by Shez Cairney and Kate Follington, with original music by Jody Galvin, Mung Balding and Rob McPherson (Garagee)
Long Format Articles: Kate has written a number of long format journalistic articles as a freelance writer. From travel articles to personal lifestyle pieces Kate has been published by a range of publications. She has written for: Vietnam Airlines Magazine; Slate Magazine, for Me and My Mutation; The respected Canadian publication The Tyee on repatriation of indigenous artifacts; for Traces Magazine, on modernist design in reducing 20th Century pandemics; and for communications journal Story.com she wrote a How To article on persuasive communication strategies.
Exhibition content: This short profile video of the photographer James Henry was produced for the exhibition Of Kin and Kind. explaining the role of modern day recordkeepers in capturing contemporary cultural practices of our Aboriginal communities.