About
Welcome to Music in Exile, a not-for-profit record label and registered charity supporting musicians with lived experience of migration and displacement who are living and working in the Australian music industry.
Our vision is for a society where people are genuinely connected and caring, working together to create a safe and harmonious future for all. We believe we can achieve this by first supporting individual artists in sharing their stories, generating a strong sense of cohesion in our community and building an Australian music industry that accurately represents the many voices of us all.
All of our work is undertaken according to the guiding value of ‘artist first’, ensuring individual artists have ownership over the tools, resources and networks they will need to build vibrant and fruitful careers in the arts. We seek to make lasting change by first empowering individuals, and are proud to have achieved the following milestones:
- $792,455 paid directly to artists for recording or touring activity
- 38 albums, EPs or singles released, reaching more than 50 countries worldwide
- 100+ original compositions recorded
- 1,000,000+ annual streams worldwide
- 300+ live performances across all states and territories of Australia
- Curation at major national and international arts festivals including: Darwin Festival, Perth Festival, Adelaide Festival, Sydney Festival, WOMADelaide, Port Fairy, Golden Plains, Meredith Music Festival, Strawberry Fields, Dark Mofo, Parramatta Lanes, RISING, The Great Escape + many more!
- International creative development opportunities including a one-week residency on the island of Hydra, Greece; plus co-writing sessions in London, UK
Music in Exile acknowledges the Traditional Owners of land across Australia where we work, understanding the deep connection First Peoples have to Country and their ongoing custodianship of it. We specifically acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, where Music in Exile is based, and note that sovereignty was never ceded.
Our team
Joe Alexander
Founder/CEO
For the past twelve years, Joe Alexander has developed and run a plethora of creative initiatives in independent music.
Each of these initiatives has focused on achieving a particular outcome within the music industry, such as advocating for representation of musicians from a refugee or migrant background, profiling musicians and arts workers working in regional and remote areas, bringing contemporary musicians together in collaboration and community building, or simply promoting innovative and exciting new work by Australian artists.
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Nadeem Tiafau Eshraghi
Events & Partnerships Coordinator
Nadeem is a Samoan Iranian artist, musicker and producer based on Wurundjeri Country. Over the last decade they've worked across a range of projects, spaces, and events that are expansive, heart-lead and socially responsive.
Informed by their lived and inherited experiences, they're drawn to the cultivation of sustainable, creative, and intentional communities, marked through meaningful experiments surrounding music, food and the arts.
Sia Ahmad
Manager, Artist Accelerator Program
Sia Ahmad is a songwriter, artist, improviser, curator and facilitator. Over the last two decades, she has brought an outsiders eye and DIY ethos to the way she brings communities together.
An Art Music Awards winner and Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address Lecturer, Sia has released a wide spectrum of original music around the world. Her creative practice brings together the punk-first approach of her youth with an exploratory take on her Bangladeshi heritage.
Sia is also Director for MusicACT, and a Board Director for the Australian Music Centre and Earshift Music.
Our board
Luke de Zilva
Chairperson
Luke is an arts, not-for-profit and charity leader. He is the Engagement Director at the Indigenous social enterprise Awesome Black and the Awesome Black Foundation, and the Deputy Director & Community Liaison for the Indigenous charity Life for Koori Kids.
Luke has worked with some of Australia’s most respected creative and purpose-based organisations, including Sydney Opera House, the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Writers’ Festival, Tranby Aboriginal Cooperative, Sydney Festival, Red Room Poetry, Overland, Carriageworks and Creative Australia amongst others.
Luke is also a musician, curator, presenter for Sydney’s fbi.radio, and arts access advocate.
Isabelle Tolhurst
Secretary
Isabelle is a qualified journalist with experience in communications for the arts, not-for-profit, and government sectors.
She is a current Councillor for the Borough of Queenscliffe, having served twice as Mayor. She is also an affiliate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Dominique Bird
Director
Dom brings more than two decades of experience in creative and impact-driven leadership. Alongside his advisory roles, he maintains an active creative practice producing music, running an independent label, DJing, and curating events.
Earlier in his career, Dom spent several years working in education in New York. He later founded a youth employment initiative in Northern Australia and a Brisbane (Meanjin) based record label platforming local artists. His current work focuses on supporting social entrepreneurs to launch and scale ideas with long-term impact.
Dom holds a Bachelor of Education and an MBA from the University of Queensland.
Kamna Muddagouni
Director
Kamna Muddagouni is a migrant who has lived on unceded Wurundjeri Country in Narrm since she migrated from India as a child with her family.
Through her experience as a lawyer, policy advisor, working in advocacy and community campaigns over the last ten years, Kamna has a deep understanding of the power of community driven and accountable social change.
As a founder and organiser of South Asian collective Kerfew, Kamna has led producing events and spaces across Australia, platforming artists, exploring identity, and connecting the South Asian underground scene with broader club culture.
Charlotte Galleguillos
Director
Charlotte Galleguillos is an arts leader passionate about social justice and equity. She is currently working for the Powerhouse Museum, helping to deliver the Powerhouse Parramatta. She previously served as Deputy Director of the Biennale of Sydney. Throughout her career, Charlotte has championed inclusive programming across New South Wales, serving as the inaugural Chair of the Australian Museum's Reconciliation Action Plan and leading arts education and employment pathways for Indigenous youth at Carriageworks. She is also a Board Member of the Sheila Foundation.
Greg Edelmaier
Treasurer
Greg is a qualified accountant (CPA) with more than 15 years experience in managing and leading finance departments in the not-for-profit sector.
He is the Chief Financial Officer of STREAT leading social impact and innovation in the social enterprise community. He is also the Treasurer of the Richmond High School Council, involved in building a new inner-city high school with community at its heart.
Greg is a passionate music lover, having grown up in the suburbs of Melbourne making fanzines, writing for street press magazines, and volunteering on community radio stations across Victoria.
Greg also has more than 10 years of board experience for community radio. He is passionate about building and supporting financially and socially sustainable businesses that change lives.