Associate Professor Donna Hewitt

Associate Professor in Music , Music technology, Music production, Creative Practice, Performance, Composition - School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Donna Hewitt

Email: dhewitt4@une.edu.au

Biography

Donna Hewitt is a vocalist, composer, instrument designer and academic. Donna’s specialises in electronic composition, music production and performance. Her creative practice explores mediatized performance environments and new ways of interfacing the human body and voice with electronic media. She is the inventor of the eMic, a sensor enhanced microphone stand for electronic music performance, and more recently has been creating wearable electronics for controlling both sound and lighting in performance.

Her work has attracted funding from the Australia Council, most notably with all female collective Lady Electronica. Donna’s work has been featured as part of the VIVID Festival (2018), The Bondi Feast Festival (2018) and the MINT (Music in New Technologies) (2018) Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2018). In 2019 she performed her #MeToo works in Tokyo and at the Convergence Festival of Music, Technology and Ideas, UK. She is currently a collaborator on a 5 year project funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities research council (SSHRC) Reflective Iterative Scenario Enactments (RISE) is a Le PARC based 5-year (2020-2025) research-creation project designed to enact and investigate cataclysmic scenarios in 10 mini-operas.

Donna has held academic positions at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Queensland, University of Technology. She coordinates the Bachelor of Music and teaching areas include music technology & production, performance, composition and creative collaboration. Donna is currently the Head of Department of Creative Arts and Communication.

https://donnahewitt.net

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy (Conferred September, 2007), University of Western Sydney, Penrith. Australian Postgraduate Award with Stipend.
1997 B.A (Hons) Music. University of Western Sydney, Penrith. 1st Class Honours.
1993 B.Sc University of Sydney.

Awards

Academic Awards

  • 2011 Dean’s Award for Research and Innovation ($2500)
  • 1999 Australian Postgraduate Award and University of Western Sydney, Nepean Stipend (awarded to top three PhD applicants)

Teaching Areas

Performance, Composition, Music Technology, Recording and Production.

Research Interests

Research interests

Donna’s research has been primarily exploring mediatized performance environments and new ways of interfacing the voice with electronic media. She is the inventor of the eMic, a sensor enhanced microphone stand for electronic music performance which she has been developing and performing works with both locally and internationally for the past 11 years. She is the co-founder (with Julian Knowles) of the audio-visual performance group Macrophonics. Macrophonics navigates the interface between humans and machines in performance – from sensor based microphones and wearable performance interfaces, to autonomous robots, live tape manipulation, gesture controlled light environments, dronescapes and experimental electronica. Their recent work 'Ghost Ships' explored the use of wearable technologies to control lighting in response to music and movement.

Grants and Awards

Competitive Arts and Research Grants

  • 2021 (July) Music Senses: A two-week collaborative residency program designed to Explore Multi-Sensory Music to give musicians and other artists an opportunity to take music beyond sound and into other sensory realms. The program is designed to connect music artists who are d/Deaf, hard of hearing (HoH) and hearing so they can collaborate, experiment and create music in new ways.
  • 2020-2025 RISE: Reflective Iterative Scenario Enactments of Futuristic Cataclysms though Collaborative Mini Operas A/Prof Eldad Tsabary, Prof. Ricardo Dal Farra, A/Prof Deanna Yerichuk, Prof. Louis Patrick Leroux, Prof. Sabine Bergler, Donna Hewitt (Collaborator) Research Council of Canada (Insight Grant) ($303,719)
  • 2019 The  Joan Residency - Penrith Performing and Visual Arts Centre. The Digital Marionette (in collaboration with Dr Paul Smith) ($2000)
  • 2018  School of Arts Research Committee travel Grant Scheme  ($2700)
  • 2012 Open Source Legs on the Wall Residency. A 4-week competitively selected creative development residency with an internationally significant physical theatre company. With Julian Knowles, Tim Bruniges and Wade Marynowsky.  Residency program funded by the Australia Council ($4,000)
  • 2012 Australia Council for the Arts. Music Board – Presentation and Promotion – Lady Electronica Showcase at Judith Wright Centre. First named researcher/artist (auspiced by QUT) ($7,000)
  • 2011 Successful Arts Queensland Grant Development & Presentation - Lady Electronica – First named researcher/artist (auspiced by QUT) to undertake a Lady Electronica Showcase Performance ($12500)
  • 2011 Successful Application Australia Council for the Arts - Skills and Development Grant - Lady Electronica Artist development program for a collective of female electronic musicians. ($10000)
  • 2010 Awarded a grant from the Australia Council’s Skills and Arts Development to undertake a residency at STEIM to develop the eMic. $9439
  • 2008 Awarded a grant from the Australia Council’s Music New Work category, to develop a prototype wireless musical interface for vocal performance, called the eMic and to develop a new work for this device in collaboration with choreographer/dance artist Avril Huddy. $8147
  • 2002 Awarded a grant from the Australia Council’s Contemporary Instrument Builders Initiative – Sounding Out, for the purpose of developing an innovative alternate interface called the eMic (extended microphone –stand interface controller) for contemporary vocal performance and electronic processing. $9750
  • 2002 Australia Council for the Arts- Buzz Grant for Young and emerging artists Initiative for a collaboration with dancer/choreographer Nell Andrew ($2000)
  • 2003 ANAT Australian Network for Art and Technology Funding for Conference and Workshop Fund for attendance at NIME –03 Montreal Canada. An international conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. ($3000)

Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) Funding

  • 2020 HEPPP Funding - UNE Creative Arts Outreach to Regional, Remote and Rural Communities ($40,000)

Research Supervision Experience

PhD, Masters, Honours, Arts300

PhD

Current

  • Inga Liljestrom

Completions

  • Dr Alana Blackburn (Co-supervisor)
  • Dr Kristal Spreadborough (Co-supervisor)
  • Dr Jordan Steele (confirmation)

Masters

Completions

  • Neil Steward

Honours

Current

  • Isabelle La Machia

Completions

  • Jade Kerber
  • Neil Steward

Publications

See Orcid Record

Memberships

Australasian Computer Music Association
International Computer Music Association
Art of Record Production
QMusic
Australian Network for Art and Technology

Consultancy Interests

Tertiary Music Education
Performance and Performance Technology
Recording and Production
Vocal Performance

Community and Advocacy Organisation Collaborations

External - Community Engagement Activities

  • 2018 Mentor and Facilitator, ICE (Information and Cultural Exchange, Parramatta) All Girl Electronic Industry Pathway Program Targeting Women in Western Sydney Region
  • 2018 Women in Electronic Music Programming Committee run (MusicNSW)