Hello! I’m Christy Dena!
Christy Dena (she/they, pronunciation Dee-na) is me.
I’m a narrative design activist.
I’m a storymaker, educator, and researcher who is living and making for a more kind, just, and creative world.
I’m about narrative design processes, methods, & techniques that free up the creative, widen what is possible, and produce works that depict and enable a liberated and flourishing world.
I’m a writer, designer, and director of multi-artform and interactive projects. I’ve worked on installations, apps, live games, tabletop, ARGs, VR, films, theater, and TV.
I run my own studio, Universe Creation 101, and have won National Writers’ Guild and State Premier’s Prize awards for my original interactive writing. My interactive projects have been exhibited across Australia, New York, and Los Angeles.
Original works and commissions include Magister Ludi (Experimenta/Contours/Freeplay Parallels); Robot University (The Cube, QUT/Aust Literature Board); AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS (ELO/Screen Australia); DIYSPY (Mystery Science Theater 3000/ PAXAU/CHIPlay/CANCON/ACMI/GO423/PopUpPlayground); Bakers of Anarchy (Fresh Air Festival); Playing Kandanga (Creative Recovery Network); dLux Pony Club (dLux/Media/Arts); The Villager Girl and the Teenbot (Melb Writers’ Festival/disjunctions). Freelance and consulting works include Conspiracy for Good (Nokia, Tim Kring, The company P); The Hunt (Cisco/No Mimes Media); Bluebird AR (ABC Innovation); Geminoid HI-4 (Robotronica Festival); Squid Goals (UniSA Education Futures); A Thin Black Line (SBS, VRTOV, Douglas Watkin); Forgotten VR (StarSapphire Productions); Let Go (Les Produits Frais, Michael Beets).
I’ve designed & run international and interdisciplinary labs, including Forward/Story, Crafting Intangibles, Telematic Studio, Transmedia Victoria, and the Extended Experiences Lab. I have written craft articles and book chapters.
My background is in theatre as a performer, writer, and director, and producing digital effects for film & TV at digital production studios.
I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Visual & Performing Arts, Monash Uni), a Post-Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing (Uni of Melb), and a PhD in Media, Narrative, & Game Studies (Uni of Syd).
I create on/with the unceded Bunurong Country of the Kulin Nation.
Email christy at this domain.