So you want my arts job: Festival Director of the Darwin Street Art Festival

David Collins is the Founder and Festival Director of the Darwin Street Art Festival (DSAF), in the tropical Top End of Australia. An artist himself and former youth worker, Collins often pinches himself at the thought that 10 years ago, a younger version of him was probably graffitiing in a drain in Darwin’s northern suburbs, and had no idea that he’d one day spearhead the most awarded street art festival in the country.

Collins runs DSAF through his business Proper Creative, an art initiative he co-founded with friend Jesse Bell 15 years ago. He is passionate about using art as a vehicle for social change and has since been on a Churchill Fellowship to the US to investigate this idea further. Collins speaks to ArtsHub about passion, street art culture and creating your own future.