Meet the facilitators: Toolkits Season 2 2026
We are thrilled to introduce you to the fantastic facilitators for Toolkits Season 2 2026!
Toolkits is a 12-week online program for creatives aged 16-30 to develop their skills, workshop, and connect with other writers. To round out 2026, Express Media is running courses in digital storytelling with Aries Gacutan, nonfiction with Isabel Greenslade and poetry with Lou Garcia-Dolnik.
Sessions will run on Wednesday evenings, 6pm–8pm AEDT between 14 October and 16 December. Applications close on Sunday 27 September at 11:59pm AEST.
In the lead-up, we asked Aries, Lou and Izzy why people should apply to Toolkits.
Aries Gacutan, Toolkits: Digital Storytelling
“Get stuck into stories that beep and boop, that shift and slough behind the screen. Learn how to craft your own digital works from like-minded peers, and apply today!”
Aries M. Gacutan is a Filipino poet, editor, and digital writer living and working on stolen Wurundjeri Woiwurrung land. They have a passing interest in the end of the world. They were a recipient of Red Room Poetry's Emerging Poets Residency in 2024, and currently facilitate Toolkits: Digital Storytelling with Express Media. They have written for Meanjin, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Liminal Mag, Crawlspace, Archer, and more. Find out more about their staggering feats of bravery at <thearieszone.neocities.com>.
Aries Gacutan
Toolkits: Digital Storytelling facilitator 2026
Isabel Greenslade, Toolkits: Nonfiction
“Nonfiction is a slippery thing to write. It makes a claim to truth but uses the same narrative devices as fiction, relying heavily on the unstable machine of human memory. This course is an opportunity to work into, not against, these tensions.”
Isabel Greenslade is a writer, editor and painter who lives on unceded Wurundjeri country. Her writing has appeared in publications like Island, Cordite and Voiceworks, where she also edits nonfiction. This year she placed third in the Furphy Literary Award for her short story ‘Saint Kilda’. She holds a master’s degree in writing, editing and publishing from the University of Melbourne.
Isabel Greenslade
Toolkits: Nonfiction facilitator 2026
Lou Garcia-Dolnik, Toolkits: Poetry
“Hey poets! Together, we’ll be building a toolbox of theory, creative stimulus and writing to vibe with in service of creating a poetic practice that feels genuinely nourishing (all for free!). This is a space for your weird, specific and obsessional writing—chuck an app in!”
Lou Garcia-Dolnik is a poet living and working on sovereign Gadigal-Wangal lands. Their work has been awarded Second Prize in Overland’s Judith Wright Poetry Prize, a place on the shortlist for the Blake Prize, Val Vallis Awards, LIMINAL Non-Fiction Prize, the Kat Muscat Fellowship, and an Academy of American Poets University Prize from the University of Texas at Austin. An alumnus of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Emerging Writers Intensive, Lou was the 2023 recipient of the Australian Poetry/NAHR Eco-Poetry Fellowship and attended Tin House’s Summer Workshop in the poetry faculty. They are a 2026 Wheeler Centre Next Chapter Fellow.
Lou Garcia-Dolnik
Toolkits: Poetry facilitator 2026
Toolkits participation is free for Express Media members along with a number of other perks, events, and opportunities. If you’re not already a member, you can easily sign up here. Toolkits: Poetry is presented with our friends at Australian Poetry, and requires a joint digital membership.
Express Media is committed to access, so if you would like to sign up and are experiencing financial hardship, please submit your application and contact us via info@expressmedia.org.au to be awarded one of our sponsored memberships if your Toolkits application is successful.
Have a question? Need help with your application? Send an email to Express Media’s Creative Producer Mia Nie at creativeproducer@expressmedia.org.au.