In development
Tent city:
A new Face
An ambitious cultural project exploring homelessness and housing justice. Developed through lived-experience storytelling in Far North Queensland, this is is a touring performance and installation that shifts shape in every location, reflecting the instability and complexity of housing insecurity.
About
Tent City: A New Face began its journey in 2025. Conceived by Rebus Theatre’s Artistic Director, Lucien Simon, it is a large-scale Community Cultural Development project on homelessness and housing justice.
The work began with lived-experience storytelling in Far North Queensland and in 2026 will be written and developed into a touring performance and installation that shifts shape in every location. Tent city: A New Face will then tour the east coast with each city contributing its own stories, images and data, creating a rolling national tapestry that will culminate on the lawns of Parliament House in 2028. Tent City: A New Face combines site specific performance, guided conversations, sound, projection and temporary structures that echo crisis accommodation, protest camps and imagined future housing.
Who is this for?
Tent City: A New Face Tent City: A New Face is built with and for people whose lives are shaped by the housing crisis, and for those with the power to shift it. This includes:
People with lived experience of homelessness, rough sleeping, couch surfing, overcrowding and housing stress.
Disability, mental health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, migrant and LGBTQIA+ communities who are disproportionately affected by housing insecurity.
Frontline workers in housing, health, justice, youth, family violence and community services.
Local councils, state and federal policymakers, planners, architects and developers who influence housing systems and urban design.
Students, activists, faith communities and the wider public who want to understand homelessness beyond stereotypes and statistics.
Rebus goals
- Centre lived experience leadership in every city, with local advisory groups and paid roles for people who have experienced homelessness.
- Partner with housing, legal, health, research and community organisations so each activation connects art, data and concrete advocacy.
- Create a national “map” of stories and conditions that can be shared with media, policymakers and community, culminating in the 2028 Parliament House event.Use immersive, site specific theatre to move audiences from sympathy to solidarity and action, including signposting real pathways for change.
- Develop a transferable model for large scale, community led theatre on systemic issues that can be adapted in future to other social justice contexts.
Get involved
People with lived experience, services, councils and advocacy groups can contact Rebus to explore hosting a Tent City: A New Face activation or contributing local stories and expertise. National partners can support the 2028 Parliament House culmination through sponsorship, policy engagement or research collaboration. Individuals can attend events, volunteer, amplify stories, and donate to cover participant fees, transport, food and access costs, ensuring that those most affected by the crisis are resourced to lead the conversation.