Dr Jesse Austin-Stewart (he/him) is a composer, sound artist, producer, and researcher based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. He is currently a lecturer at Massey University in the School of Music and Screen Arts Te Rewa o Puanga.
As a physically disabled and neurodivergent person, Jesse's research seeks to promote accessibility for tāngata whaikaha Māori, d/Deaf, and disabled peoples within music and the creative industries.
As a sound artist and composer, Jesse’s work explores ways to make the field more inclusive. He has composed for contemporary dance and film and created performance art works and sound installations. His works have been exhibited across Aotearoa, Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Japan, Sweden, USA, and more.
Jesse is a recipient of the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Springboard Award and has been nominated for the international Sound of the Year Awards. His work has represented Aotearoa numerous times and has received nominations at the Student Radio Network awards. As a producer, he has recorded work for short films, orchestra, solo artists and bands, small ensemble, opera, and his work has received over 2,850,000 streams online.
His work has been feature in numerous local and international publications including NME, MixMag, MusicTech, The Spinoff, RNZ, Stuff, as well as academic publications, and has been funded by Creative New Zealand, NZ On Air, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture & Hertiage, NZ Music Commission, and more.
Jesse is a self-described "girly pop stan" and spends his spare time following the Wellington Phoenix in between hanging out with his ginger cat Johnny and waking up at unseemly hours of the morning to keep up with Formula 1.