Since 2002, Victoria Spence has been creating and shaping culture and practices in how we live, how we die and create our funeral rites.

She is the founder of Life Rites, Holistic Funeral Directors specialising in bespoke doula-led end of life, funeral and ongoing bereavement care in the greater Sydney area and NSW.

From 1988 she has held a practice as a performance maker, event producer, mentor and independent artist. In 2010 established the Living with our Dead, a NFP organisation resulting in the 10 years of the Picnic Among Friends event in Girrahween Park, Earlwood, a natural bushland cathedral like space in the Bardwell Valley and Wolli Creek. The LWOD team creates other ceremonial events across Sydney, Rural NSW and internationally. Most recently, Cementa 2024.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts, in Philosophy and Performance from the UNSW Hons, (1994) and a Post graduate diploma in Death, Dying and Palliative Care, USYD, Dept of Social Work. She is a trained Bereavement Counsellor and a recognised Somatic Educator with 20 years for Body Mind Centering work with Alice Cummins. She previously worked with Dr Peter Banki on the first 3 Death and Dying Festivals, (2016-18).