Levelling Up with RAWA’s Next Level Program
RAWA’s Next Level Regional Grant supports young emerging regional artists and arts workers to develop and sustain a successful career in the arts. This funding has been instrumental to Next Level Recipient Megan Lemon who has kickstarted an incredible career in the arts and now creates opportunities for fellow artists and art workers in the sector as RAWA’s newly appointed Network and Investment Project Officer.
Hailing from Ravensthorpe, Western Australia, Lemon was praised for her creative expression but felt there weren’t enough professional opportunities in her hometown. With a passion for creativity and a love of community, Lemon began her search for a thriving career, “I knew I wanted to do something that created shared positive experiences and brought people together.”
Lemon has recently coordinated her first series of the Next Level YCulture Online Development at RAWA to support emerging artists, with a focus on the Paradox of Creativity, Invention Cycle, Values and Wellness. RAWA recently sat down with Lemon to discover how the Next Level Regional Grant supported her arts journey.
The journey wasn’t always easy for Lemon, she describes “as a neurodivergent person I had to discover ways to work through my sensory issues, social cues, and rigid thinking – particularly with ideas of my future career. I had no idea what I wanted to do and I never expected to find a job in the arts.”
Starting out on a business traineeship with Ravensthorpe Community Resource Centre (CRC), Lemon engaged with a variety of work experience opportunities from sound engineering and lighting for live performances, photography and various creative development opportunities.
After a successful traineeship Lemon continued her work with the CRC and started working for the Ravensthorpe Regional Arts Council, “My job involved wearing many hats, one of those led me to the Next Level Regional Grant opportunity for professional development training in lighting and sound operations with Esperance Civic Centre legend, Tim Currie.”
The Next Level Regional Grant allowed Lemon to pursue her love of lighting and sound, finding a great mentor with arts producer Tim Currie in the Esperance Civic Centre. Lemon began working on and understanding the ins-and-outs of show production, “my mentor, Tim, supported me in learning set up, operations, and maintaining the lighting and sound equipment during live performing arts shows and events. This was a significant opportunity for me to learn new valuable skills and step into a male dominated industry, but it also meant a lot for my region, I had increased capacity and knowledge to support the community groups and individuals enhance their own public or private events.”
Image: the One Punch Wonder production team, supplied by Rave About Arts
After developing the skills to enhance shows and make a positive impact within the community, Lemon began working professionally with Australian Children’s Show Grug and touring Fitz of Laughter Comedy, “I learnt a lot about working in different venue spaces, mostly in town halls where they don’t have any equipment or gear that you would usually find in a theatre, we had to bring everything with us, use our connections to people in those communities to and using what we have on hand to transform and adapt a space to create an immersive experience for the audience and making it work for the performance. I learned something different from each show in each town and I got to work with some great industry professionals, each teaching me something different that I could take with me to the next event.”
After working on various shows in across the Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance regions, Lemon decided to move up to Perth and was selected for the role at Regional Arts WA, “I’m now running the same funding program that allowed me to build capacity and skills in the arts. I’m so excited to be able to support regional artists and arts workers and provide the same assistance that has helped me to grow and thrive so much.”
It’s wonderful to see how significant regional arts funding can be in supporting emerging artists and art workers thrive in their careers. Lemon discusses how, “many of these experiences and the creative development to improve my career have been made possible through the efforts of regional arts opportunities and the increasing development of the sector.”
The 2024 round for the Next Level Program is opening 11 April.
For more information visit: https://regionalartswa.org.au/funding/nlrg/