Nine regional WA artists & organisations receive federal funding
Gemma Robins
On Tuesday 1 December 2015, the Minister for the Arts, Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield announced funding totalling $114,799 will be invested in regional Western Australian arts projects through the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, managed by Country Arts WA.
Projects will be delivered in regional and very remote Western Australian locations in the Kimberley, Goldfields-Esperance, Pilbara, Great Southern and South West regions.
A total of nine projects will be supported through the Project Fund: eight community based projects providing opportunities for communities to develop skills and build cultural networks alongside professional artists and arts organisations; and one individual artist, supporting her individually tailored program of professional artistic development.
It was the most competitive round of the Project Fund ever seen at Country Arts WA, with 32 applications submitted. This proved to be a difficult task for the panellists, as 27 were assessed to a level that would have been funded, however only nine could be supported. This means only those meeting the criteria to an exceptionally high degree were funded.
The next round of Regional Arts Fund Project funding will open on Monday, 4 January and close on Friday, 11 March 2016.
Successful Applicants
Vancouver Arts Centre (City of Albany) |Great Southern
The Snake Run
In partnership with Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF), Vancouver Arts Centre will celebrate the oldest remaining skate park in the world. A series of workshops in visual arts, dance/parkour, skateboarding and oral storytelling will be held, culminating in a community event in February 2016 as part of the PIAF Great Southern program. The community event will include a performance directed by local artist Annette Carmichael, sound design by James Gentle and a community visual arts project.
Southern Forest Arts | South West
Rising From the Ashes
Bridgetown artist Kim Perrier will work closely with Northcliffe children, youth and adults in the development and fabrication of a series of figurative sculptures for installation at three different sites in Northcliffe. The community-directed work will commemorate the power of the community spirit that rose from the ashes in response to the Northcliffe 2015 bushfire emergency. This work will involve casting the faces and bodies of up to 50 local residents using a highly innovative charcoal and resin technique that will symbolise people emerging from a blackened forest.
Ngarluma Yinjibarndi Foundation Ltd.| Pilbara
The Tjaabi Project
Artists in the community of Leramargadu have invited Big hART to facilitate the making and presentation of a high-quality performance that engages the community and promotes the value of Leramargadu’s indigenous cultural assets. Engaging young people, adults and elders, the project will be platform for the transfer of cultural knowledge and language across generations. The project will result in an intergenerational, inter-cultural performance using song, dance and narrative theatre.
Louise Allerton | Great Southern
Auspiced by Creative Albany
This Visceral Landscape
Louise will engage in a mentorship with renowned media artist Julian Knowles, working closely with Julian to develop her skills and professional networks in artistic interactive media. The project will include a public media art workshop, project website, and documenting the creative process around the development of interactive media works. The mentorship will culminate in a public exhibition of photography, performance and interactive media at Vancouver Arts Centre.
Waringarri Aboriginal Arts | Kimberley
Creative Upskilling
Creative Up-skilling is a long term project aimed at enriching Waringarri Aboriginal Arts creative vibrancy by providing opportunities for artists and arts-workers to extend their professional practice. Participants will develop technical skills and experience across diverse mediums, while maintaining cultural connection through the support of senior artists. Creative Upskilling 2015/16 will deliver a series of workshops in textile arts, ceramics and wood carving.
Theatre Kimberley | Kimberley
Poppy—Child of the Lane
Theatre Kimberley Inc. will collaborate with Nyamba Buru Yawuru and Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community, La Grange to create a new body of work to be performed in the next instalment of theatre production Poppy—Child of the Lane. The production incorporates community-created wearable art costumes, voiceovers and historical photographic projections to explore the commonality of the Pleiades constellation stories Broome’s outlying and local Indigenous and multicultural communities. Workshops in costume design, textiles and dance will develop artistic skills during the production of the show.
Tjuma Pulka Media Aboriginal Corporation | Goldfields-Esperance
Gulliah Tjookoorr (Emu Dreaming)
Through a series of workshops with renowned dance artist Michael Leslie, young people from Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Laverton will work to contemporise a significant traditional cultural dance and song, for performance as part of the 2016 NAIDOC celebrations in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. This performance will join with the Punu Tjanpi Palyani (wood carving & basket weaving) people of the spinifex region of Tjuntjuntjarra. The local community will also have the opportunity to engage and participate in the creative workshops.
Kalgoorlie Science Teacher’s Network | Goldfields-Esperance
Art Vs. Science
Young people in Kalgoorlie-Boulder will engage in a creative arts project exploring waste management and recycling. Participants will attend workshops to design and create public artworks from recycled material, resulting in interactive roadside art installations that will demonstrate engineering concepts with artistic appeal. In collaboration with Kalgoorlie-Boulder Urban Landcare Group, local artists and entrepreneurs, the project will foster young leaders in the culture of sustainability and its intersection with art.
South West Opera Company Inc |South West
Vocal Development Camp for Youth
South West Opera Company’s young members will attend a development camp in Dwellingup, where renowned opera singer Marilyn Phillips will conduct master classes and chorus workshops. The camp will culminate in a concert, and will build valuable skills and social cohesion for the young members to utilise in their continued development at South West Opera Company.
The Regional Arts Fund is one way the Australian Government supports regional artists and arts organisations to develop their artistic practice and produce works and experiences to benefit their local communities. The Regional Arts Fund is administered on behalf of the Australian Government by Regional Arts Australia and its member organisations which includes Country Arts WA.
