Seven home-grown artists & organisations receive Federal funding
Gemma Robins
Seven projects for regional Western Australia have received funding of $97,165 from the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, managed in Western Australia by Country Arts WA.
Marrugeku’s ‘Cut the Sky’ was funded through the Regional Arts Fund in 2015. Photo by Heidrun Lohr.
Projects will be delivered in regional and very remote Western Australian locations in the Kimberley, Goldfields-Esperance, Great Southern, Wheatbelt and Peel regions of WA.
A total of seven projects will be supported through the Project Fund: six community based projects providing opportunities for communities to develop new work, skills and build cultural networks alongside professional artists and arts organisations; and one individual, supporting their individually tailored programs of professional artistic development.
The projects selected range from art forms such as photography, print making, spoken word, dance, theatre and orchestral performances. The artists and organisations in this year’s round highlight the collaboration between professionals and early career artists, as mentors and established artists work together with youth and emerging artists, sharing their experiences, skills and artistic practices. The projects funded will employ 103 artists in paid work and bring in an estimated audience of 8,245 people.
“The projects funded in this round reflect the ability of regional Western Australian arts to deliver excellence in both community engagement, and artistic quality” said Jessica Machin, CEO of Country Arts WA. “It is wonderful to see arts organisations actively seeking development opportunities for local emerging artists to enable them to take their practice to the next level. This is evident in projects such as the Esperance Community Arts’ program for local musicians, and Riptide Youth Theatre Company’s production of Queen Leah, pairing show development with mentoring opportunities.”
“This was a very competitive round with 16 of the 22 applications receiving assessment to a level that would have been funded, which meant many deserving projects were unable to be funded. This highlights the unmet need in regional arts funding, and also means that the seven funded projects met all the criteria to a high degree” stated Acting Chair of the Regional Arts Fund panel, Sonya Dye.
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.
