Drug Aware YCulture brings Tidal Tales to Coral Bay
Regional Arts WA
Back in June, over a dozen Gascoyne youth teamed up with experienced circus performers to produce Narrators: Tidal Tales – a kaleidoscopic community arts performance at Coral Bay’s Festival of the Reef, supported by Drug Aware YCulture Regional funding.
The production brought together street performance, stilt-walking and a string quartet to deliver the sole youth component of this year’s Gascoyne in May program – a month-long celebration of creativity across the entire Gascoyne region.
It was the most ambitious project the young project coordinators had taken on, but in the process they learned fundamental skills that they’ll continue to develop throughout their creative careers: from vital planning skills like grant writing and project management to the nitty gritty of technical lighting design, workshop facilitation and stage management.
Jade Mills, a Gascoyne-based emerging aerialist who coordinated the project alongside young circus performer Shezari Lourenco, expressed her gratitude at being able to include a youth element in the Gascoyne in May program.
“It brought the community together, we had all families, tourists, grandparents from across the region together in one projects. When the lights faded and the UV set came up – the audience of around 500 people all gasped, it was such a good spectacle.
It was great to have a Youth driven and delivered project. It was great to have a Youth portfolio in Gascoyne in May. Much of Gascoyne in May in the last few years has been touring artists and core Gascoyne in May crew. We have not had the funds to deliver new works. It’s a big deal for us to have the funds for a community project and to share the stage with and collaborate with touring artists and the community at large.”
Tristan at Narrators: Tidal Tales. Image copyright Anton Blume / Simply Designed.
DrugAware YCulture Regional funding is open year-round, offering up to $6,000 to support creative community projects for young people aged 12-26 in regional Western Australia. Find out more.
