The Minister for the Arts, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC has announced that funding for sixteen projects totalling $93,585 will go to regional and rural Tasmanian communities from the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund- delivered in Tasmania by Tasmanian Regional Arts.
President of Tasmanian Regional Arts, Sue Baker was impressed with the increased number, quality and diversity of the projects proposed and funded through the program, stating that: “It is inspiring that Tasmania’s artists are pushing the boundaries in art-making. In this round, the Fund has supported individual artists and arts organisations seeking to develop projects that highlight contemporary Tasmanian arts practices, drawing on our culture and heritage to develop new narratives and projects thatopen the doors to communities less visible to mainstream society.”
The Regional Arts Fund continues to reach out to regionally based artists and organisations in Queenstown, Ulverstone, Lilydale, Kaoota, St Helens and Hobart. All of Tasmania is considered regional under the Regional Arts Fund program guidelines. Importantly, more than 50% of applicants funded through the program are new to the Regional Arts Fund, demonstrating that the arts community is alive and growing in Tasmania.
Specific projects funded in this round include:
• Aboriginal artist Nathan Maynard has received funds to develop a new stage play, ‘The Season’, a comedy about a mutton-birding family on Dog Island; and
• The Forth Blues Festival Committee will deliver a revised organisational structure to spearhead a new innovative direction and festival format to keep this annual regional festival fresh and appealing; and
• Raymond Arnold through Landscape Art Research Queenstown will spend the yearon three major projects which underpin the concept of looking backwards and forwards to the ten year project in the environmentally compromised Western Tasmanian town of Queenstown.
“What is pleasing is that the projects funded in this round demonstrate interesting collaborations, often forming new partnerships and new outlets for the work. The diversity and quality of artists and art projects supported is very encouraging” added Ms Baker.
The Regional Arts Fund is an Australian Government programthat supports sustainable cultural development in communities across regional and remote Australia. The funding is targeted at activities that will have long term cultural, economic and social benefits for individuals and communities through the development of partnerships and cultural networks, by providing artists with professional development and employment opportunities, and by supporting arts and community development projects that provide local communities with the opportunity to participate in, and access cultural activities. The Regional Arts Fund has an emphasis on youth, disadvantaged, remote and Indigenous communities.
The full list and description of all recipients …
Major Grants
Contemporary Art Services Tasmania $10,000
Fractious Atlas – NORTH HOBART
This art project will offer a prototype for developing and presenting process-based art forms in Australia. It comprises an online presentation platform, master classes, exhibitions and installations, and a temporary shopfront space in Hobart for disseminating the works developed through the project.
Ed Jones$7,000
Faces Of Emotion – WYNYARD
This photography project aims to raise awareness of nonverbal communication issues in people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The artist will photograph a minimum of 100 subjects, with two portraits each.
William George Stackhouse $5,035
Mentorship – D Knowles – NEWNHAM
MIG welding tutorial and create artworks for an exhibition entitled – “Tasmanian animals and birds are impacting on Aboriginal culture and heritage.”
Forth Valley Blues Festival Inc. $10,000
Forth Valley Blues Festival 2015– FORTH
The music festival will deliver a revised organisational structure to spearhead a new innovative direction and festival format to keep the major event fresh and appealing.
Nancy Mauro-Flude$10,000
DIVINATION durational multiuser performance installation– SOUTH HOBART
This project is a new durational performance and installation that incorporates kinetic design and a custom-built multiuser game engine as videoscape.
Raymond Arnold $10,000
LANDSCAPE IS A DISCOURSE– QUEENSTOWN
Three major projects will underpin the concept of looking backwards and forwards to a ten year project in the environmentally compromised Western Tasmanian town of Queenstown.
Small Grants
Break O’Day Council$4,800
Break O’Day Youth Film Project– ST HELENS
This project will support young people aged 12-25 years to develop a narrative, film, edit and produce short films. The films will be shown at the Bay Of Fires Winter Arts Festival. Three established artists will be engaged to work with the participants.
Nathan Maynard $5,000
“The Season” Play script development– SCAMANDER
Two artists will be engaged; Peter Matheson as dramaturge, Elder Uncle Jim (puralin) Everett as mentor to conduct a small Creative Development workshop. The workshop will result in a stage play called “the Season.”
DRILL Performance Company $5,000
Radical Kid– NORTH HOBART
In 2015 DRILL will be implementing the second phase of Radical Kid, a new youth dance work featuring 54 young dancers and a community engagement program.
Island Care (Tasmania) Limited $4,310
Felt and woven materials workshops– ULVERSTONE
Diversional Therapists and volunteers will instruct aged care residents in the basic skills of felt making and transforming pre worn clothing into unique wearable art pieces using various materials layered, hand stitched and embellished with objects, such as shells, small pieces of driftwood. This will form the basis for ongoing activities designed to stimulate memory, engagement and dexterity.
Book an Adventure: Bruny Island Children’s Literature Festival$5,000
Book an Adventure Kidslit Festival– BRUNY ISLAND
The theme for the Book an Adventure Kidslit Festival is “Reading; your ticket to a lifetime of adventure”. This festival will provide paid gigs, professional development, marketing and sales opportunities for established and emerging children’s book writers and illustrators.
Joseph Pickett $2,000
Seek: Mons– MIDDLETON
Alongside 10 Australian artists, Joseph is presenting a collaborative live art work as part of the Australian contingent at the 2015 European Capital of Culture in Mons, Belgium. Joseph’s project is a large scale interactive game that will be played over four days, collaborating with artists in both Belgium and Australia through the development of an ambitious playful and unique experience.
Leven Regional Arts $2,500
Stoking the Fire of Creativity– ULVERSTONE
This community arts projectpresents an opportunity to engage youth and elderly within the Central Coast Community, North West Tasmania.. Experienced local artist Janine Morris is proposing the creation of a bonfire sculpture at Festival in the Park in Ulverstone in February 2015. Our aim is to reach 22,000 individuals in our community.
Carmencita Palermo$3,940
“MaKaNusia – Faces of Humanity”– LILYDALE
This is a collaborative project with director and performer Marco Adda to develop a new cross-cultural mask performance. Marco aims to improve his dramaturgic skills which will enable Marco to create works that reach Tasmanian and Australian audiences and increase touring opportunities. Documentation of the project with the support of Interwawe Arts will be fundamental to the production stage of the work.
Kingborough Council$4,000
Youth Theatre Summer School– KINGSTON
The Youth Theatre Summer School will provide workshops for 8 to 12 and 13-16 year olds with the older group collaborating with local professional writers to create five new short plays (7-10minutes) that will be presented to the public on the last evening of the Summer School.
Alyson Rae Patmore $5,000
Whale Song Project– KAOOTA
Tasmania Musician Alyson Patmore and Composer Heath Brown, have been selected by acclaimed visual artist Patricia Piccinini to create and perform an original composition in collaboration with Patricia to showcase a major confirmed commissioned work for the new Mercury building opening during Dark MOFO in 2015.
Tasmanian Regional Arts provides two funding rounds per year. Round one opens 1 January 2015 and closes March 16 2015 for projects commencing after 1 July 2015.
President of Tasmanian Regional Arts, Sue Baker
