RAV - Regional Arts Victoria - The peak body for regional arts activity in Victoria

Issue 33 - Regional Arts Victoria December enewsletter

Introduction

Can’t believe it’s almost Christmas? You’re not the only one! 2011 has been one of the busiest years on the Regional Arts Victoria calendar, and has been marked by some incredible successes and changes.

Early in the year our logo was changed to the brilliant bright yellow image that you now see on all RAV collateral. We’ve had great feedback on the change, and many have remarked that it looks like a road sign - the perfect metaphor for Regional Arts Victoria - ‘sign posting’ diverse communities and bringing people together. As part of the rebrand, we’ve also changed our program names to Performing Arts Touring, Education and Families and Creative Communities, which will clarify our programs for industry and highlight our activities to the broader community.

It’s been a major year for projects through our Creative Communities Program. The final outcome of Illuminated by Fire, our 2-year statewide project, was held at Federation Square in Melbourne. Feedback was very positive on this stunning event, and we have over 5000 attendees in 5 days – a great result! The recently completed Home is Where the Hall is initiative has also been extremely successful, and has enjoyed extensive community participation with 69 events happening around the state. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to see such a wealth of communities come together and celebrate these vital regional hubs. Our Regional Arts Development Officers continue to work on the ground across 5 areas to deliver vital arts support and to work with communities in delivering projects and the Regional Arts Fund for the Federal Government.

Our Performing Arts Touring and Education and Families touring programs have also had an extremely busy year, and have toured some extraordinary projects around the state and the country! Special mention must go to Bethany Simons’ The Weather and Your Health, which was a town-hall tour of Victoria that resulted in rave reviews (and lots of delicious CWA suppers!). Education and Families also had some great success with the ever-popular Eco-Cubby, and have the exciting new Creative Leadership Program in the works for 2012. More detail on what all our programs have been up to in 2011, what the future holds for them is below. We hope you enjoy this Christmas update on the year that was and will be!

Thanks for being part of Regional Arts Victoria in 2012. We’d like to take this opportunity to wish all our sponsors, members, supporters and audiences a safe and happy Christmas, and wish you all the very best for the New Year. We will be taking a break from the enews for January, so will back with arts news, grants, opportunities and more in February 2012.

Happy Reading, Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!

Best wishes,

The RAV Team.