$129,285 announced for regional artists and communities in Victoria

Thirteen projects in Victoria have received $129,285 in funding through the Australian Government’s highly competitive Regional Arts Fund, delivered in Victoria by Regional Arts Victoria.

Director of Partnerships at Regional Arts Victoria Liz Zito said that the projects in this round offered a diversity of artistic genres. 

“It is exciting to see such a broad range of projects across the state.  We are seeing grass roots community projects that will form collaborations between artists, some first time applicants making their mark in a regional setting and projects with high artistic integrity that will make huge impacts in small communities.  Projects in this Regional Arts Fund round will encompass dance, theatre, visual arts, crafts and textiles and cross art forms”, Ms Zito said.

“Regional Arts Victoria is proud to partner with the Australian Government on this program, and we thank the applicants, as well as our independent panel, for their commitment to this vital fund”.

Successful applicants in Round 1, 2019 include:

  • Murtoa Stick Shed Committee of Management Murtoa

The Murtoa Stick shed is an iconic heritage listed grain store built in 1941. The space is unique, like a rustic cathedral, with incredible acoustics. The committee will hold an artist’s residency with Natimuk artists Dave Jones, Anthony Schellens and Jillian Pearce that explores the artistic possibilities of the space and develops a new show that transforms the space and draws tourism to the region.

  • Punctum Inc – Castlemaine

Gateway is a mentorship program forging long-term alliances between artists, arts workers, makers, designers, musicians and performers from the Hazara, South Sudanese and Karen communities of regional Victoria with Punctum-associated professional contemporary artists. Running over seven months, the program will open a gateway to new work production and professional practice for artists of these three communities.

  • Baw Baw Arts Alliance – Yarragon

Drawing inspiration from the work of Jeff Koons who constructed a “disarming, non-threatening, peaceful and happy puppy” at the Guggenheim Museum, Baw Baw Arts Alliance aim to construct a 2-metre-high dog. In a tribute to the internationally renowned mosaicist Maery Gabriel who lived in Baw Baw, the dog will be covered with a community made patchwork of mosaic. Once finished Pat, The Dog will be positioned on the north side of the highway in Yarragon, next to the Station Gallery.

Please see below for a full list and description of all recipients.

The Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund supports sustainable cultural development in regional and remote Australia. The fund meets the strategic priorities of supporting participation in and access to the arts and encouraging greater private sector support for the arts. The Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund is provided through Regional Arts Australia. In Victoria, the Regional Arts Fund is administered by Regional Arts Victoria according to the objectives and general eligibility determined by the Australian Government.

Applications for Community Grants are now closed and will re-open in July 2019. Visit www.rav.net.au/funding-opportunities/regional-arts-fund for further details.

For more information on Round 1, 2019 funded projects, please contact:

Liz Zito

Director of Partnerships
Regional Arts Victoria
lzito@rav.net.au
03 9644 1800  

ROUND 1, 2019 SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS

Mr Mark Hooper
Drouin

$6,000

Found Sound Gippsland by Paddock Digital

Found Sound Gippsland by Paddock Digital is a project that encompasses the collecting of unique field recordings from the Gippsland area, in order to capture the sonic ecology of time and place. From this, an online sound database will be created that can be used and accessed by the public for usage of sounds in digital media works, music compositions or for educational purposes. As part of the project at least four performance workshops will teach digital media skills in regional areas, particularly focused on sound recording and how to use the database.

Castlemaine Chamber Players
Castlemaine

$ 6,000

Castlemaine Children’s Choir and String Quartet

This project includes the commission of a musical composition for children’s choir and string quartet by composer Wendy Rowlands and performance of the composition in Castlemaine. The composition will be based on a regional theme. It will bring the community together and further the development of children’s musical education. It will give the Castlemaine Chamber Players string ensemble and the Castlemaine Children’s Choir a new work for their repertoire that is contemporary and relevant to the local area, with resonance to other regional areas of Victoria.

Baw Baw Arts Alliance
Yarragon

$15,000

Pat, the Dog

Drawing inspiration from the work of Jeff Koons who constructed a “disarming, non-threatening, peaceful and happy puppy” at the Guggenheim Museum, Baw Baw Arts Alliance aim to construct a 2-metre-high dog. In a tribute to the internationally renowned mosaicist Maery Gabriel who lived in Baw Baw, the dog will be covered with a community made patchwork of mosaic. Once finished Pat, The Dog will be positioned on the north side of the highway in Yarragon, next to the Station Gallery.

Ms Catherine Wheeler
Sandy Point

$3,650

The Big House

Visual Artists Kate Shone and Catherine Blamey Wheeler’s sculptural collaboration The Big House is based on Kate’s family history and secret illegitimacy. They have an opportunity to exhibit the work in Shrewsbury, England, where the story began. The project will also be shown in East and South Gippsland, accompanied by a skills transfer forum and workshops. This provides an opportunity for community members to acknowledge their own forgotten ancestries, and to create a memorial lead-light emblem in acknowledgment of forgotten female forbears. 

Ms Jenny Peterson
Boolarra

$5,668

Printed Garden, Naturefact Artifact

This project involves the artistic development and presentation of new prints made with found objects and botanical specimens of the Wimmera. Jenny Peterson will collaborate with local community to create work to showcase at the Nati Frinj Festival 2019.

Ms Georgia MacGuire
Maryborough

$15,000

Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini Art Exhibition and cultural workshop series

Nardang Girri Kalat Mimini (a Victorian Aboriginal women’s arts collective) is having its first large scale exhibition which celebrates Victorian Indigenous women artists living in regional areas. Professional development for regional Victorian Aboriginal women artists and Aboriginal community development will be a focus, with six cultural and art workshops taking place in the area throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Ballarat International Foto Biennale Inc
Ballarat North

$ 15,000

Foto Voice: Photographically Documenting Residents of Wendouree

Foto Voice is a community engagement photographic event developed with Stockland Wendouree, Wendouree Neighbourhood Centre, Wendouree residents and the Ballarat International Foto Biennale (BIFB). Utilising a portable studio, local stories will be gathered by Ballarat artist Erin McCuskey.. The outcome of this project is a major exhibition during BIFB 2019 comprising of photographs ‘wallpapered’ to studio and surrounds, alongside film display inside the studio.

Punctum Inc
Castlemaine

$15,000

Gateway

Gateway is a mentorship program forging long-term alliances between artists, arts workers, makers, designers, musicians and performers from the Hazara, South Sudanese and Karen communities of regional Victoria with Punctum associated professional contemporary artists. Running over seven months, the program will open a gateway to new work production and professional practice for artists from these three communities.

Ms Rebecca Vandyk
Darnum

$3,240

Maternal Journal for Health

This pilot project immerses people in the final stages of their pregnancy in the act of art journaling, as an aid to mental wellbeing. Participants are led through 6 specific sessions of an arts-for-health process, learning various 2D art media and techniques to enable mindful creativity.

Theatre 451 Inc
St Andrews

$14,815

THE WIFE

THE WIFE is a devised hybrid theatre work that will use narrative, physical, audio, and puppetry performance techniques to explore issues experienced by women that find themselves in the unexpected role of the carer. THE WIFE will be created from interviews with women and will examine the treatment of ‘the other’ in the health care system and the tenuous balancing act that is the role of advocate vs. carer.

Murtoa Stick Shed Committee of Management
Murtoa

$14,840

Stick Shed Residency

The Murtoa Stick Shed is an iconic heritage listed grain store built in 1941. The space is unique, like a rustic cathedral, with incredible acoustics. The committee will hold an artist’s residency with Natimuk artists Dave Jones, Anthony Schellens and Jillian Pearce that explores the artistic possibilities of the space and develops a new show that transforms the space and draws tourism to the region.

Ms Karoline Morwitzer
Goongerah

$6,000

As the World is my Witness

As the World is my Witness is a documentary film shot on 16mm by artist Karoline Morwitzer and looks at the ecology of forests connected to logging operations in far east Gippsland and the implications of tactics conservationists use to preserve them. The film will employ natural decay techniques, archival material, interviews, and field recordings and will result in a public screening in the remote community of Goongerah, a workshop with the Lake Tyers community through FLOAT, and national and international festival distribution. It will be produced in partnership with the Artist Film Workshop and the Goongerah Environment Centre.

Such As They Are
Campbells Creek

$9,072

Once and For All

Once and For All is a performance developed with the community’s input and direct participation. Piloted in 2018 as part of Regional Centre for Culture, it tells the story of the people buried in local cemeteries. Through associated workshops, it also creates space to discuss the topic of death. This grant will develop the performance, workshop and community participation skills. It will also create promotional material and allow Such As They Are to explore the production’s marketability and touring potential.

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