The Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund will provide $150,000 funding for 6 regional arts projects in Queensland; this funding is managed in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.
With 35 submitted Community Project Grant applications, this round has shown the highest demand on record for the Regional Arts Fund in Queensland in recent years.
Diverse art forms have been represented in the successful applications – performing arts, visual arts, cross art form workshops, music, and textile and traditional indigenous arts.
Flying Arts Executive Officer, Kerryanne Farrer says. “Flying Arts Alliance welcomes this injection of funding providing valuable opportunities for artists in regional and remote communities to develop their artistic practice through a broad spectrum of projects. These six outstanding projects will contribute greatly to the arts and cultural activity across our vast state.”
“The independent panel was impressed by the high number of quality applications this round, making it very competitive and many deserving projects were unable to be funded this time. Congratulations to the successful applicants who met the criteria to a very high degree. This is evidence of the depth and diversity of artistic practice across remote and regional Queensland.”
Successful applications from the latest round of Community Project Grants include:
- Three projects that have a strong primary focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture – one traditional crafts and culture festival, one musical performance production, and one textile and traditional crafts production and community building/healing project.
- Three projects which focus primarily on women –one on the research, creation and acquisition of artworks created by female artists; one on the cultural heritage of women of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Island, Melanesian and Polynesian heritage; and one on cross art form workshops for women.
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 Queensland, the Regional Arts Fund is administered by Flying Arts Alliance according to the objectives and general eligibility determined by the Australian Government. Applications for Community Project Grants will re-open in January 2019.
ROUND 2, 2018 SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS
| JUTE Theatre Company Edge Hill, Qld |
| Queensland Winter Playfest $30,000 |
| A four-day theatre development and networking Festival to be held in Cairns in July 2019. Queensland Winter Playfest is designed to inspire, connect and invigorate regional Queensland playwrights, practitioners and theatre companies. Through play-readings, panels, expert talks and masterclasses, the focus will be on learning, exchange, developing and providing theatre-makers with inspiration, platforms to share ideas about innovation, new methodologies and career pathway development. |
| Maryborough Aboriginal Corporation for Housing & Cultural Development Maryborough, Qld |
| Moonaboola Arts Festival $12,855 |
| The inaugural Moonaboola Arts Festival will be held on the banks of the Moonaboola (Mary River), will showcase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander performing and visual arts as well as cultural specific crafts. The festival will have three major components: entertainment, exhibitions/displays and markets. Activities will include contemporary and traditional dance and music, Art competition/exhibition, Prisoner Art Display, traditional crafts and artefacts, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander products for sale and workshops. |
| Rockhampton Regional Council Rockhampton City, Qld |
| Counterparts $20,745 |
| Counterparts will combine voices of regional female artists through an exhibition of new works in response to Rockhampton Art Gallery’s nationally significant collection. As a collection, historical acquisitions disproportionately represent male artists. With living practitioners in Capricornia region now primarily representing women, Counterparts aims to use Countess Report (2016) as principal research source, from which artists will undertake a one-week research internship, accessing and researching the works of female artists in the Collection. The outcome will be an exhibition in which new work is juxtaposed to collection holdings, contributing to conversations of institutional gender representation. |
| Red Ridge Interior Queensland Ltd Blackall, Qld |
| Inspiration in Isolation at the Channel Country Ladies Day $26,900 |
| Inspiration in Isolation will bring seven artists together for a residency in the remote western Queensland town of Thargomindah. During this residency they will deliver a minimum of 22 development and capacity building workshops over three days at the ‘Channel Country Ladies Day’ event. Practitioners, participants and audiences will gain access to new experiences through the diverse program of high quality arts encompassing visual arts, ceramics, weaving and textiles, storytelling and theatrical performance. |
| AustraNesia Pty Ltd Mount Sheridan, Qld |
| Woven $29,500 |
| Woven is a musical production that seeks to capture the essence of what is most powerful and enduring about the nature of woman. It will be presented by Cairns-based musical and cultural ensemble ‘Women of AustraNesia’ (Aboriginal, Torres Strait Island, Melanesian and Polynesian heritage) and combine cultural elements throughout the stories expressed through narrative and song. The performance itself will weave a significant piece of traditional woven Art revealed in stages, and ultimately becoming a physical representation of the empowerment of women. |
| Wei’Num Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts and Crafts Corporation Mapoon, Qld |
| Mapoon Community Weaving Together Project $30,000 |
| Drawing on experiences of stolen generation members of the community, this project will commemorate the forced removal and repatriation of traditional and historic owners of Mapoon. Through the practices of weaving, pearlshell carving and media workshops family stories will be brought together, reflecting shared experiences as a community. A community commemoration will take place and a public installation of the works will be on display during Paanja Festival 2019 at Mapoon. Examples of the work this project will produce will be showcased at Cairns Indigenous Art Fair 2019 and offered for future gallery exhibitions. |
The Regional Arts Fund (RAF) is an Australian Government program designed to benefit regional and remote arts practitioners, arts workers, audiences and communities. The fund is provided through Regional Arts Australia and is administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.