Strong First Nations and disability-led projects, and creative experiences for young people are among the highlights of the latest arts projects investment delivered by the Australia Council.
The investment of $9,504,275 will support 225 creative projects and cultural activity to take place across Australia and internationally.
The latest round includes $450,000 invested through the International Engagement Fund to support a range of activity that fosters people-to people connections; creates opportunities for cultural exchange and knowledge sharing; and showcases Australian creativity, culture and identity internationally.
“This investment will support more than 200 compelling cultural and creative projects, delivering flow on benefits across the creative industries and the broader community,” said Australia Council Executive Director for Arts Investment, Alice Nash.
“We are pleased to support so many impactful projects led by First Nations artists and artists with disability, as well as a range of activity engaging young people and families.”
Some highlights from the latest round of investment include:
Impactful works exploring environmental sustainability and the Australian landscape:
• The Space Company’s The Blow-Ins – a new theatre work inspired by the extraordinary efforts of Tasmanian locals in their efforts to save 500 pilot whales that washed up on a remote corner of the state in 2020.
• Australian composer Anthony Pateras will create a new work exploring how sound in ocean environments is accelerating and becoming noisier with changes in climate, to tour internationally to Portugal and Spain.
Strong First Nations-led projects:
• Sunshine Coast Chamber Music Festival – providing prominent platform for First Nations artists and voices, with contemporary narratives featuring Kabi Kabi significant places, language and cultural history.
• Digi Youth Arts Original Influencers: Those Who Paved the Way – a project focused on amplifying, celebrating, honouring and archiving the stories of significant Elders.
Arts experiences engaging young people and families:
• Polyglot Theatre – supporting an annual program of participatory theatre for children and young people.
• Gondwana Choirs – supporting a program of activity for 2023 including the National Choral School, a Melbourne tour for Gondwana Voices and a NZ tour for Gondwana Chorale to collaborate with the NZ Youth Choir.
• Story Factory – supporting its Year of Poetry – an important project that will nurture the talents of 15 diverse Western Sydney writers aged 13-18 and offer them a chance to be published poets.
• DRILL Performance – supporting a program engaging young people as key contributors and collaborators in the production of new contemporary dance works.
Creative works led by people with lived experience of disability:
• Support for the annual program of works by Second Echo ensemble in Tasmania, including a collaboration with Restless Dance.
• Disability-led arts organisation Schizy Inc will streamline its community arts projects into one yearly program of visual arts, performing arts, and writing for people in the mental health lived experience community.
• Support for musician and disability advocate Eliza Hull, who will travel to the UK with her band to perform at The Great Escape Festival and deliver workshops on accessibility and inclusion.
Compelling projects reflecting contemporary, multicultural Australia:
• Support for the Wheeler Centre’s The Next Chapter program, designed to champion and support writers from underrepresented backgrounds.
• Sài Gòn dep lam (Saigon is beautiful) – a new bilingual play in English and Vietnamese about women being unafraid to make bold choices and breaking with convention.
• The Boite’s The Music Between – a music work exploring intergenerational and intercultural aspects of how musical traditions from Italy, Iran, India and Indonesia evolve and develop in Australia, supporting and changing the original practitioners and all who connect with them.
The Australia Council received a total of 1,329 applications to the latest round of arts projects funding. The 210 successful projects span a range of art forms including theatre, music, literature, visual arts, First Nations arts, multi-arts, emerging and experimental, community arts, and cultural development.
The Australia Council’s Arts Project grants are peer assessed by independent industry experts from across the country. For more information, including a full list of recipients, visit: www.australiacouncil.gov.au for details.
Image: Polyglot Theatre’s interactive installation, Tangle – photo by Wendy Kimpton