Join us at Artstate Lismore 2017

Artstate Lismore 2017 is not long away and we don't want you to miss out on this incredible opportunity to meet new people, make new connections and explore the exciting possibilities for arts and cultural development across NSW.

Regional Arts NSW is offering Quick Response Grants to help get you there offering up to $1,500 to help cover the costs of attending Artstate Lismore. All you need to do is call the team at Regional Arts NSW and let them know how this opportunity will provide you with professional and arts skills development, fill in a simple online form including a realistic budget and you could be joining us in Lismore on the 30th of November for an exciting two day program of speakers exploring the themes of creative practice and creative partnerships.

Dont delay! call 02 9270 2502 or email funding@regionalartsnsw.com.au

Writing NSW Access for Regional Writers Grants

Writing NSW Access for Regional Writers Grants are opening soon (Monday 20 November). These $300 travel grants are designed to assist writers in regional NSW attend a professional development event that helps develop their careers as writers.  

Previous grant recipients include writers from areas such as Kyogle, Lismore, Tamworth, Wagga Wagga, Mudgee and Dubbo. They used their travel funds to attend professional development activities at Write Around the Murray Festival, Yellamundie National First Peoples Playwriting Festival, New England Writers’ Centre, Hunter Writers Centre and the NSW Writers’ Centre

Find out more here http://www.nswwc.org.au/support-for-writers/writing-nsw-grants/writing-nsw-access-for-regional-writers-grants/

ARTS NORTH WEST ARTS GRANT WRITING BASICS WORKSHOPS

Arts Grant Writing Basics is a workshop offering handy tips and tricks to any individual or community organisation applying for arts grants.

The tools and techniques provided will increase your chance to win the support you need to get your great idea off the ground. Learn how to decode the application questions, summarise your project, prepare a justification and conquer your budget.

Executive Director of Arts North West, Caroline Downer has had more than 20 years of successful grant writing experience. Her workshops are interactive, hands-on and practical and are suitable for new submission writers or those requiring a refresher.

“Being able to ask those tricky questions and apply tips to your own submissions will be really beneficial for participants in fine tuning their applications. Grant writing has become an integral tool for community art organisations and regional artists” said Ms Downer.

These three hour workshops are $25 per person and include a detailed workbook covering the key content delivered in the workshop.

11 October Tenterfield School of Arts, Rouse Street 10am - 1pm
18 October Gunnedah Smithurst Theatre, Conadilly Street 10am - 1pm
22 November Quirindi Royal Theatre 1.30pm - 4.30pm

Book online www.trybooking.com/RKKT

Contact Arts North West on 6732 4988 for more information. 

Applications now open for the Regional Arts Fund 2018

Applications are now being accepted for the Regional Arts Fund (RAF), an Australian Government initiative that supports sustainable cultural development in regional and remote communities in Australia. The program is managed by Regional Arts Australia and Regional Arts NSW, and is designed to benefit regional and remote arts practitioners, arts workers, audiences and communities.

Funding for the 2018 round is available for projects commencing between 1 January and 31 December 2018. Projects must be based or delivered in regional NSW, with grants available in the categories of New Initiatives and Partnerships. The arts or cultural focus of the project can include visual arts, circus, dance, film, literature, music, theatre, puppetry, digital media and cross-art-form works. Projects are also eligible for multi-year funding for up to 2 years. In 2017, the RAF Community Grants saw support for 22 new projects sharing in more than $434,000.

“The RAF funds amazing projects in regional NSW, clearly demonstrating the excellence of arts practice in this state,” CEO of Regional Arts NSW, Elizabeth Rogers, said. “The high standard of applications for imaginative and innovative work is very exciting.”

Applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposed RAF projects with their local Regional Arts Development Organisation (RADO) prior to submission for one-on-one support. Those seeking more than $20,000 in funding for New Initiatives or Partnerships must discuss their application with the Grants & Projects Manager at Regional Arts NSW by calling (02) 9270 2501 or emailing funding@regionalartsnsw.com.au.

Applications for the Regional Arts Fund (RAF) Community Grants close on Thursday 10 August 2017, 5pm AEST. For more information about the program, including guidelines and instructions, visit: http://regionalartsnsw.com.au/grants/raf/

Country Art Support Program Opens Today!

Do you have an arts project that needs a financial lift? Will your project contribute to arts and cultural activity in your community? 
 
The Country Arts Support Program (CASP) is an annual grants program that supports community arts and cultural development in regional NSW through grants of up to $3000. CASP opens on Friday 26 May 2017 and close 5:00PM Thursday 27 July 2017.
 
CASP is an annual small grants program administered by Regional Arts NSW (RANSW) on behalf of Arts NSW. http://regionalartsnsw.com.au/grants/casp/

WHAT'S NEW FOR CASP?

  • CASP applications will only be accepted through the Arts NSW secure on-line grants system, SmartyGrants.
  • Guidelines have been reviewed and simplified.
  • You will need to respond to a number of Create NSW KPIs that are common to all arts grants applicants under the NSW Arts and Cultural Policy Framework (ACDP). 

OBJECTIVES

  • The aim of the Country Arts Support Program is to support community arts and cultural development in regional NSW through small grants that:
  • Assist locally determined community arts and cultural activities.
  • Increase opportunities for regionally-based groups to access a diverse range of arts programs.
  • Enable communities to explore and express their cultural identities.
  • Bring social and economic benefits to the community through training, employment and promotional opportunities.
  • Lead to greater awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity.
  • Increase the sustainability and resilience of regionally based community arts organisations.

DON’T FORGET!

  • read the CASP Guidelines carefully and 
  • before you submit discuss your project with Caroline Downer, Executive Director of Arts North West on 0428 042 622. Caroline will be able to help you with any questions you have in regards to your project and applying for CASP.

SUCCESS! NORTHERN Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has today announced three arts cultural grants of over $133,000

NORTHERN Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has today announced three arts cultural grants of over $133,000 today including one which will see six high profile museums in Armidale, Glen Innes, Bingara, Uralla, Tamworth and Werris Creek become the stuff of colourful and quirky stories for publication.

Mr Marshall said the Stuff of Tales arts cultural project will take some of the ‘stuffy’ out of old some of our oldest museums across the region west, dust them off and make them the stuff of characters and cultural tourism stories.

The Stuff of Tales project has been awarded $51,147 through a state government program which will see a partnership between Arts North West and the New England Writers’ Centre to focus a literary light on the celebrated museum collection pieces and their human history stories.

Mr Marshall announced the grant funding with Arts North West executive director Caroline Downer and New England Writers’ Centre chair and author Sophie Masson at the historic Saumarez Homestead, near Armidale.

The iconic homestead museum is one of the six to be featured in the online and e-book publishing series.

The Roxy Theatre at Bingara, History House at Glen Innes, Railway Museum in Werris Creek, Powerstation Museum in Tamworth and McCrossin’s Mill in Uralla are the others to be featured.

“This is a really exciting project because it will bring to life some of our major historical buildings and museums but importantly bring those tales of history back into the spotlight,” Mr Marshall said.

“These are places of rich cultural heritage and there’s also some wonderful little gems of stories behind those times and who better to tell some of those stories and highlight some of the quirky and little known stories behind the doors.

“There’s an absolute goldmine of history here in the north and who better to open the pages of some of those tales than some of our most celebrated local authors.”

Ms Downer said the authors would be paired with museum volunteers and would produce e-book editions on each, including illustrations.

“We’re looking to get really engaging words to build the creative content and build the idea and promote how our museums are unique because too often people don’t know about them,” Ms Downer said.

She said the project timeline was two years and they were looking to hold workshops as part of the getting-to-know-you relationships between the literary partners and museum presenters.

Writers’ Centre chair Sophie Masson said the centre had been involved in selecting the celebrated regional authors for the series. These include John Heffernan, Ian Irvine, Fiona McDonald, Bronwyn Parry, Beattie Alvarez and Ms Masson, along with illustrator David Allan.

Mr Marshall said the collaborative project would not only raise awareness locally of the history of the museums and their localities and early communities but also serve to promote and publicise the diversity of heritage outside the region – and attract more tourists.

“Often we become blasé about what’s around us or we underestimate the value of what we have in our own backyards when it comes to our early stories and this is a project that will shine a light on that history and our stories,” he said.

The funding is under the Arts and Cultural Development Program and the Minister for the Arts Troy Grant said it supported artists and cultural workers which enriching the lives of people across NSW.

The Stuff of Tales is one of three grants Mr Marshall announced for the north today.

A $60,000 grant to the Armidale Cultural Centre and Keeping Place will see an extension to their programs while a separate $22,000 grant to the New England Writers’ Centre will underwrite a program for young writers to promote young adult fiction and provide outreach programs to schools and a dedicated children’s literature festival.

Mr Marshall said that grant would also offer workshops in professional development and genre writing, including young adult fiction and crime.

It will also continue its Youth Online outreach program to schools, and present two specialised festivals: ‘Sorcery and Spaceships’ focusing on speculative fiction and ‘Booked In’, the only children’s literature festival in regional NSW.

 

SUCCESS! $166,913 for two projects promoting unique Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and arts in the New England Electorate

$166,913 for two projects promoting unique Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and arts in the New England Electorate

The Coalition Government is providing more than $22 million to support the maintenance of Indigenous languages and showcase Indigenous arts and culture through the Indigenous Languages and Arts program.

This funding will support a range of activities including large scale contemporary works in dance, music and theatre and traditional Indigenous arts practices and projects.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce said two organisations in the New England Electorate will share in more than $250,000 of funding through the Federal Government’s Indigenous Languages and Arts program.

“I am pleased to announce that 2 Rivers Pty Ltd has received $121,700 and Arts North West $145,213 for the respective projects, Looking Through Windows and Rivers to Ridges.

The project Looking Through Windows is a multimedia exhibition created by Lorina Barker, a student at the University of New England.  It explores the removal, dispossession and ‘protection’ of Aboriginal people in NSW and will be exhibited at the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) in late 2017, then at the Diggers on the Darling in March 2018 and the Campbelltown Art Centre in May?June 2018.

The Rivers to Ridges project aims to provide opportunities for Aboriginal artists to translate and share stories at workshops that will be presented in a multimedia format over two years. In the year 2016?17 it will receive $69,897 and in 2017?18 the funding amount is $75,316.

“These projects will contribute to a vibrant and diverse Indigenous cultural landscape where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are empowered to maintain, celebrate and promote their arts and languages,” Mr Joyce said.

The Minister for the Arts, Senator Mitch Fifield said the Coalition Government will provide $22.8 million to showcase Indigenous cultural and artistic expression and support the maintenance of Indigenous languages.

“The Indigenous Languages and Arts program supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to keep their cultural identity strong by funding arts and languages organisations and projects,” Minister Fifield said.

Twenty-one Indigenous arts and languages organisations will receive almost $15 million over five years to support the revival and maintenance of Indigenous languages and the delivery of arts projects.

A further 63 Indigenous languages and arts projects will receive almost $8 million for projects to be undertaken over the next two years.

The Indigenous Languages and Arts program helps to maintain and encourage participation in Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures by providing support for projects and organisations for language and arts projects.

More information about the program is available at www.arts.gov.au