Arts North West Executive Director Awarded Order of Australia Medal

SENDING SKETCHBOOKS: Caroline Downer, OAM, posting Arts North West Panorama Project content.

ARTS North West Executive Director, Caroline Downer has received an Order of Australia Medal for services to visual and performing arts, after dedicating more than 20 years to arts in the New England North West region.

Caroline took over the role of Executive Director at Arts North West in 2015, after seven years as Director of the New England Regional Art Museum.

In her role of Executive Director, Caroline plays an integral role within the Regional Arts NSW network to advocate for arts and culture in regional NSW. Caroline has successfully implemented and managed a comprehensive range of arts and cultural activities across the New England North West.

Caroline said the OAM emphasised the importance of arts and creativity in our communities, particularly during this difficult COVID-19 pandemic.

“The arts play such an important role in a healthy, happy and inclusive community” Caroline Downer

"When many of our arts venues have had to close, it has been really obvious that the arts play such an important role in a healthy, happy and inclusive community," Caroline said. "So, I am delighted that the arts sector is acknowledged in this special way."

Caroline has also volunteered for numerous New England North West arts organisations and committees including Musica Viva Armidale, the New England Bach Festival, Orpheus Music, New England Conservatorium of Music, the Armidale Youth Orchestra and the Armidale International Film Festival. She also serves on the State Government’s Classical Music Artform Advisory Board.

"I would like to think that I share this award with the many incredible creative people that live and work in the New England North West," Caroline said. "And also with the amazing volunteers who support and sustain arts and culture in this region - without them, so many of our arts activities just would not happen."

The Arts North West Boardjoins with the wider New England North West arts community in congratulating Caroline on this wonderful achievement.

“On behalf of the Arts North West Board I am delighted to congratulate Caroline on being a recipient of a Medal of the Order of Australia and named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.” Arts North West Chair, Anna Watt said.

“It is delightful to see that Caroline’s extensive contributions to arts and culture have been acknowledged.” Anna continued.

Buccaneers band together for pandemic heroes

BAND OF BUCCANEERS: (L-R) Steve Whitby, Paul Owen, Phil Weaver, Al Buchan (photo: supplied)

THE RECORDING of a David Bowie cover with a new video by a Tamworth-based group is the first project to emerge from a new initiative funded by Arts North West, created to assist local artists during the COVID-19 closure of arts venues in the New England North West region.

Musician Alan Buchan spoke to Arts North West this week and reported the project, based on ‘We Can Be Heroes’ penned by Bowie and Brian Eno in 1977, is progressing nicely, with audio engineer Nathan Kaye currently working on tracks recorded by the group known as Al and The Buccaneers.

Recorded to honour those Alan identifies as the heroes of the pandemic – supermarket staff, truck drivers, medical teams and emergency service workers – the focus of this musical project is on those he believes have kept communities going, but it also led to Alan having to pull out a few stops of his own.

“Due to the home lockdown, I approached the project very differently by recording a complete ‘demo’ of the track, myself, in my home, using a portable digital audio recorder,” he said.

“I played all the instruments myself and I sang the vocal parts and then created a rough mix of the song and sent that demo to the musicians so they could rehearse their parts individually.

“Once the lockdown was eased, I invited the musicians to come to my home and record their parts, drums, bass, piano one at a time over the course of a week. I then recorded the final guitars and vocal and these things are usually done in a day, at a professional recording studio.”

However, that setting wasn’t available due to the closure of businesses and regulations against gatherings, so despite the technical risks, Alan improvised.

“It was time consuming and somewhat nerve-wracking because I have to keep the project secure for this entire time at my home, and now I have to finalise the guide mix and send it to the engineer for the final mix and mastering,” he said.

“I will then send it to the videographer (Terence Sadler) so he can match the images to the music and we will just have to wait and see what it comes back like, both in terms of sound and vision.

“As David Bowie himself once famously wrote: ‘waiting for the gift of sound and vision’.”

Authentic ‘lockdown’

According to Alan, the founder of singer-songwriter showcase Fretfest, now that widespread quarantine conditions have been relaxed and people are able to gather in small groups, he and the other musicians have finally been able to hear what they’ve created.

“We had our first run through of the song, live in the studio,” he said.

“This would normally be done first, whereas in this case, because of the COVID-19 lockdown, we’re doing it last, so this is unusual.

“However, it has given us a renewed perspective of our performances and, as a result, we can now go back and revisit our parts to see if we want to record them again so as to better reflect our arrangement of the song, as musicians.

“Thing is, we might equally choose to leave it as it is, because that represents the compromise we each had to make. This would make it more authentic to the experience of being in lockdown, that we recorded our parts individually and not as a band might usually do, in the studio.

“The whole idea is to raise awareness of the staff, tradies and professionals who went to work while the rest of us stayed home, so my hope is that this video will receive widespread coverage and promotion,” Alan said.

This video of ‘We Can Be Heroes’ will be released on social media. Find Al and The Buccaneers on Facebook.

Art and NOT About - Arts North West is coming to you!

Meet your local Regional Arts Development Organisation on Zoom from the comfort of your own home! Executive Director Caroline Downer is eager to discuss your ideas and offer advice on a range of topics: project management, planning, budget, insurance, promotion & marketing, funding sources & opportunities post COVID-19. She can also provide feedback on grant applications including Regional Arts Fund, opening end of June. This free one-on-one meeting focuses on artists, arts and community workers living and working in the 12 LGAs that ANW covers. BOOK A 30 MINUTE SESSIONS ONLINE VIA THIS LINK https://www.trybooking.com/BJRRS

Eleven New England North West Creative Projects Funded by Arts North West

Eleven creative endeavours have been successfully funded through the Arts North West Micro Grants program. Due to COVID 19, cutbacks were made on normal spending, giving Arts North West the opportunity to offer the funding to the New England North West region.

The turnaround time for applications was relatively tight, but the New England North West responded promptly, submitting numerous applications, for an array of creative projects and ideas.

“These are very unusual times for all of us in the New England North West and we really understand the difficulties faced by the arts and cultural communities in our region” said Arts North West Executive Director, Caroline Downer. “We are absolutely thrilled at the response to the new initiative and it just goes to show that despite the current challenges faced by the sector, arts and culture is still very much alive and pumping in the New England North West ” Ms Downer continued.

The successful applicants are as follows:

Natasha Soonchild, Nundle

To research and develop an at-home sewing kit which would provide materials and instructions to produce a unique soft sculpture. This would be sold through website and utilise recycled textiles.

Sarah Leete, Baan Baa

To take practice online and compete in the ‘virtual world’. To connect with her audience and stay relevant on social media.

Alex Robson, Inverell

To run an online workshop series on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The workshops would be open to university students, and high school students in Year 11 and 12.

Stephanie Marshall, Inverell

To roll out collaborative UnstopAbility performance sessions online through the Zoom Pro platform.

Dhiiyaan Aboriginal Centre, Moree

To assist two Aboriginal artists and cultural knowledge holders, Chris Roberts and Dorothy Tighe, to adapt to self-isolation whilst also supporting their communities through creative projects.

Leah Bullen, Armidale

To undertake an at home residency and record the environment and activities of my family home.

Walcha Handmade, Walcha

Online art lessons aimed at children.

Alan Buchan, Tamworth

To record and release a song in support of the heroes who have been overlooked during the COVID19 crisis.

NERAM, Armidale

To offer a NERAM (from home) 5-week Artist Residency.

Fiona Macdonald, Armidale

To undertake a home-based residency experimenting with new drawing techniques.

Helena Pastor, Armidale

To produce quality digital recordings to share with the New England community and further afield.

The Arts North West Microgrants were designed to support the continuation of locally determined community arts and cultural practice in uncertain times, this funding aims to be as flexible as possible. Projects do not require a specific outcome but can focus on skills development or capacity-building.

For more information, contact Caroline Downer via rado@artsnw.com.au