Country Arts Support Program Investment into New England North West

Six organisations from across the New England North West region will be starting off the second half of the year on a high after successfully securing a Country Art Support Program grant (CASP).

CASP is an annual small grants program administered by the Regional Arts Development Organisations, providing grants of up to $3,000 to support a creative and vibrant regional NSW arts scene.

“CASP is a significant investment directly into the New England North West region and announcing six successful CASP applications has been a great start to my new role at Arts North West.” Said Arts North West Executive Director, Lauren Mackley. “We received numerous applications to the fund this year, which is a fantastic indication that the New England North West arts and cultural landscape is bouncing back after a difficult couple of years.” Ms Mackley continued.

The successful applications are as follows:

Moree Cultural Art Foundation Ltd ($3,000)

BAMM will partner with TAFE Moree to deliver capacity building workshops for local artists. Selected Indigenous TAFE artists and Moree-based artsworkers will collaborate to train each other in arts practices, learn teaching skills, and create weaving kits. Artists will then lead a series of classes for the public at BAMM.

Black Gully Printmakers ($1,980)

Artist Dr Renata Buziak will conduct a 3-day workshop. Educators, children and families will explore one of the earliest historical photographic processes: the cyanotype. Using botanical specimens, found objects and sunlight, participants will create unique photograms on cotton with flat natural vegetation within the preschool/children’s homes to use in their own composition.

High Country Theatre and New England Bach Festival ($3,000)

This project plans to commission two local composers, Matthew Minter and Benjamin Thorn to compose new works to be performed in next year’s New England Bach Festival. The composers will also present a seminar at NECOM for high school students later this year introducing their new works and compositional processes.

Glen Innes Pottery Club Inc ($3,000)

4-day workshop over two weekends in August 2022 at our club rooms at Glen Innes TAFE with artist/ceramicist Max Powell. Focusing on making a series of different plaster moulds using 3 different techniques, developing skills in the commercial, experimental and creative use of plaster moulds.

Arts Gunnedah ($3,000)

Three advanced level printmaking workshops to be conducted by three leading printmakers, two from New England North West and one from Sydney at the studio, Bicentennial Creative Arts Centre, Gunnedah between October 2022 and June 2023.

Walcha Handmade Community Co-Operative Ltd ($3,000)

Workshops to learn new skills in photography or art by highlighting and showcasing their favourite image of Walcha.

For more information on each of these project, please contact the organisation directly.

Regional Arts Fund (RAF) Project Grants are Open

Applications for Regional Arts Fund (RAF) Project Grants are officially open from 9am on July 4, 2022.

The Project Grants will fund high-quality arts projects benefitting regional or remote artists, arts workers, audiences and communities. The focus of the project could include any area of creative practice, multiple art forms or cross-disciplinary practice.

There have been some changes to this program, so please take time to read the guidelines here.

APPLYING VIA SMARTYGRANTS

When the grant round is open, a link below will take you to the Regional Arts Australia online application system. If you have not used SmartyGrants before you will need to set up an account. This account and password can be used to go back to your application at any time and will be the same for any other grants you might apply for in the future using the Smartygrants system. Your application will be available to you until you click SUBMIT, or the closing date is reached.

Apply for up to $30,000

Regional Arts Fund (RAF) Project Grants will close on Monday, 15 August 2022 at 5:00pm.

ELIGIBILITY

For detailed information regarding eligiblity, please see Eligibility-RAF

ENQUIRIES

If you have any enquiries about the RAF contact the Manager, Grants & Projects at Regional Arts NSW Tel 02 9270 2502 Email funding@regionalartsnsw.com.au.

Successful applicants can download the RAF Logos HERE

THE CLOSE OF A WONDERFUL CHAPTER

THE CLOSE OF A WONDERFUL CHAPTER

It is with regret we will soon be saying goodbye to our amazing Executive Director Caroline Downer, OAM, in early June.

Caroline started with Arts North West in 2015, and her energy, passion, and dedication to developing all facets of community arts has been inimitable. We will miss her sense of humour, her flexibility, kindness, and unflappable good-nature.

Caroline has accepted the position of CEO at the Canberra Tuggeranong Arts Centre, and we wish her nothing but the very best on the next chapter of her adventures.

From Caroline:

It is with some sadness that I leave Arts North West after 7 years at the helm. I have loved working here in the New England North West supporting local creatives and the arts sector more broadly.

It is the people that make our communities; and I have certainly enjoyed collaborating with many of you on some wonderful programs, which have been supported by the amazing ANW staff. Arts North West has certainly grown over my time – and there are so many personal highlights, from our iso-projects like The Panorama Project, to programs that bring people and artists together such as Art Word Place. Creativity and art-making bring such reassurance and enjoyment to our communities and I can’t wait to see what wonderful things Arts North West achieves in its future.

From our Board Chair, Anna Watt:

With a mixture of emotions, I regretfully accepted Caroline’s resignation as the Executive Director of ANW. Caroline has been at the helm of ANW since April 2015 and has done a splendid job of managing our organisation, achieving numerous goals and collaborating with abundant organisations / individuals to benefit those living within the ANW footprint. Caroline is leaving ANW in a very strong and stable position.

Caroline has accepted the Chief Executive Officer’s role with the Tuggeranong Community Arts Association and will be relocating to Canberra with her husband, Nigel - a destination that I knew they had in their sights should a great opportunity arise.

On behalf of my ANW Board colleagues, and ANW Strategic Advisory Committee colleagues I take this opportunity to wish Caroline all the best with her new role, location and next chapter in her journey. I extend thanks also on behalf of the ANW footprint communities and wider arts network to Caroline for her achievements and contributions during her time with ANW.

GIVE YOUR CREATIVE CONCEPT A KICK-START

Have you got a workshop, project, or creative initiative which needs some funding to give your community an opportunity? The Country Arts Support Program (CASP) is an annual small grants program funded by Create NSW and managed by Regional Arts Development Organisations. Arts North West is offering grants under the Country Arts Support Program of up to $3,000 for arts community groups and arts organisations in the New England North West to support their creative endeavour.

To be eligible to apply, you must be a group, a not-for-profit arts-based organisation on an LGA within the Arts North West footprint: Armidale Regional, Glen Innes Severn, Gunnedah Shire, Gwydir Shire, Inverell Shire Council, Liverpool Plains Shire, Moree Plains Shire, Narrabri Shire, Tamworth Regional, Tenterfield Shire, Uralla Shire and Walcha Council. Please send any enquires to our Executive Director, Caroline Downer: rado@artsnw.com.au

Guidelines and link to the application are found at: artsnw.com.au/casp-2022

Applications close 30 May 2022.

Regional Futures Representatives from the New England North West

Congratulations to our regional creatives who have been selected as our representatives for the NSW Regional Futures Project. We have two pairs collaborating on some very exciting projects.

(TOP) Creative collaborators Alana Blackburn, musician, and Mike Terry, photographer and multimedia artist, will consult with environmental scientists to create a work that combines film, collage and soundscapes to address the question “How can our past inform our future?”

(BOTTOM) Visual artists Joanne Stead, Tamworth, and Gamilaraay Woman Tania Hartigan, Wallabadah, will develop a creative response to the conversations across their community that explore the variable understandings of sustainability and the implications that arise from the lack of a common language.

These four are among 29 artists from across NSW have been announced as participants in the state-wide Regional Futures project.

Regional Futures is a two-year state-wide creative project funded by Create NSW and delivered by the NSW Regional Arts Network which represents 15 members organisations that support and promote artists and creative practice across regional NSW.

At the heart of the project is collaboration across sectors bringing artists and other experts together, exploring the future of the regions.

The artists will participate in a ten-week self-directed creative development program that will involve weekly online sessions with various thought leaders and studio visits from the project's Creative Director.

Regional Futures will culminate with the showcasing in Sydney of new works developed as part of the project.

It will be fascinating to watch these collaborations develop! More about the Regional Futures project here: https://regionalfutures.net.au/

We are humbled and proud to work on this Country

Arts North West feels proud and privileged to have this exceptional piece by Glen Innes Elder, Ngarrabul Yinaar Adèle Chapman-Burgess, which acknowledges the First Nation land and histories where we work and live. It is so beautiful.

Fortuitously, as a fantastic member of the Glen Innes maintenance staff was installing this piece on Thursday, Adèle was driving by and was able to see the piece as it was just hung on the Arts North West office building. It was so cool to have her there.

We will have a formal launch of this piece in early May during the Creative Recovery Workshop, commencing 11 May at Arts North West, and we will invite the local community and our First Nations Elders to come to that event. We will be organising a formal cultural ceremony to open the workshop and acknowledge the installation of this beautiful plaque.

Debut market showcases First Nations artists

With less than two weeks to go until the debut live Arts North West Gather & Trade Aboriginal Artisans Market, organiser and 2 Rivers Pty Ltd managing director Lorrayne Fishenden is thrilled the event is about to launch. She said the line-up of artists will be exceptional, despite set-backs and COVID delays which have affected so many arts events.

“We’re confident that the market will be a greater success then we originally anticipated,” Lorrayne said.

“We are really excited to have this platform to showcase the talent, passion and skills of our First Nations artists, especially during the 50th Tamworth Country Music Festival. This means we will have some amazing exposure we hope will increase economic outcomes for artists who have been heavily affected by the pandemic, through the sale of their work.”

The markets on Saturday, 23 April, from 9am-2pm will be staged alongside First Nations performing artists with live music and workshops beside the White Street carpark at Kable Avenue, Tamworth.

Lorrayne said there are 10 stalls, and a total of 23 artists are registered for the event, and nine performing artists will take the stage.

“From weaving to resin, paintings to jewellery, handmade stockwhips to children’s books, the market is a great opportunity for community and visitors to town to buy authentic Aboriginal arts and crafts from First Nations creatives from the region who are showcasing and selling their products and to a wide audience,” Lorrayne said.

“For example, for young emerging artist Georgia Byrnes, it’s her first time selling her works at a markets. At just 19 years-of-age, she has been working through the Arts North West Aboriginal Artist Intensive Mentoring program for the last 6 months, and this has given her the confidence to join more experienced artists like Glen Innes-based Avril Chapman, and the Moree Mehi Gallery who will have five artists attend.”

Arts North West executive director Caroline Downer was elated the market had been designed to support and highlight local creative and cultural talents.

“Tamworth is a real regional hub in the New England North West and is the perfect location to shine a light on the myriad of Aboriginal arts and cultural enterprises, making and creating in the New England North West region,” she said.

“Plus, the talent scheduled for our Gather & Trade Market stage is exceptional. It’s especially exciting to have this event happening during the TCMF final weekend and Community Saturday in the Park. It means these artisans and performing artists will have a big introduction to a big audience.”

Gather and Trade is supported through the Australian Government’s Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program.

CONTACTS

Lorrayne Fishenden: lorrayne@2rivers.com.au, 0467 668 977

Caroline Downer: rado@artsnw.com.au, 0428 042 622

Michèle Jedlicka: media@artsnw.com.au, 6732 4988, 04387 010 131