Cultural Awards 2008 Blogs and Projects

westbury

2008-05-29T16:32:54+10:00

"Cities must trade in cultural cringe for a growing sense of confidence in our distinctiveness. They must try to be somewhere, not anywhere in the extended global sprawl of electronic suburbia. Cities must wilfully believe that the unique combination of events that may fuse here is just as compelling as those that may fuse somewhere else. Cities need to involve their people in making and remaking their own mythology, and create something that is truly unique."
Marcus Westbury

UNESCO

2008-05-21T10:29:06+10:00

'We must now give greater recognition to culture as a contributor to truly sustainable
development that respects people and environments, and serves the cause of
dialogue and peace. In this way we shall be able to recover the sense of our joint
commitment to promoting “the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind”.'
Koïchiro Matsuura - Director-General of UNESCO. PDF
Here

Writing about culture is like trying to catch a butterfly with a pin.

2008-04-17T15:30:51+10:00

"Writing about culture is like trying to catch a butterfly with a pin" ... Miriam Lyons on bigger picture cultural change.

100 Years of Yarns - Conargo Shire Council

2008-02-29T21:48:46+11:00

100 Years of Yarns- an innovative and highly engaging way to celebrate the 100 year milestone of Conargo Shire in partnership with South West Arts. 20 oral history interviews were undertaken that were edited and collated into a 2 hour DVD documentary resulting in a rich tapestry of voice, sound, still and moving images of the local region and its characters.

This Business Called Art - Dubbo City Council

2008-02-29T19:44:02+11:00

This Business Called Art is an annual joint project between Orana Arts and the Western Plains Cultural Centre aimed at furthering the professional development of emerging artists and industry professionals. In 2007 the program attracted 55 artists from across Central, Orana and Far West NSW. The program included Alan Lloyd (Art Gallery of NSW) who presented on framing, packing and shipping, Sandra McMahon (Curator, WPCC) on Installing Your Work and an Artists Anonymous meeting hosted by Ben Quilty. The program is an excellent opportunity to further creative practices, examine arts as a business and share experiences in the journey of artistic practice. Feedback from this day indicates the artists in the region see this as an established fixture on the cultural calendar in the Orana Arts region.

Bush Christmas Spirit - Bland Shire Council

2008-02-29T19:08:07+11:00

In early September 2007, a community organisation approached Bland Shire Council to organise the 2007 West Wyalong Christmas Carnival that is held in December annually in the Main Street. The road is closed to traffic and a carnival atmosphere is generated throughout the streets unique "crooked mile".

In December 2007, all of the communities, townships and businesses residing in the Shire were heavily affected by the ongoing drought. It was during this time that the true meaning of Christmas spirit was embraced and the best Christmas Carnival to date was celebrated.

It is a shame you may have missed it...but we are happy to tell the story!

Cultural Laboratory - Gosford City Council

2008-02-29T18:28:35+11:00

The Cultural Laboratory is an initiative of Gosford City Council which began in 2005. The Cultural laboratory is a forum composed by 6 to 8 presentations of 10 minutes each from different art forms. The evening also includes an OPEN FORUM of 30 minutes in which the public comments on the ideas and styles presented. The presentations and the open forum are facilitated by a Master of Ceremony or moderator. The Arts and Culture unit produces four Labs a year at the Peninsula Theatre in Woy Woy. In its third year of operation the Cultural Laborarory has featured more than 250 artists with over 100 presentation recorded in the Cultural Archives.

Australia Day Lantern Procession - Gosford City Council

2008-02-29T18:04:16+11:00

This is a Gosford City Council initiative in collaboration with local communities and LightnUP productions from Lismore. The celebrations on Australia Day 26 January 2008 concluded with a Lantern Procession. The Lantern procession in January 2008 featured approximately four hundred hand-held lanterns, eight feature lanterns measuring several meters in height and width, twenty floating lanterns on kyaks, five hundred people in the procession and ten thousand spectators.
The procession involved several communities from cross cultural, intergenerational and interfaith origins.

5 Lands Walk - Gosford City Council

2008-02-29T17:22:59+11:00

The 5 Lands Walk is an initiative of Gosford City Council. The program for the walk was developed with the local community - significantly including local Aboriginal people - interested in preserving and appreciating the unique heritage of this land and its people. The inaugural event took place on Saturday 24 June 2006. The winter season was chosen to coincide with the northern migration of humpback whales. Community members hosted celebrations at their coastal villages, starting with a ceremonial opening at the Cockrone Lagoon followed by an Art Trail Festival at Avoca Beach and ending with a spectacular closing ceremony at The Haven, Terrigal. The walk featured cultural links with Aboriginal dreaming stories and contemporary community art.
June 2007 was the second edition of this spectacular and unique 9km cultural walk.

GATHERING GROUND: history, ceremony, protest - Sydney City Council

2008-02-29T16:50:25+11:00

In 2006 GATHERING GROUND was a major initiative, a large scale community cultural arts project co-ordinated by Redfern Community Centre, PACT Youth Theatre and the Indigenous community of Redfern. GATHERING GROUND was a collaborative multi-art promenade performance piece developed and presented on site at The Block in Redfern. The project was created by professional artists (predominantly Koori) who collaborated with members of the community and combine Traditional Ceremony, storytelling, video art, performance, public art, physical theatre and comedy. Gathering Ground was presented on various sites around The Block, Site 1: Eveleigh St, Site 2: Mundine's Gym, Site 3: Basketball Court on Hugo St, Site 4: Redfern Community Centre. The project was facilitated by Redfern Comunity Centre Cultural Development Officer Tracey Duncan, PACT Youth Theatres Community Arts Officer Karen Therese and two Community Cultural Development Artists Beck Ronkson and Lily Shearer (Indigenous).

Cuisine and Country - Orange City Council

2008-02-29T16:38:31+11:00

The first Touring exhibition in Australia's history devoted to Food, Art and their mysterious and important relationship. Features over 100 great Australian artworks including Dobell, Drysdale, Preston, Whiteley and younger artists like Quilty and Culliton.

Cuisine and Country borrows works from National and State Galleries and important private collectors, commissioned by Orange Regional Gallery and curated by Gavin Wilson.

A community partnership project between Orange Regional Gallery for the Orange City Council, and the Food of Orange District organisation, who put up seeding funding and made the exhibition a lynch pin of their 2007 FOOD week activities.

The exhibition was Officially Opened in Orange by master chef and art collector Tony Bilson, and is currently touring to 9 regional galleries throughout Australia, 4 of these in regional and metropolitan NSW. Many local government areas have recognised the importance of using this exhibition to promote their own local produce.

Visions of Pleasure - Goulburn Mulwaree Council

2008-02-29T16:27:38+11:00

"Visions of Pleasure". For the past twelve years the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery has been conducting art workshops for adults with disabilities. Participants from Goulburn Day Program, DADHC, have come every Monday and younger adults from Essential Personnel attended afternoon sessions. For many, these workshops are the highlight of their week. They are also fortunate enough to have original artworks in the changing exhibitions and the Gallery's permanent Collection to look at for inspiration. To showcase the works produced and to celebrate the International Day of People with a Disability, two exhibitions were held in 2006 and 2007 at the Goulburn Branch Library titled "Vision of Pleasure". These exhibitions were a wonderful celebration for the participants. They have given them a wider audience to appreciate their work, instilled a sense of pride and affirmed their extraordinary abilities in this area.

Fairfield IGNITE - Music in Schools - Fairfield City Council

2008-02-29T15:40:43+11:00

Through the Fairfield IGNITE Music in Schools program last year, more than 350 local primary school students have become music-makers! Fairfield City Council partnered with the Music Council of Australia and nine local schools to deliver music workshops, which saw students learning percussion, singing, dancing, playing instruments, and collaborating with their classmates to compose a song which they performed. IGNITE was brought to schools where children’s access to music instruction is limited due to lack of resources and opportunity.

IGNITE culminated in a Festival at Fairfield High School with the students performing for their peers, alongside professional musicians. In addition to learning about music, teachers have been amazed at the life skills that the children have developed, including team work, concentration, creative expression and self-confidence. A documentary of the Fairfield IGNITE program is currently being produced by Fairfield film collective, Rumble Pictures.

Arts Charge - Griffith City Council

2008-02-29T15:20:31+11:00

With increasing evidence of the wellbeing and community building benefits that the arts and cultural industries can deliver, Griffith City Council has taken a strong leadership role with its community by charging its arts facilities and bringing under one management the visual and performing arts, entertainment and cultural services in a way that they support, generate and reinforce positive programs, activity and messages of local government.

Support for this vision has led to greater engagement in arts and cultural activities by more of the community and revealed greater opportunities and efficiencies in program delivery, resource and partnership development, communication and education.

Stop the world I want to get off! - Lake Macquarie City Council

2008-02-29T14:48:05+11:00

‘Stop the world I want to get off!’ is the most recent of a long line of successful CCD projects for the Gallery. It involved a partnership with staff and residents at Morisset Psychiatric Hospital, artists Jane Lander and Tom Ireland, with veteran CCD arts worker, Neal Price and Accessible Arts as consultants.
The aim of the project was to dispel the myths and misconceptions about people living with a mental illness. To achieve this, an artist-in-residence program was set up over a five-month period at the hospital. Residents learnt new skills and revived old ones while in turn the artists learnt skills in dealing with different community groups and an understanding of mental illness.

The project culminated in an exhibition featuring a life-size carousel adorned with sculptural pieces made by the residents from found objects. The sense of pride from the residents during the opening forum was palpable.

Mu Meng Moved Three Times and Other Stories: Traditional Chinese Storytelling - Baulkham Hills Shire Council

2008-02-29T14:15:20+11:00

Mu Meng Moved Three Times and Other Stories is a video interpretation of traditional Chinese stories as created by local Chinese Cantonese and Mandarin speaking residents assisted by Community Cultural Development (CCD) and media workers.

Developed from ideas by Chinese residents through consultation with Hills Community Aid + Information Services Inc. (HCA) the project was developed and implemented through partnership between HCA, Baulkham Hills Shire Council (BHSC) Cultural Development Program and residents through a project steering group in 2007. It received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.

The completed DVD will be available through BHSC library services, online, through HCA networks and will be showcased and discussed at the "What's Your Story?" seminar as part of Baulkham Hills Shire Heritage Festival in April 2008.

Project workers were Cheryle Yin-Lo (Coordinator), Johnny Tran (Media) and Kelly Sau Lun Poon (Artist, Graphics and Community Liaison support)

100 Years of Yarns - Conargo Shire Council

2008-02-29T12:53:25+11:00

100 Years of Yarns is a landmark (2 year) project that witnessed the collection of 20 oral histories that were collated into a high quality documentary DVD. South West Arts in partnership with the Conargo Shire Council launched the project at an outdoor cinema screening during late March 2007, (complete with choc-tops and pop-corn) at the Pretty Pine Sporting reserve. The screening was accompanied by an exhibition of participant portraits by local photographer; Kate Butler. The DVD is a rich mosaic of moving and still images that tells some colorful tales of the shire over the last 100 years.

Together Together Project (Coming together to do things together) - Armidale Dumaresq Council

2008-02-29T12:36:29+11:00

An opportunity for 12 volunteers from diverse cultures to be trained in public speaking and leadership over a 9 month period. Target groups being refugees, migrants, and the Aboriginal and wider communities. To engage the Armidale community in promotion of Australian values, mutual respect, mutual obligation and tolerance in the local community.

The Together Together Program encouraged all participants to talk of the cultural and social backgrounds to a broad audience including Schools, Service Clubs and Community Organisations. This activity increased knowledge, understanding and awareness of the cultural diversity of all participants

The Clarence Valley Indigenous Art Award (CVIAA) - Clarence Valley Council

2008-02-29T12:32:17+11:00

The Clarence Valley Indigenous Art Award (CVIAA) and supporting program was a major cultural achievement for Grafton Regional Gallery in 2007.

The program comprised of three award sections; a major exhibition, an opening event, artist in residence, a separate indigenous school exhibition and educational workshops and tours.

The Judge for the inaugural award was artist Leah King-Smith. The winners of the award were announced at the official opening at 10.30am on Wednesday 31st October. The event officially opened by Clarence Valley Council Mayor, Cr. Ian Tiley included a traditional Indigenous smoking ceremony performed by Rex Marshall OAM and a dance performance by the Bundjalung Dance Troupe.

Coinciding with the opening artist Jenni McEwen of G Country, a locally run Indigenous arts collective, started a three day artist in residency sponsored by Country Energy. Ms McEwen ran practical workshops for school students and created original artworks on site at the gallery.

2008 Chinese New Year Festival - Hurstville City Council

2008-02-29T12:15:28+11:00

Hurstville City Council hosted its annual Chinese New Year festival on Saturday, 2 February, 2008.

Local residents and visitors enjoyed a day of spectacular entertainment and shopping at over 80 food and market stalls.

Now in its sixth year, the Hurstville Chinese New Year Festival celebrates the social, cultural and economic contribution made by the local Chinese community to the St George area.

Hurstville is the commercial capital of the St George region, and over the past few years, the main street in Hurstville’s CBD, Forest Road, has become a major destination for Asian cuisine, culture and commerce.

The event attracts more than 30,000 people and is the largest Chinese New Year festival outside the Sydney CBD celebrations.

This year, Council attracted record levels of sponsorship as well as an increased involvement from local community groups, non government and government organisations.

External stakeholders deemed this year’s festival to be an outstanding success.