QUICK NEWS BITES

Our most-read stories this week were:

TALKS and OPPORTUNITIES

Delivered virtually over four days, the Know My Name Conference celebrates women (cis and trans) as artists, activists, researchers, intellectuals and mentors, now and into the future. Foregrounding diverse voices and with First Nations perspectives embedded across the program, the event will bring together leading and emerging Australian and international voices from arts and academia.

Presented by National Gallery of Australia from Tue 10Fri 13 November. Registrations essential.

AOC Initiative Scholarship Panelists. Image supplied.

To qualify for the AOC Initiative, applicants must identify as Bla(c)k, Indigenous or as People of Colour; be pursuing a career in musical theatre; be aged between 17 and 30 at the time of submission; be an Australian citizen or resident; not have previously secured a leading or supporting role in a mainstage musical theatre production, and not be engaged in or scheduled for performance-related work in a leading or supporting role at the time of submission.

Donations are being raised via GoFundMe with 100% of the prize money being awarded to the six finalists. So far, the AOC has raised over $10,000 with the winner receiving 50% of the donations; the runner up receiving 20% of the donations and the final four receiving 7.5% of the donations each. All donations support a step forward in the dialogue of inclusivity and social awareness.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has released new dates and funding for the UK/Australia Season 2021-2022.

The Season is a joint initiative by the British Council and the Australian Governments Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to strengthen and build cultural connections. Australia-based arts organisations and individuals are invited to submit project proposals for inclusion in the UK/Australia Season 2021-22.

The application deadline for Australian applications to present work in the UK has been extended. The new closing date is Monday 5 October 2pm AEST. More information relating to the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program (ACDGP)for the Season is now available on the DFAT website.

Australian individuals and organisations can apply for grants of up to $60,000 AUD. A reminder that organisations are also eligible to bid for up to $40,000 AUD as part of the UK/Australia Season Grant.

This will be the first time the Australian Government and the British Council have collaborated on a reciprocal Season, which will take place from August 2021 to March 2022.

DFAT recently hosted a webinar for Australia-based arts organisations and individuals looking to find out more about the Season. The panel included representatives from the Australian High Commission in the UK, DFAT and British Council Australia, who shared key information around the Season concept, funding opportunities and eligibility criteria. There was also an extensive Q&A session for live participants. Listen on Youtube.

Utopia Art Centre is a community-led initiative. The artists, with the help of Urapuntja Aboriginal Corporation (UAC) have lobbied, saved and put their own resources into getting started. Two years ago, UAC approached Desart for support and direction in finally establishing an art centre.

Were all really excited for the artists and their community. People might think that a region like Utopia has had lots of art services and an art centre set up for years, but it hasnt; the artists have fared for themselves, making this a really important project, said Philip Watkins, CEO of Desart.

With over 100 artists in the region, there is strong demand for access to the benefits of an Aboriginal owned and managed enterprise. The Utopia artists have long seen the success and services a strong art centre brings to other communities and have long advocated for such a model for their homelands.

The nationwide search for the Utopia Art Centres foundation Manager has started. Recruitment is led by Desart, with a competitive package for the right person. The new Manager will be crucial to the start-up of Utopia Art Centre, in equal parts exciting and problem-solving.

Learn more about the position. Applications close Monday 21 September 2020.

FESTIVAL UPDATES

On the eve of wrapping up this weekend, Parrtjima has announced 2021 dates off back of this years success. Parrtjima - A Festival in Light will return to Australias Red Centre and Alice Springs from 9-18 April 2021.

Parrtjima is the only event of its kind in the world, celebrating Aboriginal arts, culture and storytelling through extraordinary light, art and sound installations.

ON STAGE

The City of Ballarat has created what appears to be a world first a 1300 hotline where residents can dial in to express their emotions and have those feelings transformed into a specially composed piece of music.

1300 ROAR is a project of the Creative City Strategy of the City of Ballarat and has been developed as part of the Citys ongoing commitment to supporting the arts and culture sector, as well as integrating creativity into the Citys response to recovery from the pandemic.

Mayor, Cr Ben Taylor said: We understand that our community needs to have an avenue to voice their emotions whether they are feeling frustration, sadness, grief, hope or joy. The 1300 ROAR project gives everyone an outlet to express their emotions in a healthy and productive way.

Residents will be able to call the hotline on 1300 728 760 from now until mid-October. The service also has the capacity to connect residents to Lifeline.

Residents will be able to dial an answering machine and have three minutes to voice their feelings. Everyones submission is anonymous. The files are not listened to instead they are compressed into a single file. The total compressed files are supplied to a local digital sound engineer and composer to craft a soundscape or a piece of music designed to lift spirits and encapsulate this important time.

Ballarat has proven to be ahead of the curve in both managing community wellbeing and injecting much-needed funds into the vulnerable creative sector during lockdown times. This lockdown is no different, added Taylor.

Queensland Symphony Under the Stars 2019. Image supplied.

Symphony Under the Stars is set for 24 and 25 September, when Queensland Symphony Orchestra will return to Gladstone for the eighth consecutive year. For the first time, two concerts will be held in Gladstones picturesque Marina on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 September 2020 at 7pm.

The spectacular event is part of the Gladstone Enrichment through Music (GEM) initiative. Fifty-nine musicians will take the trip north of Gladstone for the two performances.

The program features a movie music repertoire, with works from blockbusters such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, E.T., and Cinema Paradiso under the baton of conductor Dane Lam.

While the event is free, bookings are essential, and must be made via Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centres website.

arTour and Flipside Circusare rolling their first large-scale arts and entertainment tour since COVID-19 hit.

arTour Producer Laura Bonner said they were excited to once again hit the road to bring arts and entertainment to regional and remote Queensland. This trailblazing tour with Flipside Circus is a positive indicator of Queenslands post-COVID recovery and a hopeful sign of more regional tours and performances to come, said Bonner.

arTour has teamed up with Flipside Circus, Queenslands largest youth arts company, to present their community youth engagement program from 12 September to 16 November. They have tailored a program of youth workshops to present a unique two-day training residency in 10 western Queensland communities.

Eugene Choi, Rainbow Chan, Marcus Whale will present a new song cycle inspired by Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love. Photo: Daniel Boud

The Sydney Opera House has commissioned a new work by Sydney artists Rainbow Chan, Eugene Choi and Marcus Whale to be presented as part of its free weekly digital program,From Our House to Yours.

In the Mood, A Love Letter to Wong Kar-Wai and Hong Kongwill feature a theatrical set, 60s style costumes, and sax-drenched renditions of the films romantic soundtrack. New music by Chinese-Australian artists Rainbow Chan and Marcus Whale against a backdrop of narration by Eugene Choi will present an audiovisual journey that guides the audience through a heartbreaking cycle of longing, intimacy and forbidden love.

The performance will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wais landmark film In the Mood for Love, with a new song cycle performed on the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage with visuals evoking Wongs iconic romance through the lens of 2020.

The event will be livestreamed at 9pm AEST on Saturday 26 September and will be available to watch on demand thereafter. Free to watch live online

AROUND THE GALLERIES

Award winning artist Michael Zavros will have his first Sydney exhibition in more than a decade, with a new body of work, A Guy Like Me, to be presented at Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney October 15 to November 14.

Melbourne Art Fair has announced the cancellation of the 2021 edition. With ongoing uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, both in Australia and overseas, Melbourne Art Foundation has made the choice to focus on delivering an exceptional art fair to mark the start of the Australasian cultural season in 2022 from 17-20 February at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Stage 4 is a new online gallery launched 20 September, and exhibiting work created during the COVID-19 pandemic by Australian artists.Exhibited works will be rotated every two weeks. Artists will be able to sell their works through a connected online Shopify store, currently under development.

Stage 4 is currently taking submissions of painting, drawing, digital art, dance, performance, spoken word, and written works. Work must be created after 1 March. Stage 4 was created by Ronan MacEwan, a digital communications specialist for contemporary art galleries and organisations, based in Hobart.

The team at Sydney Contemporary have been busy creating a bespoke online platform that is more than just an online viewing room.Sydney Contemporary presents 2020features over 450new artworks from Australasia's leading galleries, created by contemporaryartists from around the globe. Sydney Contemporary presents 2020will launch on1st Octoberand will run until the end of the month, with new works added weekly.The new digital initiative showcases 450+ new artworks by more than 380 artists, created during - and in response to 2020.

Imaginary Territories - A Feminist Surrealist Visual Art Exhibition features new works by five accomplished Western Australian artists. Presented by Dark Swan Exhibitions for PS Art Space, Fremantle, it runs from 17 October to 14 November.

The works include film projection, sound, installation, photomedia, and visual art by Jo Darbyshire, Lucille Martin, Rebecca Patterson (33 POETS), Dr Toni Wilkinson, and Dr Kelsey Ashe (pictured top), who is also the curator.

Explaining the inspiration behind the exhibition, Ashe said: In an era of environmental/world crisis and political divisiveness, to conceive new realities has become critically important.The exhibition explores the concept of a "territory" as a domain of the inner world a representation that expresses an "internal truth". Through this Surrealist lens, the artists territories are simultaneously real and imagined, explored into being; a place where both conscious and subconscious realities are envisioned.

Kawita Vatanajyankur becomes a traditional beam scale in The Scale of Justice, holding baskets which fill up with luscious green vegetables, as her balance and composure are increasingly tested.

Part of the artists Mechanized series, in which Vatanajyankur acts as a moving part of a machine, she transforms herself into food production equipment in performance videos that restage everyday processes.

A Horsham Regional Art Gallery digital exhibition touring with NETS Victoria. Curated by Olivia Poloni.

Jonny Niesche,Public Intimacy, 2020. Photo credit: Kate Collingwood.

oOh!media has launched a campaign exclusive to Melbourne, showcasing works from contemporary commercial gallery STATION across its street furniture and rail sites. As Melbournes lockdown continues, the campaign highlights meaningful art that reflects on the current conditions in Victoria, reaching the citys commuters and essential workers at multiple points throughout the day.

Artworks created for the campaign focus on COVID, the artists interpretations of emotions felt during lockdown, and some of the possibilities and positives to come out of Victorias isolation.

Neil Ackland, Chief Content Marketing and Creative Officer at oOh!, said the campaign was a small gesture to help Melburnians through difficult times.

The campaign features works from Adam Lee, Dane Lovett, David Griggs, Jason Phu, Jonny Niesche, and Nell, and will run throughout September.

When COVID 19 forced the cancellation of Design Eye Creative paper on skins live gala event, Burnie Arts Council made an instant decision to shift to a digital format.

Design Eye Creative paper on skin connects Burnies papermaking heritage to a community of Australian and international artists. Their challenge is to design a wearable garment made from at least 80% paper. Filming took place in Burnie over a ten-day period in late June. The film features 31 works from 7 countries and is free online.

Boroondara Arts final exhibition for 2020 is A Family Album. Through painting, photography, textiles and video works, the featured artists illustrate the myriad experiences that bring families together and pull them apart, creating a collage of contemporary Australian communities.

The exhibiting artists include: Donna Bailey, Julie Dowling, Hannah Gartside, Pia Johnson, Hoang Tran Nguyen and Selina Ou. Showing Saturday 31 October Sunday 13 December 2020 at Town Hall Gallery and online.

More arts news you may have missed.

See the rest here:

ICYMI: The week's top news in the arts - ArtsHub