Rich arts experiences provide opportunities for Queenslanders

20 Aug 2019

Communities across Queensland will have access to a range of vibrant arts and cultural experiences thanks to $837,534 in funding from the Queensland Government.

The funding, provided under the Queensland Arts Showcase Program, was helping to strengthen Queensland’s arts and cultural sector and helped support local artists to create new work that creates diverse and original experiences in communities.

This round has funded 22 projects that cover a range of artistic forms, including performing arts, visual arts, music, design and craft projects, right across Queensland.

$49,500 has been provided to this year’s Winton Outback Festival, to be held in September in this Year of the Outback Tourism, which will be a must-see regional arts and cultural tourism event with more than 100 artists, 40 community workshops and 85 performances.

Outback Festival Event Coordinator Robyn Stephens said the five-day major regional event strengthened Indigenous arts and cultural tourism, provided employment opportunities for regional arts and art workers, and engaged the community in skills development workshops.

“This funding being received during the Year of Outback Tourism will drive economic growth through increased visitation to celebrate the 25th celebration of the Outback Festival, delivering a diverse arts and cultural program,” Mrs Stephens said.

Other arts projects being funded included the Big Sky Girls mentoring program, which has received $49,500, to support young emerging regional and remote female contemporary music artists to hone their skills. This project will be delivered in Brisbane, Gympie and Cairns, and will help to foster talent and keeping songwriting and storytelling alive across regional Queensland.

Meanwhile, CQ Shopfront, presented by The Ideas Distillery, has received $59,676 for the 18-month developmental program for Central Queensland visual artists and makers, helping them build their entrepreneurial skills, create commercially viable work and develop sustainable businesses.

In Cunnamulla, mural artist Guido van Helton will work with the community to design and develop a large-scale installation to be painted on the town’s water tower in a move to tell local stories through public art, thanks to $40,000 from the Queensland Government. Guido’s photo-realist works adorn structures across Australia and internationally and this significant new work will help to expand the ‘silo art’ trail throughout regional Queensland.

This round of funding also supported a new project centred on the writings of the late internationally recognised Queensland artist Gordon Bennett, a ground-breaking multidisciplinary artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Celtic heritage. The Selected Writings of Gordon Bennett project developed by Griffith University Art Museum will reveal a wealth of new information about the late great artist’s work and provide insights into his ongoing impact on contemporary Australian art.

Other arts projects funded cover a diverse range of genres, including theatre, poetry, jazz, classical music and cabaret.

Since QASP opened in September 2015, 346 applicants have received funding support totalling $11.6 million.

Recipients for Queensland Arts Showcase Program funding

Total: $837,534         

• Dead of Winter Festival 2019- $25,000 for one-day event featuring more than 170 artists and 45 performances across five stages and two venues in Fortitude Valley.
• Queensland Poetry Festival - $53,460 (+$4040 in kind) for Australia’s foremost festival for spoken word and poetic arts features readings, workshops, panels, performances and national poetry prizes.
• Flipside Circus Association Inc - $21,110 for Statum, a collaboration with Counterpilot on a new physical performance work premiering in October in Brisbane.
• Dead Puppet Society - $60,000 for this year’s program of activities including three projects to create new Queensland works by a wide range of artists, in Brisbane.
• JUTE Theatre Company, Cairns - $50,830 for Queensland Winter PlayFest, a four-day theatre development program for regional Queensland playwrights, practitioners and theatre companies.
• Paroo Shire Council - $40,000 for Towering Cunnamulla - Artist Guido van Helton will work with the community to identify stories to inform the design and development of a large-scale public art installation on Cunnamulla’s water tower.
• Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra - $26,665 for a Queensland classical music tour featuring 14 chamber soloists (including world-renowned musicians from Europe and Australia) who will perform a program in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast. An education program will also be presented on the Sunshine Coast.
• La Silhouette, by The Sui Ensemble - $19,154 for this production at Brisbane Powerhouse's MELT: Festival of Queer Arts and Culture, which is a sprawling immersive performance leading audiences through Queensland’s rich, outrageous and sometimes wretched ‘queer history’.
• Nambour Winter Jazz Fest - $27,000 to promote jazz in all its genres on the Sunshine Coast.
• Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane - $22,657 to bring to light the writings of the late Gordon Bennett, an internationally renowned multidisciplinary artist, revealing a wealth of new knowledge about his work and his impact on contemporary Australian art.
• Outback Festival Inc, Winton - $49,500 for the Festival, a regional arts and cultural tourism event that will celebrate 25 years of festivals, employ visual and performing artists, deliver excellent presentations, engage community in skills development workshops and allow audiences to access a range of diverse creative experiences.
• Botanical Artists Society of Queensland - $60,000 for Artistic Endeavours, an exhibition of contemporary botanical art alongside historical documents to mark 250th anniversary of plant collections during the Endeavour’s voyage along the east coast of Australia in 1770. Exhibition will be in Redcliffe.
• Becoming Bill theatre production, Brisbane - $48,650 to rehearse and present the premiere season of Becoming Bill, a new musical featuring music theatre star Rachael Beck. 
• SugarRush Music - $49,500 to deliver the Big Sky Girls mentoring program, now in its third year, for young emerging regional and remote female artists. Will be held in Brisbane, Cairns and Gympie.
• Ipswich District Teacher Librarian Network - $15,320 for StoryArts Festival Ipswich – Connecting Readers with Creators. This is a vibrant week-long program celebrating books and story in different forms, including performances and exhibitions.
• Women in Voice 2019 Season & Mentorship Program, Brisbane - $39,800 for a program of activities and productions to develop sustainable arts practice for female singers in Queensland, including ongoing mentorship.
• The Ideas Distillery, Bundaberg - $59,676 for CQ Shopfront, an 18-month developmental program to build entrepreneurial capacity of Central Queensland artists and makers, creating commercially viable work and sustainable businesses. To be delivered in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Biloela, Eidsvold, Maryborough and Bundaberg.
• Dots+Loops 2019, Brisbane - $25,000 for Queensland's post-genre music and arts series, inclusively exploring the spaces between a traditional classical concert, an underground club gig and an experimental art show.
• The Dennis Sisters EP Project, Sunshine Coast - $12,500 to write, record, mix and master five tracks by Sunshine Coast duo The Dennis Sisters.
• Book Links Qld Inc - $6,012 for Book Links StoryArts Brisbane, a two-day festival for writers, illustrators, teachers and teacher-librarians targeted at professional development for the promotion of excellence in children’s literature.
• Community Plus Queensland Inc - $25,700 for TraceArt, a biennial art exhibition, staged as an art trail, with leading Australian contemporary artists exhibiting in unlikely inner-Brisbane venues.
• Brisbane Festival - $100,000 for an international production to be staged at this year’s Brisbane Festival 2019, providing extensive professional development opportunities for local artists.