The arts have a huge impact on culture. Whether music, poetry, contemporary dance, sculpture or theatre, the arts help society to interpret and understand the world around us, to document history, to challenge authority, to tell stories, to maintain Culture, to disconnect from some things and to reconnect with others. For Australia’s regional communities, the arts are critical to liveability, to economic growth and tourism, and for creative expression and growth.
Here we round up some of Australia’s innovative and inspiring arts projects with their roots in regional and remote communities.
JURRUNGU NAGN-GA | MARRUGEKU
Leading Indigenous intercultural dance company Marrugeku toured the Kimberley this year, with their powerful and acclaimed new work, Jurrungu Ngan-ga, following sell-out seasons at Carriageworks, Sydney and Broome Civic Centre.
Translated from Yawuru as “straight talk”, Jurrungu Ngan-ga is a powerful new dance work that combines movement, storytelling, and a moving musical soundscape to ‘talk straight’ about incarceration, from Don Dale youth detention centre to Manus Island immigration prison, taking its inspiration from the words and experiences of Yawuru leader Patrick Dodson, Kurdish Iranian writer and former Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani, and Iranian-Australian scholar-activist Omid Tofighian.
To cap off a huge 2022, Marrugeku Chair Debra Pigram and Artistic Co-Director Rachael Swain accepted the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Group Award at a ceremony in Melbourne.
THE REGENERATION – CREATIVE BUSHFIRE RECOVERY PROJECT | LITTLE POCKET ASSOCIATION
The Regeneration – Creative Bushfire Recovery Project was created in response to the 2019/2020 bushfires after The Little Pocket Association Founder Jessica Brown called upon her neighbours her community to gather under the banner of Regeneration, to talk, to cry, to laugh and make art together.
A seed was planted for a creative recovery project and since, that seed has been nurtured and made possible by the support of networks, councils and grants. The Regeneration Project is designed to celebrate connection to place, represent the communities shared experience and to create space for recovery and resilience within the community through a series of creative projects to be delivered across the mountain in an effort to begin the healing.
C.R.U.S.H (COMMUNITY. REGIONAL. UP SKILL. HAVEN) – CROSSROAD ARTS MACKAY
Crossroad Arts Mackay is an inclusive performance-making organisation based in Central Queensland. In partnership with Dancenorth and La Boite Theatre, they host an annual contemporary dance and theatre-making workshop called C.R.U.S.H (Community. Regional. Up skill. Haven).
C.R.U.S.H is designed for all ages, bodies, minds and levels or artistic experience, from raw beginner to highly accomplished performers aged 15 years and over. The annual C.R.U.S.H event took place from Friday 7 October to Sunday 9 October, 2022. Join the Crossroad’s e-list to find out about upcoming skills development offerings from the Mackay-based organisation.
CLOUDLINES – YUM CHA ARTS
Currently in development, Cloudlines is a mixed reality, multi-artform production, devised by Yum Cha Arts; a collective of producers, curators and artists with a passion for building creative connections between the Northern Territory of Australia and Asia. The collective was formed in 2014 in recognition of the wealth of arts and cultural activity connecting the region.
Cloudlines is a vehicle to enable artistic collaboration across distance, across artforms and across generations. It employs social media, virtual and mobile based augmented reality platforms, and live and pre-recorded sound to transform the performance space and create a collaborative performance where traditional theatre and storytelling techniques are blended with contemporary art forms. The premiere performance will be performed simultaneously in Darwin and Penang.
SOLAR CINEMA – KATHERINE REGIONAL ARTS
The Katherine Regional Arts’ Solar Cinema is part of an international network of solar powered mobile cinemas.
The Solar Cinema consists of a huge 7m x 5m inflatable screen, “deadly sound system and a shit-hot video projector”, according to the KRA. All equipment is powered by 100% solar energy and batteries, plus the Solar Cinema packs neatly into a trailer. The Solar Cinema travels all over Katherine, whether to bush blocks, remote communities or beyond.
LION TALES | CAIRNS AND DISTRICT CHINESE ASSOCIATION
Cairns and District Chinese Association (CADCAI) is a vibrant community arts and heritage organisation in North Queensland that has played a pivotal role in presenting Chinese culture and heritage activities since its establishment in 1978.
CADCAI is custodian of one of the nation’s hidden treasures, the Cairns Lit Sung Goong (LSG) Temple collection. This nationally significant collection of over 240 artefacts from the Chinese temple which operated in Cairns from 1887 and 1966. The collection is an outstanding example of the material culture of Chinese Australian religious practices, and one of the few tangible links to what was a flourishing Chinese community more than a century ago.
To celebrate Chinese New Year 2022, CADCAI brought Lion Tales to the public, an exhibition of newly restored and artist-treated Chinese lions, plus selected items from CADCAI’s Cairns Lit Sung Goong Temple collection, presented over the two-week Lunar New Year Festival.
REGIONAL ARTS AUSTRALIA PROJECTS
As part of the Australian Government’s $10 million Regional Arts Fund Recovery Boost, the creative body Regional Arts Australia recently received $1 million to launch five projects in regional communities around the country, focusing on artistic development, engaging with First Nations approaches, youth mental health and diversity.
Each project will encompass multiple creative disciplines, including music, visual arts, theatre and dance. They are:
Knowledge Circle
A First Nations-led project that contributes to the cultural safety and community wellbeing of First Nations communities as well as providing national awareness about diverse cultures and languages.
Local Giants
A multi-phased creative project that provides regional arts practitioners with a supportive pathway that connects artist residencies and producer training with creative development, presentation of new work and short-form touring.
Regional Scribes
A project that connects young Australians through creative engagement, storytelling and writing.
100K Creative Jobs Plan
A research project connecting creative jobs as a growth indicator in regional Australia. It will demonstrate greater integration of cultural industries with tourism, agriculture, health, education and technology during the pandemic recovery phase.
National Regional Fellowships Recovery Extension
A strategic mechanism to support professional development and sustainable creative practice as the arts and creative sector works to recover, rebuild and reposition post-COVID-19.