Carclew callout… and a BlakYard Picnic
Carclew is seeking to kickstart the careers of emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creatives with a new 18-month professional development program that includes hands-on learning and mentorship.
The Emerging First Nations Creatives Program (a partnership with Arts SA and Creative Australia) is open to people aged from 18 to 30 working in any artform or interested in having a career in the arts, with applications (here) closing on Sunday, April 21.
The four successful candidates will receive an honorarium on $15,000 and career development including mentorships, access to Carclew workspaces and resources, industry networking, and work experience opportunities.
Meanwhile, you might want to head along to Carclew’s North Adelaide grounds this Saturday (April 20) for BlakYard Picnic – a day of live music, dance and other entertainment featuring an all-First Nations line-up headlined by ARIA Award nominee Emily Wurramara and including Marlon, Katie Aspel, Sonz of Serpent and Tjarutja Dance Theatre.
The picnic, a partnership with Tandanya, runs from 2.30pm until 9pm and will also feature workshops, a mini arts market and food stalls. Book your free tickets on the Carclew website.
Unique Perspectives
Composers Jodie O’Regan, Nathan May, Glyn Lehmann, Anne Cawrse and Julian Ferraretto. Photo: Andrew Beveridge
Four new works by South Australian composers will take audiences on a journey from the stars to the sea in a pair of concerts being presented by Chamber Music Adelaide at the Town Hall next month.
CMA says that while the pieces premiering in the Perspectives series span diverse themes, the composers all place text and song at the heart of their composition.
“The joy of setting text to music is that you’re never beginning in silence… with the right text, the job of the composer is to listen hard to the words and simply find the music within,” composer Anne Cawrse says.
Cawrse’s She Who Knows Strange Songs transforms the words of four female poets “chosen for their honest and non-stereotypical perspectives on who a woman might be”, while Glyn Lehmann’s As the Universe Expands is said to contemplate “our unfolding human lives within the vast and ever-expanding universe”. Arabana songwriter Nathan May explores his connection to Country in his work, which was composed with Julian Ferraretto and will be performed by May with Adelaide Baroque, and Jodie O’Regan’s Night Whales: Cana Cludhmor draws on Irish heritage to tell the story of whaling on the Fleurieu.
The new compositions will be presented alongside a selection of other chamber works in the May 10 and 11 evening concerts, which will be preceded by pre-concert talks offering an opportunity to meet the composers (full program here).
Chance to pursue a dream project
2023 Porter Street Commission recipient Kaspar Schmidt Mumm’s ROCKAMORA at ACE Gallery. Photo: Sam Roberts
Submissions have opened for the Porter Street Commission, which will see the selected artist receive $20,000 to create an ambitious new work to be presented at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental in 2025.
The award is presented annually by ACE and is open to artists working across all contemporary art forms. This year’s selection panel will comprise ACE artistic director Danni Zuvela, Adelaide-based artist Troy-Anthony Baylis, and Olivia Aherne, a curator at London’s Chisenhale Gallery.
“This opportunity is open to South Australian artists at all stages in their career, and we are really excited to see who applies and where their dream projects take them,” says Zuvela.
“We will soon be opening the exhibition for the 2024 Porter Street Commission, Fragments; a widening vision, by Lee Salomone, and can already see the ambitious conceptual and material results yielded by investing in South Australian artists’ work in this significant way.”
Other previous recipients include Bridget Currie, Allison Chhorn and Kaspar Schmidt Mumm. Applications (here) for the 2025 Porter Street Commission will close at 5pm on May 29.
Can you help Star?
The image accompanying the Star Theatres’ GoFundMe campaign.
Adelaide’s beleaguered Star Theatres has launched an online fundraising campaign to help with the replacement of equipment stolen during the three break-ins it has experienced over the past three months.
The latest burglary at the independently operated theatre on Sir Donald Bradman Drive occurred last month when musical instruments, cash and a range of other equipment was taken.
The GoFundMe page has been organised by Luke Bartholomew, who says he has worked with Star for a long time. He says insurance won’t cover 100 per cent of what was lost, with the theatre set to be out of pocket by more than $10,000.
“This isn’t a business with a larger body behind them, but an independently run theatre that operates with little to no profit. For them, this is a huge blow.”
The campaign has currently raised more than $5600 of its $10,000 target.
SA arts sector health check
The Arts Industry Council of South Australia is encouraging artists and arts workers to complete a survey examining financial wellbeing and workplace health and safety in the sector.
The confidential survey, which can be completed here, includes questions about things such as work relationships, time pressures, bullying, sexual harassment, mental health, and culturally unsafe practices and behaviours. It also canvasses financial wellbeing, asking whether respondents struggle to pay for essentials such as food and rent, and whether they have to work another job to supplement their arts/creative income.
AICSA says the results will “assist advocacy work and the development of better support materials”.
Apply for Our Mob
First Nations artists living in South Australia are being invited to apply to show their work in the 2024 Our Mob and Our Young Mob exhibitions at the Adelaide Festival Centre.
The annual exhibition, taking place in the centre’s Festival Theatre Galleries from August 3 to October 12, features a number of awards, including the $5000 Don Dunstan Our Mob Emerging Artist Prize (won last year by Lesley Coulthard).
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