Funding delivers new opportunities for Bundaberg artists

As the Bundaberg region celebrates the beginning of the turtle season this weekend, the Palaszczuk Government has thrown its support behind some of the arts and cultural activities at the Milbi Festival.

In the region today for the opening of the new Mon Repos Turtle Centre, Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef and Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said the Palaszczuk Government was supporting two cultural projects at this year’s Milbi Festival.

“Two diverse arts and cultural projects have received a total of $41,500 through the Palaszczuk Government’s Queensland Arts Showcase Program (QASP),” Ms Enoch said.  

“Acclaimed Queensland music group Topology received $30,000 to deliver creative workshops as the artist-in-residence at the Milbi Festival, while artist Paul Perry received $11,500 for his collaboration with the Bundaberg community to create a mosaic mural,” Minister Enoch said.

“This weekend is the inaugural Milbi Festival, a brand-new event, to mark the beginning of the turtle season.

“Topology has been the artist-in-residence for the duration of the festival, hosting composition and song writing workshops and also leading one-day bootcamps with community performances in Childers, Gin Gin, Woodgate, Burnett Heads, Waterloo, and a final community concert in Bundaberg.

“We’re also pleased to provide funding to Paul Perry, who has been working with community members in a series of workshops to create the new public artwork, Milbi Magic: Archie's Beach Community Mosaics, to tell a local story.

“The public artwork will comprise a 33 square metre mosaic mural that will be enjoyed not only as part of the Bargara Art Trail during the Milbi Festival but also for many years to come,” she said.

Topology Creative and Education Director Christa Powell said the funding will supported their regional work, which was a collaboration between Topology, Bundaberg Regional Council, local schools, composers and the Bundaberg Sinfonietta.

“Over 300 students actively participated in the workshops in preparation for the final performance at the closing of the Milbi Festival in Bundaberg tonight at the Moncrieff Entertainment Centre,” Ms Powell said.

“Funding from Arts Queensland has enabled additional artists and technical staff to be engaged and therefore increased the number of professional artists involved in the delivery of the workshops and performances.”

Artist Paul Perry said their project was about connection to community.

“It’s about connecting with each other, connecting with country and connecting with the environment, and the legacy artwork - made by the community, for the community - will be something we’re all proud of,” Mr Perry said.

Ms Enoch said these two Bundaberg projects are among the fifteen projects State-wide that are sharing in more than $620,000.

The Queensland Arts Showcase Program has invested more than $12.94 million to support over 380 arts and cultural projects across the state since September 2015.

QASP applications are accepted at any time. For more information about QASP, visit www.arts.qld.gov.au

Media contact: 0431 427 297

Recipients for Queensland Arts Showcase Program funding

Total: $621,223:

• Cairns Art Gallery (formerly Cairns Regional Gallery) - $39,750 for Ritual: Transcultural traditional and contemporary practices to commission and exhibit new works by 12 Indigenous Queensland artists that examine customary ritual practices in relation to contemporary understandings.
• Paul Perry - $11,500 for a new public artwork created through a series of community workshops culminating in a large mosaic mural with themes of turtle conservation and connection to country, and will be an addition to the Bargara Art Trail for Bundaberg’s Milbi Festival
  (15 to 24 November).
• Playlab - $39,200 to produce and present the new play Horizon by Maxine Mellor, in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse.
• The Good Room - $59,250 to partner with Australian Theatre for Young People, Critical Stages, Darlinghurst Theatre and Optikal Bloc to present I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You in Sydney, creating significant development opportunities for Queensland artists.
• Tia Gostelow - $33,620 for the recording and strategic commercial release of her second album entitled Sophomore.
• Topology - $30,000 to collaborate with council and stakeholders for a series of workshops, creative bootcamps and live public community performances as part of Bundaberg’s Milbi Festival (15 to 24 November).
• Woodfordia Inc - $99,978 to engage puppetry masters to impart specialist skill across Queensland’s arts sector, delivering arts activities for Queensland artists who will create spectacular large-scale puppets for Woodford Folk Festival Fire Events in 2019 and in 2020 and other arts theatre.
• Island Vibe Pty Ltd - $52,720 to present the 14th edition of the Island Vibe Festival on Stradbroke Island from 24 to 27 October. This festival celebrates music, culture, art exhibitions, interactive workshops, circus, children’s activities, food and craft markets.
• Mr Eric Bridgeman and Haus Yuriyal - $49,750 to create new work and build residential structures on Cockatoo Island for the Biennale of Sydney 2020. A project based between Australia and Jiwaka Province of Papua New Guinea, Bridgeman will follow his workshop model of collaborative making with family of the Yuri Alaiku clan.
• Ms Leanne Tennant - $17,451 for the Cairns-based musician to release a new work in
  April 2020 and to increase market reach and build audiences through strategic marketing campaigns in Australia and the United Kingdom.
• The Trustee For Drama Dragons Business Trust (trading as Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe) - $28,000 to produce and tour theatre production The 7 Stages of Grieving in Los Angeles in November 2019 with the Los Angeles based Australian Theatre Company.
• Mr Warraba Weatherall - $20,695 to develop two separate exhibitions in 2019–2020 titled Documents and The revolution using sculptural, filmic and performative elements that consider how Archives construct cultural identities and how cultural aesthetics are disciplined through a scientific gaze.
• Ms Melanie Stevens - $19,309 for Australian electronic duo The Ironing Maidens to create an ambitious new work in the form of a serial piece called "The Soap Opera", drawing inspiration from the life of the electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram.
• Brisbane Community Arts Centre Ltd (trading as Metro Arts) - $60,000 for Metro Arts, with love, a two week festival in which community, artists, alumni and audiences can immerse themselves in the rich history and future of independent contemporary arts practice in Queensland by celebrating Metro Arts’ 40 year anniversary in February 2020, saying goodbye to 109 Edward Street and hello to their next chapter.
• Lisa Gasteen National Opera School - $60,000 to run a four week intensive coaching program culminating in a semi-staged production of Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Niolai. The school operates to offer developing professional Australian singers, who are part of the future of classical music in Australia, the very best of what they will experience when they travel overseas.