Arts funding supports poetry, jazz, theatre and more

Thirteen new and diverse art works and cultural experiences across the state will go ahead, after receiving funding from the Palaszczuk Government.

Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said the projects would share in funding totalling $415,065 through the latest round of Queensland Arts Showcase Program (QASP).

“The latest round of QASP funded projects will boost arts, music and poetry festivals in Brisbane, Birdsville and on the Sunshine Coast, and create new local and international exhibitions, an original theatre piece, literary works and a site-specific installation,” Minister Enoch said.

“Through QASP, the Palaszczuk Government has invested $8.2 million in more than 250 projects since September 2015, creating opportunities and experiences for Queenslanders either as an arts worker, participant or audience member.”

Minister Enoch said she was pleased to see the positive impact of QASP funding for the arts over the longer term.

“Townsville’s TheatreiNQ will follow up its successful production of Alice in Wonderland (in the Park), funded through QASP in 2017 and adapted for Festival 2018 programming in Townsville, with the development of new theatre work First Born,” she said.

“Inspired by Greek tragedies, First Born will blend classical and contemporary physical theatre in a production featuring local talent for audiences in North Queensland.

“This round of QASP will give a boost to music festivals across the state in July with funding for the Nambour Winter Jazz Fest, Brisbane’s The Dead of Winter Festival which will showcase 40 bands and 10 performing artists, and for Winton-based duo The Crackup Sisters who will oversee the Big Red Rumble, a large-scale community project involving more than 200 young people to be performed at the Big Red Bash music festival in Birdsville.”

“The 2018 Queensland Poetry Festival will develop a number of satellite events to take place around Queensland. Now in its 11^th year, the Festival will attract more than 80 local and international poets and voices to the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts from 23–26 August 2018,” Ms Enoch said.

“Outer Space, a Brisbane-based artist run initiative, will develop an annual exhibition program for three gallery spaces to support and promote new and emerging artistic talent.

“Brisbane-based creatives Rachael Wellisch and Emma Gardner will collaborate overseas to strengthen their global industry connections and develop new work to be exhibited in Austria and Brisbane during 2018–19.

“Contemporary Australian poet Dr Jayne Fenton Kean will develop How to Read a Cloud a collection of poems, images, memoirs and scripts drawing on the arts and sciences.

“Whilst, artists Craig Walsh and Hiromi Tango, renowned for site-responsive artworks and textile installations, will provide training to young students from the Queensland College of Art through the development of a site specific installation for a previously flooded precinct,” said Ms Enoch.

Ms Enoch said Brisbane artist and animator Georgie Pinn will take ECHO – The Empathy Engine, her interactive facial recognition storytelling experience previously displayed at QUT’s The Cube to Durban in South Africa.

“And Townsville’s Umbrella Studios will develop Legacy: Reflections on Mabo, an exhibition celebrating the life and work of Native Title campaigner Eddie Mabo, that will travel around Queensland.”

Minister Enoch said QASP has supported the development of arts and cultural experiences throughout Queensland and made it possible for the state’s talent to be showcased locally, nationally and overseas.

For more information about QASP visit www.arts.qld.gov.au. A list of the latest funding recipients is below.

Media contact: 0437 859 987

Queensland Arts Showcase Program funding recipients:

•          TheatreINQ, Townsville - $30,000 for First Born: A Greek Tragedy for the Modern Age
•          Outer Space Initiative, Brisbane - $53,255 for Outer Space visual arts exhibition program
•          Dr Jane Fenton Keane, Gold Coast - $20,000 for eco-poetry work How To Read a Cloud
•          Queensland Poetry Festival - $50,000 for regional satellite events during August 2018 festival
•          Rachael Wellisch and Emma Gardner - $11,248 for Wild Remembering visual art exhibition in Vienna and Brisbane
•          The Crackup Sisters - $25,070 for The Big Red Rumble community project as part of the Birdsville Big Red Bash music festival
•          Dead of Winter Festival, Brisbane - $20,000 to support this all-day music and arts festival in Fortitude Valley
•          Craig Walsh - $60,000 to support A Force, a site-specific installation work at Flowstate in South Bank
•          Nambour Winter Jazz Festival, Sunshine Coast - $8731 to support the 2018 event
•          Georgie Pinn, Brisbane - $13,450 to support taking her multimedia installation ECHO to South Africa
•          Umbrella Studios, Townsville - $44,681 to create a touring exhibition celebrating the legacy of Eddie Mabo
•          Wesley Mission, Brisbane – $48,080 to support artists-in-residence as part of the Art from the Margins initiative
•          Julie Robson, Brisbane - $30,550 to support the development of Daughter, a workshop and performance project based on mother-daughter relationships, to debut at the 2018 Brisbane Festival