Arts grants - regional areas

30/6/93

The State Government today announced grants totalling more than $160,000 to support arts activities in regional areas.

Announcing the regional arts grants, Arts Minister Peter Foss said investment in the arts yielded great cultural and economic benefits for the State.

"The arts employ an estimated 14,500 Western Australians, and they have important economic spin-offs, not least of which is for the tourism industry," Mr Foss said.

"These grants mean that Western Australians throughout the State will be able to enjoy and participate in a diverse range of arts activities."

The regional arts grants are part of a total package of more than $500,000 announced by the Minister.  The remaining $340,000 was distributed to metropolitan-based arts organisations.

Key grants were:

·         $22,000 to the Performing Arts Touring Information Organisation (PATIO) towards a regional music subscription series to Carnarvon, Jurien, Merredin, Boulder, Nannup, Esperance, Northam, Albany, and Manjimup;

·         $12,200 to the Walkington Theatre in Karratha, for a tour of the WA Symphony Orchestra to Port Hedland and Karratha in September;

·         $10,000 to the Roebourne Shire Council for a six-week project which will involve a wide range of community groups in multi-artform activities and workshops with the Perth-based visual and performing arts group the Ran Dan Club, who will be in residence in Roebourne for six weeks in September/October;

·         $8,000 to the Hedland College, to employ a contemporary rock musician Hetta Moses to work with disadvantaged youth to develop music within the town of Port Hedland in July;

·         $7,700 to the Broome Musicians Aboriginal Corporation for the recording of a Broome youth album later this year.  The project will include workshops to develop musical skills and knowledge of the workings of music recording industry. The final album will be a compilation of the music of local Aboriginal youth;

·         $6,000 to Wyndham Gardens Incorporated to employ playwright Pat Lowe as artist-in-residence for six weeks in July/August, to assist local youth to write and produce a play on themes of domestic violence;

·         $6,000 to the Arts Council of Western Australia, towards the costs of mounting the third Country Arts Conference in Kalgoorlie in August (being held there to honour Kalgoorlie's centenary celebrations);

·         $5,200 to the WA Music Industry Association to stage two major metropolitan concerts to showcase Aboriginal performers from the Kimberley, with an accompanying CD launch;

·         $5,000 to potter Paul Council of Kalgoorlie, to write and produce comprehensive documentation and a catalogue essay for his contribution to the 'Remembrancing' exhibition to be held at the Crafts Council of WA early next year;

·         $4,600 to Perth puppeteer Peter Hartland for a tour of the Pilbara in August/September to demonstrate marionettes and other puppets in performance;

·         $4,243 to the Town of Narrogin to commission an artist (yet to be commissioned) to work with local women to explore the lives of pioneering women, and translate that to the design and fabrication of a tile surface for the table tops in Newton House; 

·         $7,240 to writer Selina Baxter of Subiaco and photographer Christopher Rowett of Narrogin to produce a photographic and literary study of the working life of Western Australian shearers;

·         $4,000 to the Warburton Community to allow the people of Warburton to return to places of importance for song and dance ceremonies;

·         $4,000 to writer George Webb of Busselton to complete his preparatory work for a book of Stories of the Bibbulmun;

·         $3,856 to the Southern Aboriginal Corporation at Albany to establish a pilot program for creative writing development in the region;

·         $3,840 to the Derby West Kimberley Arts Council towards a six-week residency in June, by professional actor and theatre critic John Hyde to facilitate theatre skills within the community;

·         $3,720 to Mrs Avy Curly of Meekatharra to finish the writing and editing of her life story, which is nearing completion.  Mrs Curly is a prominent member of the local Aboriginal community;

·         $3,624 to the Viewpoint group in Albany towards staging the 1993 'Viewpoint' Great Southern regional showcase craft exhibition in Albany in October.  This exhibition directs a strong focus on work from a region that boasts numerous, gifted crafts people, many of whom earn their living from their craft;

·         $3,450 to the West Australian Folk Federation for skills enhancement workshops to be held in conjunction with the Toodyay Folk Festival in October;

·         $3,375 to Aboriginal musician Alan Bolton of Albany for the production of a demonstration cassette;

·         $3,000 to Trevor Penny and two other artists of Narrogin to research and record a collection of stories of the Wirrlamun Tribe of the Jerramungup area;

·         $2,000 to Aboriginal artist William Miller of Narrogin towards the costs of a solo exhibition of batik paintings at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts later this year;

·         $2,000 to the Arts Council of Geraldton towards the employment of artist Kate Larby in May and June, to collaborate with the community in creating a community art work.  Kate Larby is a former Tasmanian ceramicist, now living locally, and it is envisaged that the work will be ceramics-based, on a theme of woman's role in Geraldton society;

·         $2,000 to the West Australian Folk Federation for the employment of Aboriginal performers to perform at the Toodyay Folk Festival in October;

·         $2,000 to the Coco Youth Theatre in Albany to employ an Aboriginal guest tutor to run a series of workshops in Aboriginal dance and storytelling in July;

·         $1,500 to the Mid-West Regional Arts Development Council to conduct a series of workshops between May and September by local craftswoman Holly Knutley, who works in pottery and textiles.  These workshops will be conducted in a number of smaller and more remote towns, such as Mt Magnet, Sandstone, Yalgoo, Perenjori, Northampton, Dongara, Mingenew, Three Springs, Meekatharra, Moora and Mullewa, as well as larger centres such as Kalbarri and Geraldton;

·         $1,500 to the Gascoyne Arts Council for the first stage of a public art commissioning at the Carnarvon Civic Centre, which will involve the development of an artists' brief and commissioning initial designs from several artists for final selection;

·         $1,300 to the Town of Narrogin towards fees for an artist in residence at Narrogin Gallery in July.  The gallery is run as part of the Town of Narrogin's community arts project, and this residency is seen as a means to encourage the community into the gallery;

·         $1,200 to Bunbury's SCM Mesh Youth Theatre to present a performance of John Romerill's musical story of Ned Kelly, 'The Kelly Dance' at Bunbury in December;

·         $1,200 to Unifest in Geraldton for a multicultural entertainment evening in October;

·         $1,200 to the Denmark Arts Council to conduct a Senior Citizens' Autumn School in May;

·         $1,200 to the Ravensthorpe Townscape Committee towards the employment of an artist in residence (yet to be announced) to work with young people in August to detail and paint an historic mural;

·         $1,000 to Roderick Garcia to mount a 'Leeuwin-type concert' at Toodyay in November, featuring the WA Youth Orchestra; an Aboriginal dance troupe from the Aboriginal Dance Development Unit; jazz groups from the conservatorium of Music and concert pianist John Pound;

·         $800 to the Moora Arts and Crafts Society towards their 1993 Biennial art and craft exhibition in August;

·         $500 to Waringarri Aboriginal Arts towards airfares to assist delegates to the seventh annual Kimberley Aboriginal Arts Conference in Kununurra in November;  

·         $500 to Dalwallinu Creative Arts to provide entertainment to children during the Dalwallinu Arts Festival in October;

·         $300 to the Williams Art and Craft Centre towards a performance of 'Musica Bella' during the centre's 20th anniversary celebrations in August.

Media contact: Jeanne Klener 325 8655 / 222 9595

For further information on the grants, please contact Mary Wright, Department for the Arts: 427 1222.