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Arts + Culture Update
June '24
Griffith l Leeton l Murrumbidgee l Narrandera
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Lillardia joins First Nations Delegation
Creative Australia has announced that local Western Riverina designer and artist Lillardia Briggs-Houston has been selected to join a delegation of First Nations artists that will travel to Hawaii this month to represent Australia at one of the world’s largest cultural gatherings: the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC).
FestPAC 2024 will feature live performances, cultural workshops, fashion, film, storytelling and more. The gathering will highlight urgent issues the region faces, such as rising sea levels and the threats to coral reefs, the protection and copyright of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Systems and Cultural Property Rights and widening social inequality.
Lillardia's selection is a reflection of her capacity as a creative force, and her intellectual and effective cultural leadership and advocacy.
Image: Lillardia Briggs-Houston
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WRA Board Member Ken Dachi on 'Creating Places of Welcome.'
The Leeton Recruitment Summit hosted by Leeton Business Chamber and partners on Tuesday 7th May provided participants with a deep understanding of the challenges in attracting, skilling and retaining a resilient and broad workforce in regional communities.
Western Riverina Arts Board Member and Multicultural Program Co-ordinator with Leeton Shire Council, Ken Dachi, shared perspectives on 'Creating Places of Welcome', and how novel strategies, and cross-sectoral partnerships can address persistent skill shortages. Ken's knowledge, passion and advocacy in this sector, and his ability to communicate ideas and strategies are so valued at Western Riverina Arts and in the wider community of Leeton.
Image: Ken Dachi courtesy Western Riverina Arts.
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RARE BIRD ensemble Theatre Workshop comes to Griffith
Sat & Sun 20 + 21 JULY | 9:30am - 5:00pm | Griffith Regional Theatre
Western Riverina Arts, Griffith Regional Theatre and GRAPA are excited to offer local actors, directors, drama teachers, and anyone interested in enhancing their performance skills, the chance to work with RARE BIRD ensemble during their Riverina tour of LOVE & FORGETTING – Tales from a Young Mixer. ENROL EARLY for what promises to be a rare training opportunity led by the company’s internationally acclaimed artistic director, Jeremy James.
TWO–DAY WORKSHOP | FROM PLAY TO PERFORMANCE
The objective of the workshop is to provide participants with techniques that enrich their expressive potential and enhance their ability to build character and tell stories with clarity and confidence. Drawing on the teachings and practices of Jacques Lecoq, Théâtre du Soleil and Complicite, the workshop explores fundamental principles of play which help performers and directors generate engaging new work. Games, structured improvisations and movement training will foster the complicity, listening, and collaborative skills required to propose, conceive and create effectively in any rehearsal or devising process.
‘A big, nutritious meal for my artistic hunger.’ – Donne Ngabo | actor | Perth
TWO FULLY PAID PLACEMENTS AVAILABLE COURTESY OF WESTERN RIVERINA ARTS
As workshop partner and supporter Western Riverina Arts is also offering two paid bursary placements to the workshop. Complete the simple Expression of Interest form to be considered for a workshop bursary placement.
THEATRE WORKSHOP FEE & ENROLMENT DETAILS
FULL FEE: $100 | $75 for GRAPA members
EARLY BIRD: $80 | $50 for GRAPA members (paid before 27 June)
Ages 18+ | Places limited | Light Lunch included
Western Riverina Arts is offering TWO FULL BURSARIES to attend the workshop. To be considered for this support, complete and submit this brief EOI before 5 PM Friday 20 June.
Notification will be given by Friday 28 June.
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Australia’s largest Art Deco Festival celebrating all things 1910-1940!
Are you ready to travel back to the golden age of the Art Deco era?
Immerse yourself in the culture, music, fashion, food, and vehicles of this iconic period.
The Australian Art Deco Festival Leeton is an annual spectacle held on the middle weekend of the NSW winter school holidays – so this year mark July 12-14 in your diaries and subscribe to the newsletter and follow on social media to stay up-to-date with the latest Festival news and announcements!
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RAR Griffith presents 'Cast From the Storm'
To celebrate Refugee Week 2024 Rural Australians for Refugees Griffith presents the documentary 'Cast From the Storm'.
A group of teenage refugees who share their extraordinary stories and the realities of what it means to be a teenager and a displaced person.
6pm Tuesday 18th June 2024 | Griffith Regional Theatre.
Bookings and more information.
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Melbourne International Comedy Festival
This comedy spectacular is on its 26th annual road trip!
Spend an evening with beloved comedy royalty alongside the freshest sensations from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
8pm Friday 21st June 2024 l Griffith Regional Theatre.
Bookings and more information.
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'Currawa Crossing'
Community Exhibition
The ‘Currawa Crossing’ exhibition is now on at the Corowa Art Space, featuring works by established and emerging Indigenous Artists from across the Riverina and Murray regions.
'Currawa Crossing' is a free community exhibition on display until 14th July 2024.
Open Wednesday - Friday 10 am- 4pm, Saturday & Sunday from 10am to 2pm l Corowa Art Space.
Image: Detail of 'Ages Ago' by Sarah Weymouth.
More information.
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Open Studio Sessions
Have you got an art project or artwork you have been working on at home?
Griffith Regional Art Gallery invites artists to bring their works to the collaborative courtyard art space. The Gallery's Open Studio Sessions allow local artists to draw encouragement and inspiration from one another.
11.30am - 1.30pm Saturday 29th June 2024 l Griffith Regional Art Gallery.
Bookings and more information.
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'Love & Forgetting - Tales from a Young Mixer
Theatre Company RARE BIRDS ensemble is touring the Western Riverina through July with their sensational show 'Love & Forgetting - Tales from a Young Mixer.'
July 9th & 10th Limone Dining in partnership with Griffith Regional Theatre
July 13th & 14th Circa 21 Cocktail Lounge and Australian Art Deco Festival Leeton
And, you can join Jeremy James and Jack Martin of RARE BIRDS ensemble in conversation on 14th July during the Australian Art Deco Festival Leeton.
LOVE & FORGETTING – Tales from a Young Mixer tells a story through the stories of others, weaving fragments from classic cinema, literary icons, and tunes from yesteryear. An intricately crafted cabaret, this sell-out show from the Melbourne Fringe Festival raises a glass to storytelling, community and growing up in regional Australia. Performing in the beautiful setting of Limone Dining with a special menu, with a Leeton performance at the gorgeous Circa 21 Cocktail Lounge in Leeton, Jeremy James and Leeton’s own Jack Martin blur the boundary between the actor and audience and promise to stir your passions and shake your spirit.
Image: 'Love & Forgetting' Rare Birds Ensemble
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Art Festival on Ford
Ganmain
Art Festival on Ford is back! A full day of art and activities along Ford Street, Ganmain.
A brilliant and busy small-town showcase of works by local and contributing artists, with doors wide open on studios, cafes and shops for a winter day tour!
Enjoy main street vibes, vintage clothing, collectables, street music, heritage and food.
10am-7pm, Saturday 22 June 2024 l Ford St Ganmain.
More information.
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Significance 2.0 Update
The Australian Government is encouraging people involved in the collections and cultural heritage sector to have their say on an update to Significance 2.0: a guide to assessing the significance of collections. The guide aims to help collecting organisations, collections professionals and the broader public to determine the significance of cultural and heritage objects. Produced in 2009, the guide needs to be refreshed to reflect changes in collecting attitudes and procedures that have emerged over the past 15 years. Feedback gathered through the consultation process will inform the development of a new and valuable contemporary guide to assessing the significance of the cultural objects held in collections in Australia and around the world.
Written submissions close 18 August; To learn more and submit.
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Artist of the Month
Elizabeth Walsh - Musician, Teacher, Conductor
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When your father is a physicist it’s hard to avoid experiments. Narrandera artist, performer, musician, teacher and conductor Lizzie Walsh happily confesses to being an experiment.
“Dad wanted a classical musician in the family, so when my parents were expecting me, he was forever steering Mum’s belly toward the Mozart or Beethoven on the record player. I think it worked!”
“I really had no choice.” Says Lizzie with much laughter, “I was picking out all the violin I could hear in the music by four and by seven I commenced formal violin lessons. The music has never really stopped.”
Music is deep in Lizzie’s DNA. Her grandmother had said to her as a child ‘take every opportunity to learn your music’. It wasn’t until later when Lizzie learned that her grandmother as a young woman had sat for her Australian Music Exams, and was a very talented musician herself, that she understood the context of her grandmother’s interest and passion.
“In that era, for women especially, it was important to get through your musicianship, or any kind of education or training early, because you knew that the path ahead of you was most likely going to be marriage, family and caring duties. She was always in a big hurry for me and advocating for my learning. It was so moving and beautiful when the pieces she had played for her own music exams were played at her funeral.”
Lizzie completed high school at Melbourne’s Avila Girls Catholic College, continuing her violin and working her way up through the school orchestra to first violinist, and playing in the string ensemble. “I wasn’t giving up my music, but it meant giving up most lunch hours and a lot of after school hours when my friendship group was hanging out together.”
Despite crippling examination and performance nerves Lizzie chose to continue her musical education at Monash University, majoring in Violin and Orchestral and Solo Performance. “I failed a key exam in second year and realised that the world was not going to end. I sat the exam again two weeks later, and despite having full body shakes passed with a distinction. It was this lightbulb moment that the nerves are because you care so much, not because you hadn’t worked hard enough.”
A move to her partner Chris’ hometown of Narrandera was a new adventure, but a long way from her Melbourne roots. She found artistic connections with Vic and Sarah McEwen of the CAD Factory, who around that time had launched their recording studio, and newly arrived music teacher, guitarist and now life-long friend Fiona Caldarevic – with whom she formed the duo ‘Two Girls, Ten Strings’.
Lizzie signed up for distance learning and completed a Bachelor of Teaching for primary and secondary education. With three little children at foot, the degree was a blur of exams, tutorials and assignments, amongst the breast-feeding, tonsilitis and ‘some weird purple rash that kept popping up.’ She completed her degree and commenced teaching at St Joseph’s primary school in Narrandera.
The artist and creator did not take a back seat to the teacher. Shortly after joining the school, and to celebrate the launch of a newly built hall, Lizzie presided over the planning, instigation and production of a whole school version of ‘The Lion King’ drawing even the most reluctant students into singing, acting and music roles.
“I see regional kids missing out on music because of resources and funding, and at the same time I can see what an incredible vehicle it is for teaching literacy, maths, and building social skills and confidence. It should be at the front and centre of everything.”
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Lizzie continued her music in the community partnering with Narrandera musicians Mary Sutcliffe, Joan Graeme and Fiona Caldarevic to form a quartet, playing regular gigs with Riverina legends The Tin Shed Rattlers, freelance recordings at the CAD Factory, and messing about constantly with music with locals Peter Anthony and Ben Kschenka.
When Narrandera Shire Councillor Tracey Lewis attained a grant to kickstart a Community Choir, Lizzie was her obvious choice to lead the choir, and With One Voice Riverina was launched. Amongst the With One Voice community choirs Riverina is the only regional one that has managed to survive covid-19, small populations and long distances. For Lizzie and members, the choir is based on community, well-being and being there for one another.
“We show up every Tuesday at 6.30pm, and have a beautiful venue because of the support of the CRC Church Narrandera – there might be six or sixteen on any night – and sing! It’s wonderful seeing experienced singers teach new members, and the new friendships and connections that have grown.”
“We sing, but gosh we laugh! The community choirs are about fun first and deep connection, and that is what ours is built on. We have members who are coming from no musical background at all, and I absolutely love that as a group we are building musical literacy and performing. The group has gone from groaning when I say we are going to perform to nagging me for the next performance. Our collaboration with the CAD Factory, Conductor Sarah Penicka-Smith and Narrandera Parkside Museum was such a highlight for everyone involved. When we competed in the Leeton Eisteddfod we won against ourselves, but no one cared. It was the buzz we needed!”
“Every session I aim to get through something so that we all feel successful; that we’ve achieved something. I want all our singers to feel respected, supported and appreciated, people are here only because they want to be here, and I am so mindful and grateful for that.”
The choir is constantly looking for ways to support itself, even running cake stalls to raise money for sheet music, which has to be purchased and cannot be shared or emailed, and dream of having a bus so that their Leeton and smaller town singers can join them for learning and rehearsals occasionally without having to travel.
It is clear that Lizzie’s purpose and mission is to share her skills, to teach and to keep music alive and thriving in the Western Riverina. The experiments in doing that continue.
And, to give Lizzie the final words. “You will never leave choir grumpy. Oh, and we need sopranos!”
Images: Lizzie Walsh, with conductor and colleague Dr Sarah Penicka-Smith, and conducting the With One Voice Riverina Choir. Courtesy Gemma Purcell Western Riverina Arts. Words Gemma Purcell 2024.
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Grass Roots Open Mic call out for Artists
The 2024 Grass Roots Open Mic is open for registrations! Contestants can show off their skills and perform a mix of covers and original songs at the Grass Roots in this open musical battle!
The judges are very keen to see who steps onto the stage this year after some amazing performances in 2023. The competition will be judged by Grass Roots founder and local musician Ben Ceccato, along with Luke Piccolo and Bonnie Owen, who have been judging the event since its inception in 2019.
Griffith Regional Theatre Manager, Marg Andreazza, said “What is better than a Sunday session to support local musos? We’re excited to see these artists step out on stage and show us what they’ve got - the music will be live and loud, and we’ll have the bar open for refreshments.”
Members of the public, as well as friends and families of the performers, are welcome to purchase a ticket to see the open mic event for only $10 each.
Sunday 4th August 2pm l Griffith Regional Theatre
Further information and registrations for artists.
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Richell Prize for Emerging Writers
Unpublished writers are invited to submit entries to the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers.
The prize is $10,000 and a 12-month publishing mentorship with Hachette Australia. Adult fiction and adult narrative non-fiction are eligible. Writers do not need to have a full manuscript at the time of submission, though they must intend to complete one.
Submissions close Sunday 7th July.
Learn more and submit.
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Capture Coolamon Shire
Photo Competition & Exhibition
Entries for 2024 are now open! The Capture Coolamon Shire Photographic Competition is open to all photographers, however photos to be considered for the $1000 major prize must have been taken at a location within the Coolamon Shire Boundary.
Entries close Friday 2 August 2024.
You can enter by one of the following ways:
Online registration form at www.visitcoolamonshire.com.au
Hand delivered to Coolamon Shire Library
Posted to: Capture Coolamon Shire Photography Competition, PO BOX 101, Coolamon NSW 2701.
Learn more.
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Leeton Shire Council Photo Competition
Leeton Shire Council has opened the 2024 Leeton Shire Photography Competition. Council invites all residents to capture the essence of Leeton through the lens of their camera. The Leeton Shire Photography Competition aims to celebrate the things that make Leeton unique, with photos up two years old accepted across five categories:
📸 Nature and Streetscapes: Capture the breathtaking landscapes and streetscapes that define Leeton's natural and built environments.
📸 Leeton Liveability: Showcase the vibrant community spirit, local events, and everyday life.
📸 Waterways: Explore the Murrumbidgee River, wetlands, and other water bodies highlighting their ecological significance and beauty.
📸 Art Deco: Celebrate Leeton's architectural heritage by capturing the timeless elegance of our Art Deco buildings and structures.
📸 Resilient Harvest: This category named to reflect Leeton’s agricultural prowess invites participants to showcase the resilience, hard work, and innovation.
The prize pool comprises vouchers to be redeemed at local Leeton
businesses, valued at:
• 1st Place: $500 voucher
• 2nd Place: $350 voucher
• 3rd Place: $150 voucher
For more information and to submit your entry.
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Jacaranda Acquistive Drawing Award (JADA)
Grafton Regional Gallery invites artists from across Australia to submit entries for the 2024 JADA.
The JADA is Australia’s richest regional drawing award. This award seeks to encourage and promote innovation and excellence in drawing. Over the years the JADA has documented the development of contemporary drawing practice in Australia, and has captured how drawing has changed and evolved.
At the official opening of the exhibition to be held on Friday 27 September 2024, two prizes will be awarded.
First Prize: $35,000
Early Career Award: $5,000
Entries close 30th June.
For further information.
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National Contemporary Jewellery Award
Griffith Regional Art Gallery
The National Contemporary Jewellery Award (NCJA) is a nationally significant, biennial art award presented by Griffith Regional Art Gallery and Griffith City Council, supporting and promoting the Gallery’s National Contemporary Jewellery Collection.
There are two (2) prize categories in the 2024 National Contemporary Jewellery Award competition.
• National Contemporary Jewellery Award - a $5,000 acquisitive award.
• Design Excellence Award - a $1,000 non-acquisitive award.
The National Contemporary Jewellery and Design Excellence Awards are open to any artist who has been a resident of Australia for the 12 months immediately preceding the NCJA.
Entries close September 20th 2024.
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