Lucky Lartey | Dance and multimedia

  • Lucky Lartey is a Sydney-based dancer and choreographer at the forefront of exploring intercultural dance practices as part of the contemporary dance space in Australia.

    Born in Ghana, West Africa Lucky’s dance and choreographic work draws on a rich history of traditional rhythm and dance whilst engaging with contemporary movement practices and contemporary art forms.

     Lucky’s work traverse’s themes of social justice, identity, movement inspired by African architecture, the exotification of non-Western bodies and subjectivities and the relationship between hip hop culture and African oral traditions.

    View more about Lucky, his works and practice on his website

    Photo: Lucky Lartey

  • BlackLux Perspectives in Time Lapse is a multidisciplinary dance work inspired by an African Architecture village in Tiebele in Burkina Faso, West Africa, who are the Kassena people.

    These earthen huts are built in the shape of a flattened cone and are elaborately decorated with black and white geometric shapes and symbols of local folklore. 

    This work exists as a live work, a cinematic work and live and Short cinematic experience work. It can be performed live or viewed as an installation.

    The film has been completed with support form Create NSW and was premiered as part of Sydney festival/ New Beginnings Festival at the Australia Maritime Museum January 2023.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
    Choreographer/Director: Lucky Lartey
    DOP/Photographic Lead: Shane Rozario
    Production Manager: Shane Rozario
    Performers: Sophia Ndaba, Natalie Cunzolo, Angelica Osuji, Julian Chan, Courtney Allerton, Naomi Reichart.
    Animation: Lucinda Clutterbuck
    Composers: Original Sound by Byron Mark and Jack Prest
    Videographer and editing: Reilly Baker, Bam Studios
    Set and props: Lucky Lartey and Kevin Kwarteng
    Producer: Lucky Lartey
    Co-Producer: Kiri Morcombe

    > Short cinematic experience (7 mins) (pls email for the link)
    > BlackLux @ Articulate Artspace (1 min)
    > Black light experiment (1 Min)
    An audio described version of the cinematic experience will be available soon

    View production information here

  • The Ghana Road Show is an exciting and culturally diverse performance that combines various art forms to take the audience on a journey through West Africa. The collaboration between Ghanaian circus performers and African/Australian musicians (a female DJ and a Senegalese drummer and dancer Lucky Lartey promises to create a vibrant and dynamic spectacle.

    The show's fusion of theatre, circus, dance, and music allows for a rich and immersive experience that showcases the cultural diversity and artistic talent of West Africa. Audiences can expect to be entertained by thrilling circus acts, mesmerized by traditional African dance, and enchanted by the rhythmic beats of the Senegalese drummer, all while enjoying the contemporary tunes curated by the female DJ.

    This type of cross-cultural collaboration not only provides an entertaining and enjoyable experience but also promotes cultural exchange and understanding. By blending the artistic expressions of different regions and traditions, the Ghana Road Show has the potential to captivate audiences from diverse backgrounds and foster a sense of unity and appreciation for West African culture.

    Overall, the Ghana Road Show promises to be a unique and unforgettable performance, celebrating the richness of West African arts and offering a delightful experience for all who attend.

    WORKSHOPS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

    • Workshops for Engagement: The various workshops, including DJ workshops, dance and drumming workshops, and circus workshops, offer opportunities for interactive engagement with the community. These workshops can be a great way to share skills, foster creativity, and build connections among participants.

    • Educational Aspect: Offering workshops to young people and schools around the Sydney can contribute to cultural education and awareness. The workshops provide a hands-on learning experience, allowing participants to understand the artistic and cultural aspects of West Africa.

    • Community Outreach: The show's inclusive approach, including workshops and talks, demonstrates a commitment to engaging with the local community. This outreach can foster a sense of unity and appreciation for diversity.

    • Female DJ and Senegalese Drummer: The diverse background of the performers, particularly the inclusion of a female DJ and a Senegalese drummer, showcases both gender diversity and the integration of various African musical influences.

    • Synergy of Art Forms: By combining circus, music, dance, and theatre, the Ghana Road Show offers a multi-dimensional experience that appeals to a broad range of artistic preferences and interests.

    Duration: 25 Mins

    Cast: 5 Performers
    Lucky Lartey (dance and drums)
    Angelica Osuji 'Lady Chicka' (DJ, dance and percussion)
    Yacou Mbaye (percussion)
    Pedro Olympio (trumpet)
    Adjei Lareya (acrobatics) or
    Ronald Yoga Menash 'Sun Acrobatic' (acrobatics)
    Short reel here
    See Lucky talking about the work here
    Show info here

    Initial enquiries and bookings: hello@kiri.au

  • Rhythms are how we keep stories and tradition alive and working with multiple traditions of rhythm we can find connections together.

    Infusion, No Movement No Sound is a rhythmic assault to the senses, a collaboration of world music and dance drawing on ancient rhythms and contemporary and traditional West African dance.

    Infusion, No Movement No Sound brings together African dance artists Lucky Lartey (Ghana), Sally Dashwood (Australia), and Yacou Mbaye (Senegal), accompanied by Maharshi Raval (India) on Tabla and Byron Mark (Australia), percussionist and keyboards in a spectacularly colourful intercultural, mulitimedia and cross - artform performance.

    JAMESTOWN COLLECTIVE ARE:
    LUCKY LARTEY | dance (Ghana)
    SALLY DASHWOOD (sydney performances)
    SIOBHAN PARKER (tour)| dance (Australia)
    YACOU MBAYE | Balophon/tama drum (Senegal)
    MAHARSHI RAVAL | tabla (India)
    BYRON MARK | percussion/keys (Australia)
    MICHAEL ST. GEORGE (SOH perfromance | Spoken word (Jamaica/Canada)

    Stream SOH full show
    Short Reel
    Cast Talk: Gumboot Dancing with Lucky lartey
    Cast Talk: African and indian Instruments
    Cast talk: Rhythm and Storytelling

    Production info and Show Specs for touring

  • An exploration of exotification and contemporary masculinity which delves deeply into the collective lived experience of people with diverse backgrounds.

    ucky Lartey (Ghana) in collaboration with Vishnu Arunasalam (Sri Lanka) explore exotification, being exotified and contemporary masculinity, by delving deeply into the collective lived experience of people with diverse backgrounds, beyond 80s multiculturalism and box ticking. This resistance work reclaims identity in the context of Contemporary Australia through deconstructing and reconstructing the notion of what diverse contemporary work should look like in Australian society and post-colonial culture.

    The work features dance and Lartey's tape

    installation. This work has been created based on lived experience interviews. The artists would like to thank: Jiva Parthipan, Shyamla Eswaran, and Kaiya Aboagye for their candid, honest responses and Martin del Amo for his guidance and support in the realisation of this work.

    Exoticism was performed as part of the Keir Choreographic Awards in Sydney (Carriageworks) and Melbourne (Dancehouse) in 2022.

    Written interview here

    Filmed interview here

  • A personal journey revealing how hip hop has travelled full circle to Africa.

    Full Circle draws on Lucky's knowledge of traditional rhythms and dance as well as his understanding of contemporary movement practices to explore the longstanding relationship between hip hop culture and West African storytelling traditions. In this new solo, Lucky takes us on a personal journey revealing how hip hop has travelled full circle to Africa.

    “I want to create a work that highlights the tradition of storytelling in West Africa and how it was used to pass on and share knowledge. How this tradition was then adopted by hip hop culture as a tool for survival and a way of giving a voice to marginalised young people”. Lucky Lartey (2018)

    Full Circle debuted in Passing it on, Form Dance Projects and Riverside Theatre Dance Bites Program 2019

    Watch Full Circle here

    Production information and show specs here

AGAL Dance Company | Dance

  • AGAL Dance Company was established in August 2018 and is primarily based in Parramatta, Western Sydney Australia. We are a contemporary dance company, exploring the style of Bharathanatyam (South Indian Classical Dance) through contemporary and modern world techniques. It is the first of its kind in Australia as we use a South Asian vocabulary to critically think about the world and the issues we face as Australians of a South Asian background. AGAL has recently presented for MCA ARTBAR, Radha’s House Party, curator Shahmen. Vivid Edition, 2019, has participated in new work residency programs by Critical Path (SPACE Program) and Force Majeure (INCITE) and is currently commissioned to make new work for Blacktown Art's 2022 festival, Magnify. AGAL has received funding through City of Parramatta (Creative Leveraging Grant) and Blacktown City Council/Blacktown Arts 2021 Creative Arts Fund.

    Website
    Instagram: @agaldance
    Facebook: @agaldance
    Email

  • Holding our mudras into the sky, as we stand poised in our Bharathanatyam stance on blessed Gadigal land. Draped in vibrant fabric, enveloped by the vast cityscape of Sydney. This is who we are. Wherever we go, we dance.

    'Our Country' (2019) presented by Agal Dance Company, in collaboration with Blacktown City Council and Dioscuri Photography.

    Dancers: Chidambaram R. Suresh, Shobana Suresh, T. Shriraam, Nikki Sekar & Vishni Ravindran
    Artistic Director: Vishnu Arunasalam
    Director of Photography: Dioscuri Photography
    Makeup Artist: Sahana Balachandar
    Jewellery: Valampuri
    Poetry: Srisha Sritharan
    Jathi Composition: Chidambaram R. Suresh
    Technical Support: Gokulan Gopal & Shanthinie Ravindran
    Sound Design & Arrangement: Bala Umashankar
    Vocal: Vishnu Arunasalam
    Violin: Maiyuren Srikumar
    Sitar: Anjuha Ketheeswaran
    Shops: Aarththi Spices, Sinthu Takeaway & Sri Ganesh Selections

    An original adaptation of the poem, 'My Country' by Dorothea Mackellar.

    Watch OUR COUNTRY (7 mins)

  • Agal Dance Company presents 'SPECTRUM' (2020)

    Through triality, we embody the raga, Keeravani, as we isolate the upper limbs, lower limbs and the core, by unifying the vocabulary of our dance to explore the emotional spectrum of this raga.

    Artistic Director: Vishnu Arunasalam
    Choreography: Nikki Sekar
    Dancers: Shobana Suresh, Nikki Sekar & Vishni Ravindran
    Makeup Artist: Sahana Balachandar
    Costume & Jewellery: Valampuri
    Videography: Dioscuri Photography
    Sound Design: Maiyuren Srikumar
    Technical Support: Chidambaram R. Suresh

    With special thanks to Critical Path.

    Watch Spectrum here (3 mins)

  • Home In Six Yards is a body of work by Agal Dance Company exploring community stories of the saree in Western Sydney. Using the saree and its threads of stories, we explore narratives of migration and embodied memories to present a work that explores the deeper meaning of this important garment that defines our Tamil community. This iteration for Magnify has been used by the company as an opportunity to explore the medium of film to breathe visuals to the poignant ideas and stories shared at the community consultations facilitated by the company in 2021.

    REFLECTION NOTE

    After spending time with elders and listening to their stories and memories of the saree, I was left with strong and haunting imagery that I just needed to reimagine on film. I was able to negotiate what ideas best suited a film exploration, embracing the power of this medium.

    Artistic Director: Vishnu Arunasalam

    Mentor: Sue Healy

    Agal Dancers: Chidambaram R.Suresh, Vishni Ravindran and Shobana Suresh

    Work in Development reel

Vishnu Arunasalam | Dance

  • Vishnu Arunasalam is a Sri Lankan-born Australian-raised multifaceted art-maker exploring the traditional dance medium of Bharatanatyam through contemporary expression and techniques. His work explores his South Asian diaspora identity within the contemporary Australian landscape through cross-disciplinary and intercultural collaborations whilst also promoting the nuances and aesthetics of the Bharatanatyam form in Australia. He is trained in Bharatnatyam and Carnatic music , with experience in direction and costume. He is currently the Artistic Director of Agal Dance Company, based in Western and a company dancer of the We Are Here Dance Company. Currently under the mentorship of Kiri Morcombe, Liz Lea and Tammi Gissel Vishnu is working towards the debut of Agal Dance Company.

    Image courtesy Force Majeure

  • ANIYAM , (working title: Foreign in Tamil)

Liz Lea | Dance

  • A performer and choreographer Liz Lea trained at London Contemporary Dance School and Akademi in London and Darpana Academy in India. She specialises in the field of contemporary and classical Indian dance and martial arts. Based between London and Sydney for many years she now works from Canberra with Liz Lea and Co and also as Artistic Director of Canberra Dance Theatre and Associate Director at QL2, Centre for Youth Dance.

    Liz is currently Choreographer in Residence at CSIRO Discovery and recently directed the DANscienCE Festival. She premiered InFlight at the National Library of Australia in May 2013, based around the early days of aviation and flight in collaboration with the NLA and the National Film and Sound Archive. She is developing Magnificus Magnificus a solo for Indigenous dancer Tammi Gissell. Initial funding from artsACT for this work led to a successful application to the Australia Council for the work. Liz has also received Australia Council funding for her own solo Kapture from the Music Board. Kapture and Magnificus Magnificus premiere at The Street Theatre in October.

    In September Liz will represent the ACT as one of two national artists from each state attending the Kultour Gathering 2013. In October Liz will attend the IMTAL conference held at the Smithsonian in Washington to present a performance and talk about InFlight. IMTAL id the International Museum and Theatre Alliance.

    In 2012 she presented 120 Birds at The Street Theatre and Riverside Theatres, Parramatta to critical acclaim. She also toured her children’s show, Flying Facts to Melbourne, worked with Small Miracles Company in Mackay and was comm issioned by Flatfoot Dance Company, South Africa, to create ‘A free mind’ which was nominated for a KZN Dance Award and 3 of the dancers were nominated for ‘Best Dancer’. Her work ‘Ritu Chakra’ created on the Darpana company toured to five Indian cities and she . Spent time in Kuwait to completing filming for the Documentary ‘on the Trail of Ruth St Denis in India in 1926’.

    In 2011 Liz created works on Maya Dance Theatre and La Salle College for the Arts in Singapore. She also presented an evening of professional and community work at the National Library of Australia inspired by flight. She finished the year in India working with the Darpana Company and running workshops in Mumbai and Bangalore.

    Her work with QL2 Centre for Youth Dance was awarded a 2011 Australian Dance Award for the creation of Hard Yards. Liz’s work with Canberra Dance Theatre its aimed at developing the companies Special Needs and over 55 dance sectors and recently she secured two Australian commissions for the groups. In 2011 CDT won an Inclusion Award for the companies work in developing Inclusive performance opportunities for CDTeens.

    Liz has toured her solo shows, taught and choreographed internationally and has been commissioned by the Royal Opera House, Mavin Khoo, Intoto, Ballet Arabesque, QL2 Dance and many others. She was a performer with the Royal Opera House in Beijing for the Olympics Ceremony and has danced with Ranjabati Sircar, Imlata, Sankalpam as well as the English National Opera and English Bach Festival as a Baroque specialist. Liz’s research into the early modern dance movement and non Asian dance pioneers inspired by India such as Anna Pavlova and Ruth St Denis have led to the forthcoming documentary ‘Dance Detective’, filmed in India. She one of very few artists who has reinterpreted the early 1906 solos of Ruth St Denis, inspired by India.

    www.leadance.com


    Image: Liz Lea, Photo Lorna Sim

  • Item description

  • Item description

  • Item description

  • The BOLD Festival
    A festival of dance in the ACT, BOLD celebrates the legacy of dance in all cultures, abilities and generations.

Sara Black | Dance

  • Raised in Canberra and an alumnus of QL2 Sara trained as a dancer at the VCA. She has worked as a choreographer, performer, teacher, and collaborator in Australia and internationally over the past 16 years.

    As a choreographer she has worked in theatre and commercial events whilst developing her own contemporary choreographic practice, most recently premiering her new dance works Double Beat and Value for money.

    She has worked as a choreographer or associate for organisations such as Iceland Dance company, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, National Theatre of Parramatta, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, NIDA, GUTS dance, QL2, Flipside and Sydney Dance company pre professional year. As a dancer and collaborator, she has worked with companies such as Chunky Move, Punchdrunk, Lucy Guering Inc, The Australian Ballet, Dancenorth, Not yet it’s Difficult, Rogue Dance Collective, Protein Dance and Stephanie Lake dance company along with many Australian and international independent artists.

    In 2008 Sara was awarded a Helpmann Award for best performer in a dance/physical theatre piece and has since been nominated for two Green Room awards in the same category.

  • With an exceptional all female Australian cast and creative team directed by Helpmann Award winner Sara Black, Double Beat explores the aural and physical responses the heart and pulse present in differing emotional and physical states. Written for three women, this contemporary dance trio takes the audience into a deep cocoon of mediation and rhythm.

    Three weeks after conception we have a beat, our bodies are far from fully formed, yet a beat has begun. Altering in response to activity and emotion, it is a constant presence within us throughout life’s journey, until it simply stops. We can often be disconnected to this life force and sensation that we carry within us. Here we find space to connect to those rhythms and observe the wonder of the human body.

    CHOREOGRAPHER | SARA BLACK
    PERFORMERS |
    SOPHIA NDABA
    ISABEL ESTRELLA
    SAMANTHA HINES
    SOUND DESIGN | ALYX DENNISON

    Link to 2 min reel
    Link to 10 min reel
    Watch the Full work (from 35 mins in)
    Dance Magazine Review
    Media: SMH
    Photographer: Heidrun Löhr

  • Pink Molten | Collab with Creswick
    New Work in Development | Collab with Jess Green

  • Raised in Canberra and an alumnus of QL2 Sara trained as a dancer at the VCA. She has worked as a choreographer, performer, teacher, and collaborator in Australia and internationally over the past 16 years.

    As a choreographer she has worked in theatre and commercial events whilst developing her own contemporary choreographic practice, most recently premiering her new dance works Double Beat and Value for money.

    She has worked as a choreographer or associate for organisations such as Iceland Dance company, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre, National Theatre of Parramatta, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, NIDA, GUTS dance, QL2, Flipside and Sydney Dance company pre professional year. As a dancer and collaborator, she has worked with companies such as Chunky Move, Punchdrunk, Lucy Guering Inc, The Australian Ballet, Dancenorth, Not yet it’s Difficult, Rogue Dance Collective, Protein Dance and Stephanie Lake dance company along with many Australian and international independent artists.

    In 2008 Sara was awarded a Helpmann Award for best performer in a dance/physical theatre piece and has since been nominated for two Green Room awards in the same category.

  • With an exceptional all female Australian cast and creative team directed by Helpmann Award winner Sara Black, Double Beat explores the aural and physical responses the heart and pulse present in differing emotional and physical states. Written for three women, this contemporary dance trio takes the audience into a deep cocoon of mediation and rhythm.

    Three weeks after conception we have a beat, our bodies are far from fully formed, yet a beat has begun. Altering in response to activity and emotion, it is a constant presence within us throughout life’s journey, until it simply stops. We can often be disconnected to this life force and sensation that we carry within us. Here we find space to connect to those rhythms and observe the wonder of the human body.

    CHOREOGRAPHER | SARA BLACK
    PERFORMERS |
    SOPHIA NDABA
    ISABEL ESTRELLA
    SAMANTHA HINES
    SOUND DESIGN | ALYX DENNISON

    Link to 2 min reel
    Link to 10 min reel
    Watch the Full work (from 35 mins in)
    Dance Magazine Review
    Media: SMH
    Photographer: Heidrun Löhr

  • Pink Molten | Collab with Creswick
    New Work in Development | Collab with Jess Green

ADORNED COLLECTIVE Exhibition works | Visual Arts

  • Printed photographic images

  • Adorned

    Incognito, 2020/21

    Incognito reel

    This work is the third of PAS Rydalmere initiative NEXT that supports the production and showcasing of major projects by our studio artists as they near the completion of their inaugural 2-year tenancies.

    Adorned are an artist collective, including studio artist Liam Benson, who meet regularly at our studios in Rydalmere.

    Videography by Adorned artists: Gail Barclay (with granddaughter Maya Collisson), Liam Benson, Farzana Hekmat (with daughters Mahsa and Parisa), Seinileva Huakau, Hilin Kazemi, Ginette Morato, Kiri Morcombe, Angela Paikea, Marina Robins, Maureen Unasa, Kathryn Yuen, Lesley-Anne Sapsford, Susan Ling Young. Editing by Dara Gill.

  • Item description

  • Constellations

    7 November-16 December 2023

    Constellations is a celebration of collective and collaborative practices on Dharug Country. This exhibition brings together, for the first time, arts collectives that have been actively making and creating in Sydney’s west — Adorned Collective, Arab Theatre Studio, Dance Makers Collective, Finishing School Collective, opnsrc.co and Pari.

    With practices spanning dance, performance, literature, digital and visual arts, Constellations explores what it means to work collectively from and for western Sydney.

    Experience artworks, contribute to an evolving installation, and gain insights from the collectives about how they manage to work and stay together. Constellations also features an engaging program of workshops and discussions where you can learn more about artistic and collective practice.

    Details of public programs will be announced soon.

    Artists/collectives: Adorned Collective, Arab Theatre Studio, Dance Makers Collective, Finishing School Collective, opnsrc.co and Pari

    Curator: Tian Zhang

    Assistant curator: A’isyiyah Prahastono

Jodie Munday | Visual Arts

  • A Wiradjuri woman living near Goulburn NSW, Jodie Munday is a visual artist and weaver and has been studying art and building skills for most of her life. She loves working in a variety of art forms including drawing using various mediums, photography, printmaking, pottery, wood burning and a new found interest in painting. Many of her works are a combination resulting in mixed media forms once completed.

    In 2011 Munday began her own business Cr8ive Art. Her art career was put on hold for some years during this time to begin raising a young family.

    Over the past 2 years she has begun to focus on building her arts business back up again and has had work featured at Gallery on Track, Goulburn NSW and entered various local art exhibitions throughout the area. Munday has also commenced working in schools supporting students and staff in various roles including Aboriginal Education.

    Munday’s chosen areas to work in include drawing using various mediums, photography, printmaking, pottery, wood burning and a new found interest in painting. Many of her works are a combination of the above resulting in mixed media forms once completed.

    Jodie loves to represent nature in most of her work in inspired by, wildlife, flora, and a rural lifestyle and observing patterns that she finds within different environments and using elements her Celtic, Aboriginal and British heritage.

    Jodie has recently shown work as part of Regional Futures at Casula Powerhouse, NSW, and has showed these works and new works at Connect @ Gunning with the support of Southern Tablelands Arts.

    Follow Jodie’s insta: @Cre8iveart2523

    Image: Jodie Munday, Photo Erin Olafson

  • Jodie was selected to be part of a a First Nations focus in the Regional Futures Exhibition.

Kush Kuiy | Producer and Artist

  • Kush Kuiy is a “doer of many things”. She is an independent producer/ artist/ writer/ curator and avid bird watcher.

    Kush brings her lived experience of suburban life to her producing practice, as a lifetime resident of the South-East of Melbourne, she stages innovative experiences that showcase performing artists emerging from South-East Melbourne’s burgeoning scene.
    She has worked with Outer Urban Projects on dance-theatre work Vigil, Kush also works with multi-disciplinary artist and activist Aseel Tayah and co-produced shows such as Bukjeh and Lullabies Under the Stars.
    She is the Creative Producer of Bridging Differences, a new multi-artform work featuring African-Australian artists in the outer South-East and far North suburbs and the Art Director of the GRID Series’ inaugural Sun, Earth and Moon Festival held in Cranbourne in 2022.
    She co-founded & is the producer of the annual Rise of South Sudan Music and Arts Festival & networking platform Blaxcellence.
    She is also a founding member of the Way Over There Collective – a group committed to building the arts scene in the City of Casey. With an inclination towards entrepreneurship she is the founder & Director of Nostalgic Events and co-founder of DC Workspace which successfully initiated Popspace – a pop-up creative co-working space in Dandenong CBD.

    Participating in the Creative Australia’s Emerging Leadership Progra in 22/23, Kush is the recipient of the 2021 Lindsay King Arts Award and Creative Victoria and Theater Networks Australia’s, 2020 Victorian Independent Producers Initiative.

    Kush has a Bachelor of Arts (Maj. International Relations and Min. Journalism) from Deakin University. Her academic background translates to her artistic practice as she explores how bridges can be built between Australia and Africa through soft diplomacy.

Completed Engagements

Creative Resilience and Recovery Forum, part of the Creative Resilience and Recovery Program, funded by artsACT and delivered by University of Canberra

  • The Creative Recovery and Resilience Forum is a platform for exploring themes, issues and opportunities for the ACT creative sector relating to recovery and resilience. It is also a platform for other projects in the artACT Creative Recovery and Resilience Program.

  • CREATIVE ACT
    The online home for UC’s Creative Recovery and Resilience Program projects

    The Forum is a platform for exploring themes, issues and opportunities for the ACT creative sector relating to recovery and resilience. The Residency Program supports the ACT creative sector through skills and knowledge exchange that fosters life-long learning for both artists and host organisations.

  • Kiri’s CRRF intro

  • Keeping it Together is the first in a series of events to be delivered as part of the Creative Recovery and Resilience Forum, by University of Canberra’s Centre for Creative and Cultural Research.

    This playful participatory online event, explored the trials, tribulations and surprising silver-linings encountered as creative individuals and communities living through recent global events.

    Hosted by Laura Campbell, Keeping it Together featured activities led by local artists Home Economix and Ellis Hutch and DJ sets by DJ Maleika of Vessel Collective.

    Simone Penkethman captured key aspects of the event as Writer in Residence, and Juliette Dudley, was commissioned to illustrate the event as a visual response.

  • ‘Is it the laughter of your children? Your tears? What is home and when is now? What are the most critical stories you have to share now?’ (Tammi Gissell, Snailbox provocateur).

    You might not hear Snailbox coming… we’re slowing things down and making space to reflect on recovery, resilience, and challenges to these notions.

    Three First Nations artists have designed a postcard (Richie Allan), stamp (Sarah Loynes) and a written provocation (Tammi Gissell) to start us off. Six more artists will write and exchange letters and postcards through April and May.

    By using the reflective and private space of the personal letter, artists have time to dwell in the lingering, low-fi states associated with recovery and resilience that have great impact yet can be hard to talk about: pensiveness, apprehension, acceptance and boredom.  

    Listen closely and you might hear about Snailbox at any of our Skills Caravan events in April. Perhaps you’ll write to yourself… Look out for creative responses from artists online in coming weeks…

  • The Skills Caravan is pulling into an arts centre near you! This series responds to identified skills and knowledge needs in our ACT creative sector, presenting three separate events in three regions of Canberra across three dates in April 2022.

    Caravan 1 is an event for creative producers, self-producing artists, project managers, arts workers, and all-round creative doers. The afternoon offered a chance to revitalise, nourish and replenish, nurture, gently talk the big talks and share knowledge collectively. 

    Featuring a weaving circle with Sarah Loynes

    Facilitated conversation with Ketura Budd and guest speakers:

    Liz Lea | sharing learnings on hybrid delivery of the BOLD Festival

    Julia Boyd |sharing learnings and application of storying in producing practice

    Kath Papas | Independent producer observing Australian and International creative markets from an APAM perspective

  • The Skills Caravan is pulling into an arts centre near you! This series responds to identified skills and knowledge needs in our ACT creative sector, presenting three separate events in three regions of Canberra across three dates in April 2022.

    Belco Arts hosted Caravan 2, with a cross-sector theme, and serving all creatives with a link to Canberra’s northern regions. This afternoon offered a chance to explore best practice in engaging communities, to get project ideas fine-tuned in a collective pitch lab, understand accessible approaches to making and presenting work, unpack small arts business models with the best in the business, and more. All with some fun approaches to admin relief and how we are to navigate our new normal. 

    Activities and artists:

    Drop-in slow-stitching activity and reflection on community engagement with Michele Grimston and Kiran Grewal of the Migrant Women’s Art Group.

    Small talks, big business with Anna Trundle of Keep Co shared space; Naomi Zouwer on arts and education; Christian Doran, Recovery VR

    Project pitch lab with Britt Nichols

    Access all round with Liz Lea and Gretel Burgess

  • The Skills Caravan is pulling into an arts centre near you! This series responds to identified skills and knowledge needs in our ACT creative sector, presenting three separate events in three regions of Canberra across three dates in 2022.

    Our final Caravan 3 was hosted by Tuggeranong Arts Centre and was aimed at emerging artists (of all ages) and creatives in Canberra’s southern districts.

    The event included an Artists Lab 101, explored a community-led approach to engaging communities, a ground-up approach to accessibly arts, and some fun with DJ sets in our day-disco.

    Activities and artists:

    Accessibility in projects: How to build access into work as an element, rather than layered on top, with Ruth O’Brien.

    Engaging communities: Art walk and talk around Tuggeranong Creek, with Kirsten Wehner.

    Day disco with DJ Ghos7

    Artist Lab 101: Ketura Budd and Miriam Slater respond to questions about negotiating contracts, establishing practice, self promo and other burning topics.

  • Item description

  • Kiri reflects on her role as Forum Producer

Textile Masterclass Series funded by Country Arts Support Program (CASP) via Southern Tablelands Arts

  • Funded by Southern Tablelands Arts CASP Funding program, auspiced by CWA Yass Branch, the concept of this masterclass series was to bring textile diversity into the region. Not conquered by COVID, most of this series was delivered online.
    Image: Woven treasure by Maureen Tapusoa Unasa, Photo courtesy of the artist.

  • On Saturday 18 April, join Artist Hilin Kazemi for a masterclass in Iranian beaded embroidery.

    Using beautiful colourful beads and vibrant embroidery thread, learn traditional and contemporary Iranian beading techniques to make a gorgeous beaded handkerchief.

    Hilin Kazemi Bio:

    Since arriving in Australia from Iran in 2013, Kurdish-Australian artist Hilin Kazemi has been making, teaching and exhibiting. A member of WEAVE, a Western Sydney intercultural textile art group since 2014, Kazemi works with a range of media including embroidery, felt, shells, pearls, beads and sifal. Sifal is a process of creating an image with wheat stalks that have been soaked and heat-treated before being cut and assembled against a velvet backing into complex forms, including landscapes and bird silhouettes. Kazemi’s skills are drawn from a range of sources, including learning from women in her family, attending classes and self-teaching. All of her work reflects an exploration of her own Kurdish culture, and the ways that this intersects with craft and cultural practices of those that she works alongside in Western Sydney. She is driven by a strong desire to pass on cultural knowledge that is embedded in skills of making and doing.

    Kazemi has participated in a number of exhibitions in New South Wales and Victoria, conducted workshops and assisted on major public projects. Exhibitions include All of Us at Blindside, Melbourne (2018), Adorned at St Vincent’s Hospital and Creativity Unleashed Expo for Refugee Week with CMRC (2015, 2016 and 2018). Alongside artist Liam Benson, Kazemi has co-devised and run workshops at Western Sydney high schools, collaborating on Benson’s works for exhibition at Arteral Gallery (2017) and the Art Gallery of South Australia (2019). Kazemi both runs and attends regular workshops with WEAVE at Parramatta Artists’ Studios, ensuring the ongoing exchange and transmission of skills and knowledge.

    Saturday, 18 April, 2020

    1-5pm

  • On Saturday 30 May, join artist Ling Halbert for an online masterclass in Chinese knotting.

    Using vibrant satin cord, learn the slow and patient art of traditional knotting techniques to create beautiful knotted necklaces, keyrings or brooches.

    Ling Halbert Bio:

    Ling is a teacher, an Eco therapist, a grandmother and a facilitator. Inspired by her Lao–Chinese heritage, Ling teaches many techniques, including tea ceremony, Buddhist mandalas and Chinese knotting.

    Her passion is to motivate and inspire people to take responsibility and custodianship in looking after their physical and emotional health and wellbeing; through hand craft and creative arts.

    Using vibrant satin cord, learn the slow and patient art of traditional knotting techniques to create beautiful knotted necklaces, keyrings or brooches.

    About Ling Halbert

    Ling Halbert is a teacher, an Eco therapist, a grandmother and a facilitator. Inspired by her Lao–Chinese heritage, Ling teaches many techniques, including tea ceremony, Buddhist mandalas and Chinese knotting.

    Her passion is to motivate and inspire people to take responsibility and custodianship in looking after their physical and emotional health and wellbeing; through hand craft and creative arts.

    30 MAY 2020

    1-4PM

  • On Saturday 27 June, join artist Maureen Unasa – Tapusoa for an online masterclass in Samoan weaving. Using ribbon and pandanus sourced from Maureen’s local area in Port Macquarie, learn how to make mini woven hand-held fans, perfect in preparation for next summer, or your winter tropical holiday escape.

    Maureen Tapusoa – Unasa Bio:

    Samoan-born weaver and maker Maureen Tapusoa-Unasa uses natural fibres and synthetic textiles to navigate heritage and balance. Working with both natural flax and satin ribbon, Tapuosoa-Unasa creates wearables and body adornment, objects and installations, and functional items including bags, mats and wall hangings. Imbued in each of these items is a connection to culture. Her family is from the wayfinding islands, known for their navigation by sea. For Tapusoa-Unasa, who left Samoa as a child, weaving has become a tool for navigation: finding her way back to culture.

    Through WEAVE Parramatta, an intercultural group that connects people through textile art, Tapusoa-Unasa has participated in a number of projects since joining the WEAVE group. In 2018, Tapusoa-Unasa led Starmats, a project for Parramatta Lanes Festival. Part of One Million Stars to End Violence by Maryann Talia Pau, Starmats saw Tapusoa-Unasa create a space for weaving, conversation and mutual support. The resulting weavings formed part of Pau’s work, exhibited at Brisbane Town Hall for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In 2016 Tapusoa-Unasa participated in Pacific Runway 2016 at Carriageworks, Sydney, with a collection of one-off, hand-woven garments.

    Saturday, 27 June, 2020

    1-4pm

  • Bad Embroidery is a workshop that allows for creative play with bead and sequin embroidery, where there is no right or wrong way to sew a sequin.

    Using memory and intuitive response, Liam guides a process of experimentation with colours, textures and pattern to create a small, embroidered badge.

    “For me, embroidery is about meditative process. It’s a space where I am able to contemplate and process emotions, knowledge and experience. A time that helps me make sense of the world.

    Sequins remind me of night time glamour and costume we wear at times of celebration. I think sequins became an important queer iconic symbol, because for a long time queer culture and identity was taboo and existed mostly at night time. The best way to celebrate in the dark, is to play with the available light. Which is exactly what sequins do.” Liam Benson

    Bad Embroidery in celebration of Mardi Gras and queer culture.

    This masterclass is subsidised though funding. The fee covers sequins and materials, coffee and tea during the class.

    Liam Benson is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working on Darug Country, Western Sydney. Incorporating performance, photography, video and textiles, Benson’s practice is informed by working collaboratively with community through an ongoing conversation about how culture, sub-culture and identity interrelate and evolve.

    Bead and sequin embroidery materials and process are important to Liam as a connection to his mother, who sparked a curiosity with materials and making practice by allowing Liam to play with whatever was in her materials cupboard. Sequins are also important to Liam as a symbolic medium which he associates with queer culture, in particular drag and the costume associated with nightlife.

    This is the final workshop of a Cultural Textile masterclass series, produced and presented in association with Parramatta Artists’ Studios and CWA NSW Yass Branch, Yass.

    This project is supported by Create NSW's Country Arts Support Program, a devolved funding program administered by Regional Arts NSW and Southern Tablelands Arts on behalf of the NSW Government.

  • The world is changing at an accelerating rate; in some fields, change is exponential. We face multiple existential threats, of which climate change, rising inequality and AI currently demand our everyday attention. How do these overlapping crises affect, compromise and threaten the continuity of our species, our non-human friends, our planet? How can we use these moments of disruption to open us up to progressive, just and fair change?

    Led by The Keeper of Time, Alex Kelly, the Assembly is transported to 2029 to experience a powerful provocation before becoming future-makers themselves.

    First Speaker Bhiamie Williamson, a Euahlayi man from north-west New South Wales with family ties to north-west Queensland, will map how we have faced the threats of climate change through Indigenous land justice and embedding caring-for-Country within the national psyche while drawing from Indigenous masculinities to reshape social attitudes more broadly.

    This provocation will be responded to, in real time, by interdisciplinary artist and researcher, Erica Seccombe and creative technologist, Keir Winesmith.

    After a short interval you will in turn become a Future Maker. In small groups stewarded by our ensemble of Artist-Moderators, you will play your part in the speculation of new worlds, applying your imagination to the creation of other, better, futures.

    In the weeks after the Assembly, these futures will be explored in a series of Dispatches from the Future generated by our artist-moderators. Once published online you will receive an alert.

    Artist-Moderators include:

    Roboticist Damith Herath

    Musician & Environmentalist Tim Hollo

    Dancer-Performance Maker Alison Plevey

    Multidisciplinary artist Anna Madeleine Raupach

    Barkindji artist and poet Barrina South

    Activist & Researcher Felicity Ruby

    Artist-Curator Nina Sellars

    Writer & Tsunami scientist Kaya Wilson

    Accessibility:
    The Superfloor at the Marie Reay Teaching Centre is a fully accessible venue, with lift access from the ground floor, accessible bathrooms and a hearing loop. The event will include Auslan interpretation and live captioning. It will be recorded and made available a week following the event with Auslan interpretation and closed captioning.

    The Dispatches from the Future will be published online in a variety of formats (including poetry, graphic story, video, audio and essay) together with image descriptions, transcripts of audio content and plain-text versions of written content compatible with Screen Readers.

    Presented by Not Yet it’s Difficult.

    Assembly for the Future is a project of The Things We Did Next, a collaborative futuring practice curated by Alex Kelly and David Pledger, and produced by Sophia Marinos for Not Yet It’s Difficult.

  • Stepping in to fill Sophia Marinos’ shoes, Kiri produced Assembly for the Future, working cohesively with the team from The Things We Did Next, Uncharted Territory crew, curated speakers and artist moderators, Access personnel, AV and tech personnel from EAVS and successfully filled a floor of audience participants with targeted local engagement and promotion.
    Creative outcomes from the artists can be viewed here.

Work of Art Program | Participant

  • Work of Art is a project by Regional Arts NSW, funded by Women NSW. Around 70 regional women will participate in a program of work to help develop skills, strategies, confidence and connection to help grow their creative enterprise.

    Fourteen Regional Arts Development Oraganisations (RADOs) will partner with RANSW to deliver the program across most of regional NSW. Creative Plus Business will be the lead delivery partner, along with an array of industry mentors and presenters.

    Activities over 17 months will include:

    9 online training courses

    2 in person, 1 day workshops at your nearest regional hub (Nowra, Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour)

    Monthly online networking sessions

    4 online Industry Mentor group sessions

    3 online problem solving sessions

    Peer coaching: training and support to participate in a small online group

    Industry visits to see how others work

    Co-designing a major regional forum and showcase

    Attending the forum and showcase event in a NSW regional centre

    Evaluation of program

    There is no cost to the women participating in the program. Participants will receive travel and accommodation costs. There will be assistance with childcare if needed. Membership of the Rural Women’s Leadership Cooperative an RANSW is included.

    • Explore and create regional touring circuits in and between NSW and ACT

    • Create a network of experienced regionally based producers

    • Consider models of engagement for independent creative producers

    • examine and advocate for new conditions for independent creative producers

    • Seek funding for next steps

    • Be mentored by the amazing Lindy Hume

    • Get my A into G!

  • Program

    Kiri presented at number of the programmed sessions:
    - Sustainability Roundtable
    - Pecha Kucha
    - Inclusive practices
    - Slow Fibre and Textiles Panel
    - Projects presentation

CMAG After Dark for Enlighten
Costume commission for Australian Dance Party

  • Canberra Museum And Gallery – Connection Point: Textiles exhibition

    Sara Black and Yolanda Lowatta collaborated with Kiri Morcombe to create a roving performance work featuring hand dyed textile cloaks and natural fibres to link in with the exhibition as part of Enlighten After Dark at CMAG/Civic Square. The event was a beautiful complement to CMAG late night opening and the bubble activity in Civic square.

  • These cloaks were commissioned by Australian Dance Party and CMAG to launch this special exhibition.

    A collection of rescued doilies, symbolic of a past colonial value and women’s work, reimagined in response to textiles in motion and the movement of textile skills trade.
    Cotton crocheted doilies, hand dyed and machine stitched through draping techniques. The collars on the cloaks were sugar starched to create regal shaping.
    The artists were also offered several weaving techniques to incorporate as part of their performance.
    Special thanks to Australian Dance Party for the commission and to Sara Black and Yolanda Lowatta for the special sharing and unique choreographic jams.
    Image: Yolanda Lowatta, photo by Lorna Sim