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Hello friends and supporters,
With our last newsletter we were preparing to launch two new works at the Tasmanian International Art Festival - it was a huge way to kick off the new year! Our time in our home state of Tassie was a fantastic experience and we were honoured that a great many of you travelled from interstate to join us for Blue Angel and Acoustic Life of Sheds. Thank you!
As the year moves on we have some important outcomes arising from the other projects in our stable - including Project Cosmopolitana and Namatjira. Read on to find out more.
– The Big hART Team
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Acoustic Life of Sheds
Over four beautiful autumn days audiences flocked to North West Tasmania to hear virtuosic musicians relate stories of sheds, rural culture and farming families. After 18 months of preparation Acoustic Life of Sheds had its world premiere across 5 rural properties from Wynyard to Milabena as part of the Tasmanian International Arts Festival.
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Yijala Yala Project
The last four years of the Yijala Yala project have been jam-packed with comics, iPad apps, films, music, theatre, dance and all measures of artistic success! Those successes belong to the community of Roebourne and recently we came together to celebrate our achievements to date.
On the 13th of April about 200 locals joined us for a big cook-up and walk down memory lane, as we showed a selection of films from the beginning of the project to more recent material, and a slideshow of images from our many activities. The Blackstone Ramblers provided the music and we enjoyed a great night under the stars at the Roebourne amphitheatre.
Even thought the Yijala Yala project has officially come to an end, Big hART is looking forward to future arts and cultural collaborations in Roebourne, in particular partnering with NYFL in their new cultural complex.
There are too many staff, past and present, to name here but there’s been a great many people who’ve had incredible experiences working on Yijala Yala and we thank the community of Roebourne for their guidance and generosity.
As Allery Sandy said on the night – “look what we can achieve when we all work together”.
Stay tuned to our website and Facebook for news of what’s happening in Roebourne as our new projects unfold over the next few months.
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Project Cosmopolitana
On the night of Saturday May 2nd we presented Concert Cosmopolitana to a packed house of over 300 enthusiastic locals and visitors in Cooma NSW. Actors Anne Grigg, Bruce Myles and Lex Marinos took the stage, joined by Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen and a wonderful raft of locals including the ‘Cosmopolitana Dancers’ and students from St. Pats.
The event followed two weeks of intensive creative development in Canberra and Cooma for forthcoming production Ghosts in the Scheme, with the full cast and crew coming together for the first time.
The show and the project are moving forward in leaps and bounds, drawing together a wide array of Cooma stories both real and imagined, from its history and the present, combined with music, song, dance and celebrations of food and culture. The concert for the Cooma community gave a taste of all this, and was an excellent preview of what is in store for our premiere season at Canberra Theatre Centre from Sept 2-5 Click to BOOK NOW!
Image: Lex Marinos onstage with Cooma local Carlo. Photo by Greer Versteeg
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Namatjira
There has been a lot of action for the Namatjira artists over the last few months. In conjunction with Ngurratjuta they have been working on exquisite watercolour circle skirts have been created for exhibition around the country, with the show at RAFT artspace opening last week in Alice Springs.
The Ntaria School students’ animation ‘On Country’ has been featured on indigitube and ICTV and is part of the We are in Wonder LAND exhibition at UNSW Sydney.
Our documentary goes into the next phase of the editing process in July, getting closer to the finish line. We are still gallantly searching for completion funds and gearing up for crowd funding campaign in the coming months to fund completion and distribution – so keep an eye out! All the while we are taking the vital next steps to establish the Namatjira Legacy Trust, in discussions with potential Trustees.
In other news, we are working with our friends at Currency Press on an ibook as an educational resource tool for high schools studying the Namatjira script.
Image: skirt with design by Hubert Pareroultja, modeled by Rita May in Alice Springs, courtesy of RAFT Artspace.
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Samurai Digger
Our creative director Scott Rankin is currently in Nara, Japan as part of research and development for one of our newest projects Samurai Digger.
Before he left Scott spoke to ABC Northern Tasmania about Samurai Digger. The interview gives good insight into the project's inspirations around peacemaking and the untold stories of war. LISTEN NOW
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If you would like to see these projects continue to flourish why not consider making a donation to Big hART. You donations are tax-deducible, which is timely, considering the end of the financial year is nearly upon us!
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