Artspoken - small things started anywhere can go everywhere
MC Lewis Jones at podium for the panel discussion on Resilience and the Arts at artspoken regional arts and culture conference 2011. Photo: Paul Beutel
In October, more than 200 arts workers gathered in Bundaberg for artspoken, the biennial Queensland regional arts and culture conference, organised by Arts Queensland and presented in partnership with Bundaberg Regional Council.
Artspoken opened with keynote speaker John Knell from the UK, a leading thinker in arts policy. An engaging speaker, John gave delegates much to consider about how arts organisations can re-shape themselves to broker new relationships between people and art and between arts organisations themselves.
He asked what it meant for arts organisations to be true community organisations, where anybody could bring an idea and be welcomed and how major arts organisations could be a platform for smaller organisations, in a participatory rather than a competitive fundraising environment.
Professor Edgar Heap of Birds, a Native Americanartist, was the keynote speaker on day two with a very personal message. He spoke from the heart about his own art, his practice of presenting memories and of public art collaboration with Indigenous communities and their histories.
Professor Heap of Birds has worked in collaborative projects with artists across the globe, including Queensland Indigenous artists Gordon Hookey, Judy Watson, Fiona Foley and Richard Bell. He was very keen to return to Queensland so we may see him back here soon.
A panel on Resilience and the Arts struck a chord with many attendees. The panel featured Bruce Esplin, former Victorian Emergency Services Commissioner and visual artist, and Natalie Fisher, who was engaged in the evaluation of the Regional Quick Response Grants that were made available after the devastating 2009 bush fires in Victoria.
The panel presented stories of how the arts grants worked and what they accomplished in the community, both short and long term. The Pans on Fire steel band was especially amazing. The project started as a series of workshops to learn to play the steel drum and quickly filled a real need in the community as a place where people could meet, talk and relax. From these informal workshops, the band has grown and has performed to great acclaim at festivals in Victoria.
Artspoken highlighted these and many other projects and initiatives, happening locally, nationally and internationally.
The conference closed on a high note with a great debate: “Arts – the icing on the cake or the yeast in the bread?” presented by Lewis Jones, Charlie Cush, Wesley Enoch and Bridget Boyle. The audience was convinced the arts are the yeast in the bread, not merely the icing.
Local Bundaberg arts were showcased via an arts market, performances at the welcome event and conference dinner and exhibitions showing as part of Bundaberg’s annual CRUSH arts festival.
Artspoken also included the presentation of the inaugural Arts Queensland Regional Arts and Culture Awards across six categories: Building Strong Communities, Participation, Regional Arts Development Fund, Indigenous Regional Arts Development Fund, Volunteering and Creative Spaces and Places. It was a lovely occasion.
The respective winners were: Mary River Festival, the Bribie Island Arts Festival, Choir of Unheard Voices, Aurukun’s Before Time Today - Reinventing Tradition in Aurukun Aboriginal Art, and Annabel Tully.
Newly established festivals celebrating the Mary River and Bribie Island have been enormously successful for their communities.
The Choir of Unheard Voices in the Mackay region has helped to give people with mental illness an extraordinary experience and proves that singing together creates an environment where members feel valued, accepted and part of a worthwhile project.
The Aurukun exhibition, staged at the UQ Art Museum in Brisbane, was recognised for showcasing Aurukun culture and art as a living thing, changing with the times as well as keeping the essence of its past.
Annabel Tully was recognised for establishing the Bunginderry Artist Camp in 2007 in outback Queensland’s channel country.
As part of the awards, four professional development bursaries were awarded to volunteers who have made an outstanding contribution to arts and culture in a regional community. The people who do this work give so much of themselves, expect so little in return, and were genuinely thrilled to be recognised.
Winners in the volunteer category were: Lee Fullarton, Cheryl Charlton and Susanne Kelly from Ipswich Primary Art Network; Avril Fazel for her work in Barcaldine/Blackall/Tambo regions; Patricia Nuttall in the Burdekin region; and Mariam Arcilla from the Gold Coast.
All the shortlisted nominations are featured in a beautiful publication celebrating their outstanding contributions to the arts and culture of regional Queensland which will soon be on the AQ website as a flipbook. Watch out too for podcasts of the keynote speakers from artspoken on the Arts Queensland website.
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