See Narrandera through the eyes of its youth

The Cad Factory artists Vic and Sarah McEwan collaborated with 40 students from Narrandera High and their teacher Ms Jacqui Ryding on the creation of an iPad app called Our Narrandera.

Our Narrandera celebrates the “unofficial monuments” of Narrandera. The places that are important because of personal stories and connections. Six locations have been selected to adventure and these include; Narrandera Park, Brewery Flats, Lake Talbot Lookout, Narrandera Cemetery, Rocky Waterhole and Town Beach. Each location contains whimsical facts, secret histories or imaginative responses using painting, drawing, story telling, poetry, video, music, photography and site specific processes.

During September and October last year, Vic and Sarah McEwan gave workshops to Jacqui Ryding’s Year 7 and Year 10 English students every week. Once the workshops were finished, Vic and Sarah worked on the students material, extracting elements to make digital content and build the app.

Vic McEwan says, “We are interested in creating infrastructure for cultural tourism that allows for new and exciting ways to explore our towns, our communities and our people. By using the endless possibilities of an app, we are able to create a high impact project that allows us to explore many different artistic mediums.”

“The school based projects that we do at The Cad Factory aim to provide young people with skills, processes, ways of thinking and problem solving that are all involved in being a contemporary artist. We loved working with the students and found them inspiring and insightful. We’re so proud of them for taking risks and exploring their creative processes. There are definitely a few future artists in Narrandera,” says Sarah McEwan.

Narrandera Council will promote the app in their Visitor Information Centre as an innovative platform for cultural tourism and as a positive framing of youth activity and arts education in the region.

The app has been created only for the iPad. It is available to download now, for free, in the Apple App Store. Simply search for Our Narrandera, download, and enjoy.

Free social media workshops in Griffith

On the 15th and 16th June Western Riverina Arts will host Kim V. Goldsmith of Ochre Communications facilitating two free workshops on the foundations of good social media use, at the Griffith Library.

The first workshop 'The Basics' (June 15) will introduce you to the social media landscape and teach you how to effectively use social media to build communities of interest.

The second workshop 'Building on Basics' (June 16) will cover planning and implementation of your strategy to engage audiences, and how to evaluate results.

Kim V. Goldsmith has 7 + years experience using social media in small business, interest advocacy and issues management + 26 years of experience in media and marketing. Both workshops are presented free of charge by Western Riverina Arts.

Register now: http://www.westrivarts.com.au/opportunities/

Conserve your papers

Griffith War Memorial Museum will host a workshop on the conservation and care of paper-based objects this Thursday 28 May.

The morning session from 10.30am will discuss the most common types of damage and prevention, including discussion of environmental factors, proper handling, storage and display.

After a light lunch, the afternoon session from 1.30pm will include a demonstration of simple methods for improving condition of objects, such as dry cleaning, repairing simple tears, stretching creases and flattening paper, as well as the use of photo corners for display and storage.

Workshop presenter Theresa Werstak is a conservator with the Musuem of Applied Arts and Sciences, also known as the Powerhouse Museum.

For enquiries and attendence contact Pat Cox on 0407 485 091.

Paper-based collage shown by Jo Roberts.

Arts and the Federal Budget

This week the Federal budget was handed down. As usual, many of you will be wondering ‘What does this mean for the Arts?’

As I sit here in my office writing this – the heat waves from my latte drifting past the window, dull grey clouds gathering behind the leaves of the cottonwood trees – I ponder this too.

Though the Arts is never usually much of a political issue, our Federal Minster for the Arts, Senator George Brandis, did make some announcements this week, the key one being ‘the investment of $104.8 million over four years to establish a National Programme for Excellence in the Arts to support endowments, international touring and strategic projects, with an emphasis on attracting private sector support.’

While this might sound fantastic it is not new money. The new program within Brandis’ Ministry will be funded by shifting money from the Australia Council.

Our major concern (my major concern… your major concern?) is that while the Australia Council’s recently restructured funding program is run at ‘arm’s length’ and is peer assessed (without any ministerial intervention), there are as yet no details on how Brandis’ new fund will be managed.

I/We are concerned that discretionary Ministerial funding very rarely benefits regional artists and arts organisations – in fact this is exactly what I asked Senator Brandis at the RAA Conference in Kalgoorlie last year. Regionally based artists and organisations have previously been eligible to apply for funding from the Australia Council. We/I/you eagerly await the full details of the new National Programme for Excellence in the Arts.

In the meantime if you are interested in the seeking funding from the Australia Council (or from other sources) and want to know more about your options, remember you can always come and have a chat with me!

Derek Motion

CEO, Western Riverina Arts

Links to other media stories about Arts and the Federal Budget:

The Attorney General’s official statement on the 2015 Budget.

The Australia Council’s response

ABC News 

The Guardian  

Arts Hub (paywall)

Holidays On Ice

A free gig at The Cad Factory on Saturday 16 May

Under the Kurrajong Tree is a new series of live gigs curated by The Cad Factory that will feature exciting original live music by Australian performers, outside at sunset under the old Kurrajong tree on the grounds of The Cad Factory Studio in Sandigo.

The first band to perform in the series is Holidays on Ice featuring Angie Hart from 90’s band Frente and Dean Manning from Leonardo’s Bride. The band will be performing as a five piece and Sandigo will be the first stop on their ‘Hat and Hall Tour’. This tour will feature regional dates in Mullumbimby, Candelo, Kangaroo Valley and Bendigo over dates in May and June.

Local Narrandera singer Jess Pearce will be supporting Holidays on Ice for this gig. Entry is free but donations will be collected and 100% of this will go to the musicians. Gates open at 3:30pm with Jess on at 4pm. The evening will wrap up before 7pm.

Those who are making the trek out to Sandigo, remember to bring your own chair, food and drinks for the afternoon. You can find The Cad Factory address on their website, www.cadfactory.com.au

ABC Open for Profiles of Local Artists

Want to tell the story of a local artist to a national audience?

ABC Open will be in Leeton on Wednesday 20 May to run an information session about how you can get involved in a free video workshop series.

If you have a video camera and a story to tell, producer Sonya Gee from ABC Riverina will assist you to create a short piece on a local artist or craftsperson for ABC Open's Makers and Creators project. 

A selection of these videos have been aired on ABC television. Western Riverina Arts' communications officer Jason Richardson produced a video on his music which screened on ABC's news channel recently. 

"It was exciting to be television and surprising to see my Facebook page gained five likes overnight," said Mr Richardson. "Sonya had great advice on how to finesse my video to keep an audience interested."

If you would like to learn to make a video, contact Sonya Gee to book a place in the lunchtime ABC Open information session at Leeton library on Wednesday 20 May. It will run from 12-1pm.

To register call abcopen.riverina@abc.net.au or call 02 6923 4826 and head to abc.net.au/open to check out the video project.