Annual Report 20 14
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G’day Western Riverina Arts Strategic Goals 2013-15 The following list of summarised strategic goals is taken from our Business Plan and outlines the contents of this report:
Effective Communications 6
Cover image by Derek Motion showing our Eco Deco exhibition at the Brett Naseby Gallery in Griffith in 2014. Image above by Jason Richardson shows the work of Griffith-based photographer Marrissa Lico at our (former) Leeton office in 2014.
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Encouraging Community Capacity
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Pathways for Developing Artists
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Audience Development 14 Arts Leadership in the Region
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Organisational Viability 18
“Regional artists can no longer be regarded as the poor relations of city practitioners, as our coverage of the Riverina continues to reveal.”
— Real Time, 20th Anniversary Edition
Photo highlights
From top right: photo by Jason Richardson shows Melanie Baulch introducing Griffith East Preschool students to Kandinsky; Tharbogang Public School students dancing in a workshop with Linda Luke, photo by Sarah McEwan, and; image by Derek Motion shows Western Riverina Arts’ new office in Leeton’s Community Centre.
from 2014
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Message from the Chair The past year has seen Western Riverina Arts continue to consolidate its position as the peak arts organisation in the region. Our Board and staff have worked hard to build links between other organisations, artists, and residents, further developing the partnerships necessary for a vibrant arts community. I thank them for bringing their skills to the task. Our Development Officer Derek Motion and our Communications and Projects Officer Jason Richardson have injected vitality to our activity and our profile across the region through their combined skills set. During 2014 we partnered with our local councils to deliver our regular program of service and skills development, but also created new links via grants and project activity with Riverina Local Land Services and the NSW State Government’s Department of Ageing. Our Board continues to play an important role in defining a long-term strategy for the organisation, and will soon develop our next triennial strategic plan. In 2014 we welcomed a new member to the Board of Western Riverina Arts: Cr Alison Balind (Griffith City Council Representative). We also farewelled our former Griffith Council representative Kristy Brown, and I would like to sincerely thank her for her commitment and service. We were also very pleased to welcome inaugural board member Anthony Morton back to the table after a short break. The trend of increased project funding sourced by Western Riverina Arts
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(evident since the beginnings of the organisation) is made clear later in this report. This funding position has allowed us to increase participation in the arts across the community, and also, importantly, the employment of local artists. The retention of the same staff for the last two years has undoubtedly helped us strengthen our networks and develop projects and skills development workshops that are both wanted and needed. In 2014 I continued my role as a member of the Regional Arts NSW Advisory Council, travelling to Sydney to provide input into state-wide arts strategies. I was also pleased to attend the Regional Arts Australia conference in Kalgoorlie this year, where I was able to network with arts professionals and administrators from across the country. It was a great opportunity to get a perspective on activity outside of our region, and promote our own projects and activities in the Western Riverina. Â The Board of Western Riverina Arts is enthusiastic about the potential for future growth. We particularly look forward to working closely with our member Councils on specific projects that benefit the community as a whole.
Message from the RADO Western Riverina Arts is now a four-year-old organisation — still relatively young, but already beginning to build a history and reputation in the region. In 2014 we continued ‘connecting creative communities’ by initiating strategic projects, employing and supporting local artists, and working with our community groups and local council members. There is a clear need in this region for activity that makes an arts career viable and in 2014 our program addressed this need at a variety of levels. Western Riverina Arts supported the development of young talent by developing our Eco Deco workshops for local primary schools, offering contemporary dance workshops for children, and by supporting a touring theatre performance for children. We helped develop meaningful opportunities for emerging artists with our new photography competition, songwriting and performance opportunities, and of course the ongoing Arts Trail exhibition space. We continued to provide opportunities to established artists by employing them for a variety of projects, and helping to promote their work beyond the region (such as the touring of the Reimagining the Murrumbidgee exhibition). 2014 was also a fruitful year for Western Riverina Arts in terms of providing professional development opportunities for artists and other members of the community. We facilitated a variety of skills development sessions with
experts, and our annual Dream Big conference – a partnership with Eastern Riverina Arts – continued to grow, with close to one hundred people coming to Narrandera for the event 2014. What pleases me most about these types of events is the way artists and arts workers from our region are able to use them as an occasion to meet, share ideas, and develop new projects. Western Riverina Arts supports many individuals and groups around the region, and I would like to acknowledge the many people who are out there actively enhancing the cultural life in this region. Often they are are volunteers, or artists struggling to break even, and it is these people and their activities that give me a real sense of the great cultural community that exists in the Western Riverina. Our work here would not be possible without the support of Arts NSW and our member councils of Narrandera, Leeton, and Griffith. I also acknowledge and thank my staff and the Western Riverina Arts Board. Without their tireless efforts throughout 2014 many of our achievements simply would not have been possible. Illustrations by Elizabeth Campbell
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Effective Communications Western Riverina Arts has taken a role developing and promoting the culture of the region. In an area defined by agriculture, we relish the opportunity to remind anyone who’ll listen that human culture developed as a result of agriculture. As humans settled to grow crops, they grew a vibrant array of skills, including many of those we recognise as arts in the present day. Newsletter The Western Riverina features a plethora of arts, more than enough to fill our newsletters that are emailed most weeks of the year. This newsletter now has 230 subscribers, up from 160 at the time of the last annual report in the second half of 2013. Numbers show the newsletter is performing above average. A number of updates are opened by over 50% of subscribers, compared to the industry standard of 24.7%. The content appears to be engaging readers too, with an average of 7.1% clicks in comparison to the the industry average of 3.0%.
Print media We’re fortunate to enjoy the support of many media organisations in promoting the arts. Three local newspapers cover our region: The Narrandera Argus, Leeton’s The Irrigator and Griffith’s The Area News. Media clippings show over 50 stories published in 2014, up from around 40 stories reported in our 2013 annual report. Jason also assisted Leeton-based author Melanie Ifield to promote her books with a story in Canberra’s BMA Magazine.
Broadcast media
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A number of commercial, government and community radio stations operate in our region. In 2014 both Derek and Jason spoke on ABC Riverina as well as ABC Radio National, the latter to promote the opening of our
Reimagining The Murrumbidgee exhibition in Wagga Wagga. Derek has also spoken on Narrandera’s community radio Spirit FM to promote Western Riverina Arts activities, including the John O’Brien Festival poetry booklet that featured contributions from local authors.
Social media Western Riverina Arts continues to promote activities online and social media continues to provide large audiences. Our Facebook profile has gained over 500 new followers, benefiting from a small investment in advertising on that site. A photography competition, held in conjunction with Leeton Shire’s Penny Paniz Art Prize, utilised Facebook to engage an audience for the exhibition as entries were ranked based on ‘likes’ to determine shortlisted entrants. Western Riverina Arts blog has gained around 8500 views for over 100 posts in the last year and a half. We’ve also added two new videos to Youtube in 2014.
Website In 2014 a new website was developed in-house. This offered considerable savings on the costs of the previously outsourced website.
“I really am impressed with how much you have worked to make this website so enjoyable.” — Peter Cummins
“We don’t get to many things, but I do like to know what’s going on in our region. Your regular email does just that!”
Social media 4 in 201
829 likes on Facebook: • Up from 309 569 followers on Twitter: • Up from 231
Instagram account: • 120 images • 130 followers Blog stats: • 100+ posts • 8500+ views
— Evelyn Garzoli
Newsflash!
From our blog to the nation!
In 2014 our story on Leetonbased writer Melanie Ifield was in The Irrigator. Later that year Melanie was promoted in Canberra’s BMA Magazine, discussing the role of the city in her novel. 7
Pathways for Developing Artists Western Riverina Arts is committed to providing opportunities for local artists to develop and share work both inside and outside the region.
JOB book
Photo of Melanie Baulch (right) by Derek Motion. Photo of Derek (below) and image of Sarah McEwan’s Rest in the River atop opposite page by Jason Richardson. Photo of Bobbi and Sue by Trent Light.
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Western Riverina Arts published How Stumpy Made the Weight in 2014, a poetry booklet featuring a previously unpublished poem by John O’Brien, as well as work by local poets responding to the O’Brien piece. The book was launched with a performance at the festival named after the famous poet in Narrandera. This publication allowed us to support and encourage the efforts of five contemporary regional poets, including Melanie Baulch (shown).
Reimagining
“So I just finished work and played the piece ... Cascading images, sensations of old times, grass and mud on cheeks, hilarious snippets, late night floats, discovering each other, willow wreaths, sad times, relief times, mischief times and times and times... I rolled a ciggie and the galahs started, I almost cried. Thank you so much for this.” — Mee Kerzlake’s response
The final stage of Western Riverina Arts’ 2013/14 project Reimagining the Murrumbidgee was a tour of the exhibition to the Wagga Regional Art Gallery, where it was shown in the Links Gallery area. Reimagining the Murrumbidgee explored relationships to the River through artworks by David Williams, Hapé Kiddle, Sarah McEwan (Rest in the River shown right), Trent Light (Bobbi and Sue shown below) and Jason Richardson. Touring the exhibition helped the artists promote their work and build a reputation outside of the Western Riverina region.
after listening to Jason Richardson’s soundtrack for Reimagining The Murrumbidgee
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Automata Automata: 3 is a magic number was an exhibition supported by Western Riverina Arts, featuring the work of Jo Roberts, Allis Maun and Benjamin Roberts at The Roxy Gallery in Leeton. Western Riverina Arts subsidised the travel costs for local
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Parkview Public students to attend the exhibition and participate in a workshop with Jo Roberts. A number of the students commented that they had never been to a gallery or an art exhibition before.
Image above by Jason Richardson, below by Derek Motio n. Work shown by Katelyn Mills Opposite page by Derek Motion. Fanny photo by Jason Richardson.
Eco Deco Western Riverina Arts delivered the Eco Deco project in 2014 in partnership with Riverina Local Lands Services. Artists Melanie Baulch and HapÊ Kiddle were employed to run art workshops with schools in Griffith and Leeton using locally sourced resources from natural settings. The aims were to raise awareness about the uses of natural resources, to challenge and extend talented young people, and to create meaningful teaching work for local artists. At the conclusion of the workshops all of the children’s works were displayed in a professional gallery setting.
Fanny Lumsden Western Riverina Arts supported songwriter Fanny Lumsden to tour the region, employing her to run a songwriting workshop in Grong Grong. Regional songwriters were given the chance to gain guidance from a professional musician and a number of local performers were able to support Fanny by playing live on stage to a large audience.
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Audience Development
Arts Trail The Western Riverina Arts Trail is a partnership between Western Riverina Arts and Griffith City Council that, throughout 2014, provided opportunities for local artists to exhibit their work in Leeton’s main street and in Griffith’s Council and Regional Theatre foyers. Residents responded positively to new, local contemporary art and a number of sales were recorded.
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Top photo of Sarah McEwan by Derek Motion, images by Jason Richardson of work by Ivanka Jakopec, Peter Kopilow, Emma Piltz, Carmela Kozlowski and Kirsty Brown. Opposite image of photography competition entries by Derek Motion, winning entry shown by Rocco Pirrottina.
“I just want to say it is great the range of activities you are initiating in the Western Riverina. I love The Roxy Gallery for making a space so accessible. I just hope more people will drop in to vary their day and see the world through eyes different to their own.” — Dawn Richardson
Paniz Prize Photography Competition On top of continuing our financial support the ‘open’ section of the annual Penny Paniz Arts competition in 2014 Western Riverina Arts initiated a photography category to tie-in with the competition. With its focus on participation and engaging the community, the competition received 46 entries through Facebook, generating 1240 “likes” to select the 13 shortlisted finalists exhibited over the Easter long weekend.
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Encouraging Community Capacity Skills Development In 2014 Western Riverina Arts facilitated a number of skills development workshops. • Robyn Ayres from Arts Law Australia ran a full-day workshop in Narrandera focusing on copyright, contracts and other important legal aspects of working as an artist. • Jason Richardson from Western Riverina Arts ran digital photography workshops as part of the Lake Wyangan Public Photography Festival. • David Sharpe from the Creative Industries and Innovation Centre ran a series of individual consultations for creative business people in Griffith. • Pozible Ambassador Suzanne Nguyen ran an introductory crowdfunding workshop in Griffith. • And, in partnership with The CAD Factory, contemporary dance workshops for children were delivered in schools in Griffith, Leeton and Narrandera. Images this page by Derek Motion, opposite by Jason Richardson.
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CASP An unprecedented number of Country Arts Support Projects went ahead in the Western Riverina in 2014, reiterating the value of this devolved NSW Government funding. The annual funding round for small grants (up to $3000) is managed locally by Western Riverina Arts. Successful CASP Projects in 2014 were: • The CAD Factory’s radio play In the Heart of the Past Narrandera (shown). • The Leeton Men’s Choir singing workshops. • The Leeton Art Society’s visual art workshops. • The Griffith Regional and Performing Arts Shakespeare production. • Griffith Regional Theatre’s acting workshops. • The Narrandera Arts and Creative Network’s projection workshops. • Live Well Narrandera’s mosaic workshops.
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Arts Leadership in the Region and NSW Advocacy and Advice In 2014 Western Riverina Arts staff consulted with groups and organisations, offering advice on matters like strategic projects and funding. The RADO worked with the Whitton, Yanco, and Pioneer Park museum committees, and also has been a part of the Narrandera Arts Advisory Committee, giving advice on a successful Arts NSW Regional Capital grant application to develop the Narrandera Arts Centre.
Citrus Sculpture In 2014 Western Riverina Arts provided special financial assistance to the Griffith Aboriginal community to allow the creation of an Aboriginal citrus sculpture. This was the first year an indigenous themed sculpture has been a part of the popular annual citrus sculptures display.
Dream Big Dream Big, the Riverina’s annual conference for arts and culture, returned to Narrandera in its third year. The event continues to grow with more attendees than ever. Penny Miles spoke on recent Australia Council survey findings. “85% of Australians think the arts make for a richer and more meaningful life.” She enthused that attendances by regional audiences were ahead of those in cities.
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Hilary Glow of Deakin University’s Arts Participation Incubator said that while the Australia Council’s statistics were heartening, performing arts audiences were
declining and for film too. “The view arts are good for us is an abstract notion. Most people don’t attend regularly, aside from contemporary music.” A panel discussion on the topic of capturing a community’s imagination concluded that ‘art’ is a dirty word. Casey Jenkins opted for the term craft and Katherine McLean said her organisation CuriousWorks makes digtal media. “Males, from our experience, don’t see art as something they can engage with,” said Narrandera-based artist Vic McEwan. “Sometimes we hide the word” he added, acknowledging that they felt they had overstated ‘art’. Western Riverina Arts Communication Officer Jason Richardson outlined strategies for communicating the arts and called on the audience to help promote the benefits of engaging. Scott Howie discussed ethical consent in arts projects. Jeff McCann shared his experience with seeking crowdfunding via Pozible. Bernadette Flynn from Griffith’s Pioneer Park spoke on a project she’d managed online, which led her to conclude broadband was more important than running water. Claire Haris spoke on her work as creative producer at the Outback Theatre and how they ensure mutually beneficial relationships with councils, “often filling a big hole in their strategic plans”.
Brett Naseby spoke on developing an art gallery in Griffith and the impact it’s had in promoting local artists. He echoed Vic McEwan’s earlier comment that the arts need more men involved.
Regional Arts Australia National Conference In 2014 both the RADO and Chair of Western Riverina travelled to the RAA National Conference in Kalgoorlie, ‘Arts and Edges’. This conference gave both the opportunity to participate in high-level professional development, including practical workshops. While there the RADO attended a full-day meeting with arts development officers from across Australia, and also participated in a Q&A session with the Federal Arts Minister, later broadcast on ABC Radio National.
Walsh Bay Arts Table The Walsh Bay Arts Table was a well-attended fundraiser for the next Regional Arts Australia Conference, ‘Artlands’, to be held in Dubbo in 2016. Leeton artist Ann Rayment donated one of her works to the silent auction and Western Riverina Arts brought her to Sydney to participate in the evening.
Clockwise from top left, citrus sculpture photos by Roger Penrith, Dream Big photos by Jason Richardson, RADO Derek Motion at RAA by Paige Williams, Photos of Ann Rayment and her painting at Walsh Bay Arts Table by Derek Motion.
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Organisational Viability Professional Development Western Riverina Arts staff attended quarterly RADO meetings in Sydney, and also took part in regular teleconferencing meets. One Sydney meeting each year is a joint event for RADOs and Communications Officers. Western Riverina Arts staff use these opportunities to share information, network with staff from other regional arts areas, and also to receive personal updates from other peak arts and funding bodies. Additonally, in 2014 our communications officer attended the REMIX conference in Sydney, providing an invaluable perspective on arts issues.
Staff • Derek Motion – Regional Arts Development Officer • Jason Richardson – Projects and Communications Officer
Board • • • • • • • •
Julie Briggs - Narrandera Community Representative (Chair) Marg Couch - Griffith Community Representative Alison Balind – Griffith City Council Representative Lyn Middleton - Leeton Shire Council Representative Linda Bell - (Secretary/Bookkeeper/Treasurer) Anthony Morton – (Accountant) Andrew Brown - Narrandera Shire Council Representative Sue Killham - Leeton Community Representative
“Congratulations to Western Riverina Arts for doing a sensational job of reigniting passions about the arts in the Riverina. Keep up the great work.” — Ian Pettit
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Financial In 2014 Western Riverina Arts made the switch from regular financial year reporting to annual calendar-based reporting, to align with the funding cycle of Arts NSW. This Annual Report is the first to reflect the changed
reporting period (with some covereage of late 2013 events). In 2014 Western Riverina Arts maintained its core funding from Arts NSW as well as member contributions from Narrandera, Leeton and Griffith City Councils.
Extra project funding sourced by Western Riverina Arts staff (outside of core funding) has been increasing each year since the organisation’s formation. This trend has allowed us to steadily increase arts project activity in the region.
Project Grant Funding
Our Councils
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Connecting Creative ommunities 20 C
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www.westrivarts.co