More than $2.5 million in Arts funding was awarded to over 35 individuals and organisations in the latest round of grant announcements.
Among the recipients was Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, which received $300,000, over two years, to tour Camerata Live!, around regional communities in Queensland in partnership with local councils and festivals.
At the other end of the funding scale jazz performer Sean Foran received $3155 to attend the Jazzahead Industry Market in Bremen, Germany, allowing him to foster relationships with key industry figures in European and UK jazz music and grow markets for his solo and ensemble work.
The fill list is:
Performing Arts Market Development Fund recipients
Yaw Afoakwah: $22,504 to showcase his music at the 2024 South by South West Festival in Austin, Texas, USA, through live performances and industry meetings to connect with agents, music labels and promoters.
Sean Foran: (as above).
BlakDance: $50,079 to present First Nations contemporary dance work Silence by Karul Projects at the International Society of Performing Arts Congress in Perth, WA, to build international markets for Karul’s work.
Casus Creations: $48,900 to present their new circus production Apricity at the world’s largest international arts market/festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and build the market this and other work with international programmers.
Visual Arts Market Development Fund recipients
Ngalmun Lagau Minaral TSI Corp T/A Moa Arts: $28,836 to support artists from Badu Arts Centre, Erub Arts and Moa Arts to attend an exhibition of the Centres’ work art as part of the Kluge-Ruhe’s Indigenous Takeover in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA and participate in a range of associated public programs and events. The aim is to break into the North American market through new relationships with museums, galleries, collectors and curators.
Touring Queensland Fund round 3 recipients
Red Chair: $99,919 – to the COMPASS Project 2024, touring 9 independent music productions to 19 venues across Queensland.
Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra: (as above).
Somerset Storyfest Ltd: $100,000 to collaborate with community members to deliver two-day Storyfest Regional Festivals in Longreach, St George and Emerald, hosting diverse literary activities for all ages in each of these towns.
Topology: $294,500 over two years for Queensland Stories – A Legacy Project, enabling 35 diverse regional and remote communities to discover and share their unique voices via community-driven creative arts initiatives.
Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe: $133,455 over two years to deliver The Language Project across islands in the Torres Strait in collaboration with Jimi Bani.
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF): $100,000 to present CIAF’s first tour, the major touring exhibition Big Sculpture. The exhibition will launch at Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the Brisbane Festival and visit Logan Art Gallery and Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery.
Cilla Pershouse: $143,000 over two years (plus up to $75,000 over two years for an Industry Placement) to support Theatre Tour for Isolated Queensland Children, a theatre mentoring program and performance showcase for children aged five to 12 years touring to 11 isolated Queensland communities, fostering arts sector growth in regional areas.
Southern Cross Soloists (SXS): $14,417 for The SXS Sunset Soirée Recital Series 2024 Queensland Regional Tour, supporting performances in seven regional locations, featuring the return of celebrated Queensland pianist Max Foster and showcasing the emerging talent of SXS 2024 Next Gen Artists.
Corrina Bonshek & Collaborators: $12,050 for the Piano Room, a live music and poetic soundscape experience in Brisbane, Cleveland and Ipswich.
Flying Arts Alliance Inc: $127,103 to tour the Queensland Regional Art Award (QRAA) Touring Exhibition to Cairns, Charters Towers, Moranbah, Charleville and Chinchilla, showcasing up to 54 works by artists from across regional Queensland.
Queensland Arts Showcase Program round 4 recipients
Monument Digital Pty Ltd (trading as Assembly of Elephants): $73,273 over two years (plus $29,137 Industry Placement funding) to support the 2024 creative development and 2025 presentation of The Rowan’s Story Project, a 45-minute play for a youth audience exploring student workshop participants’ responses to gender bias and violence.
Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra: $70,000 (plus $10,000 to support new live or recorded music by Queensland-based composers, musicians or librettists) to develop audiences through concerts and education programs in Brisbane, Caloundra and Noosa, and expanding the company’s regional touring to include Gympie, Maryborough and Bundaberg. The project includes a newly commissioned premiere by Queensland composer Nicole Murphy, a new educational format and digital releases.
Libby Myers: $15,000 towards commissioning/creating, performing and recording POSTCARDS: a new Australian song-cycle exploring themes of ‘home’ through new texts by Australian writers Aunty Delmae Barton, Megan Steller, Han Readon-Smith, Mathew Klotz and Kezia Yap.
LC Fa’alafi & LK Shelton (trading as Polytoxic): $61,775 to develop DANGEROUS GOODS 2.0, a genre-defying evening of entertainment that will increase the visibility of diverse artists and innovate the cabaret artform using live-feed and audience interactivity.
Leah King-Smith: $58,819 to support Rhythm wRites at QUT Art Museum, a First Nations collaborative skills-sharing project that will culminate in a major immersive exhibition. The project brings together five leading Indigenous cross-disciplinary advisors and seven collaborators, incorporating cutting-edge technology and production to establish new modes of immersive storytelling; and creating an educational resource through archiving of the project.
Southern Cross Soloists: $63,300 (plus $22,500 Industry Placement funding) for the 2024 activities of the Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) Didgeridoo Commissioning Project, supporting the commissioning and performance of new works for didgeridoo soloist Chris Williams and SXS, contributing to a library of new music with a distinctly Australian sound to showcase our unique arts practices at the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.
Proudfoot Productions: $70,000 (plus $10,000 to support new live or recorded music by Queensland-based composers, musicians or librettists and a further $60,000 Industry Placement funding) to support the continued development and presentation of Proudfoot and Friends, an interactive live stage musical for children featuring original songs, local First Nations dancers, state-of-the-art digital elements and choreographed animated projections. The funds will further support growth of the Proudfoot and Friends brand, through development of a portable touring kit and enhanced musical production through creation of an EP and video clips.
Griffith Review: $35,438 towards the Queensland Stories project, providing professional development and industry experience for First Nations editors working alongside the Griffith Review editorial team to commission, develop, publish and promote 10 new works by First Nations writers in print and online.
Elizabeth Willing: $22,050 towards Kitchen Studio, an immersive dining room installation, open to viewers during the day, and host to sensory performances in the evenings. The performance proposes non-traditional ways to explore edible materials. With immersive and interactive experiences, the artist subtly unpacks what we might consider ‘food’ in the contemporary western diet.
Flotsam Arts Inc: $57,349 towards Flotsam Festival, a two-week annual photography and film festival that explores coastal culture through pop-up exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, digital projection, outdoor film nights and live music collaborations.
Australian Dance Council, Ausdance (QLD) Inc: $39,210 towards the Queensland Dance Education Conference 2024, a two-day conference delivering live, online and digital professional development, strategies and resources to Queensland dance educators and independent dance teachers at the Thomas Dixon Centre in May 2024.
Centre for Australasian Theatre: $70,000 (plus $10,000 to support new live or recorded music by Queensland-based composers, musicians or librettists) towards the development and premiere of The Great Travelling Médecin Show, a new intercultural performance specifically for regional and national touring commissioned by Local Giants North Queensland (Topology, RASN, PAC, Performing Lines).
Sara Isherwood: $70,000 towards development and a community showcase presentation of Chinese Garden (working title), an exciting new multi-sensory theatrical work based on true stories and family history about remote area Chinese market gardeners and cooks in Queensland.
Studio1: $69,805 towards The Workroom Program, a professional development, capacity building and residency program for independent dance and physical theatre artists in South East Queensland, supporting sustainable and adaptable careers and encouraging collective change through peer-to-peer learning.
Grey Gum Productions: $70,000 (plus $10,000 to support new live or recorded music by Queensland-based composers, musicians or librettists) towards the world premiere QPAC season of Black Box, a new musical telling the true story of the Australian inventor of the black box flight recorder. The work uses live actors and recorded voices and sound design to innovate the form.
Abbey Museum of Art & Archaeology: $74,220 develop and present a sculptural acknowledgment of Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi) Country designed by Lyndon Davis, to be placed at the entrance to the museum’s new art gallery and café.
The Condensery, Somerset Regional Council: $25,410 towards an exhibition and performances at The Condensery, displaying new paintings and supporting performances of poetry and music by Lionel Fogarty, one of Australia’s most important living poets, artists and activists.
Georgina Pinn: $73,562 towards FLOW, an immersive art installation exploring the layers of human emotion through the metaphorical lens of water, using projection mapping, gesture-driven generative animation, sound and a custom-built machine-learning sensory system that responds to the audience’s mood and emotion.
The Joy Dispensary: $41,000 towards creative development of Own Your Beat: Multi-Arts Wellbeing Programs. Catering to diverse abilities, ages, backgrounds and needs, these creative-intervention experiences will integrate musical, rhythmic, movement and play-based artforms, specifically designed to promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
Wildheart Band Pty Ltd: $27,821 towards the recording, mixing, and mastering of an 8-track Wildheart EP release and the creation of associated music video/s, as well as the promotional and touring of the album. Through the new music, Wildheart will advocate for conversation and action on mental health, social injustice, and discrimination.
Central Highlands Music Festival Inc: $21,472 towards the Central Highlands Festival of Bands to present a series of wind band and choir workshops along with school and community performances, culminating in a gala concert.
