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AGM Report
Belconnen Arts and Cultural Development Program
2004-05
2004 saw a transition of the program at
Belconnen Community Service in a change of focus
from community arts delivery to a community
cultural development program, set to be taken up
fully with increased funding in 2005. A number of
personnel within the organization delivered
functions of the program: they were part time arts
worker, gallery coordinator, theatre development
worker, and promotions and market development
worker, and were joined by a full time Arts and
Cultural Development Officer in March 05.
The key principles of the program for the period
were:
· To ensure that
inclusive, transparent and culturally inspiring
processes are utilized to achieve outputs and
outcomes for the community.
· Ensure that the
program will target a diverse group and foster
their ability to express themselves creatively.
· To involve
participants in all aspects of the program
(planning, implementation, and evaluation).
· To build
community connectedness.
Belconnen Community Gallery
The Community Gallery has become a key element
of arts in Belconnen with CCD objectives strongly
underpinning the focus of the program. The work
exhibited in all cases has been of high quality and
excellence at all times. The location of the
gallery encourages many Belconnen residents who
have not previously had an interest in visual art
to have a look. Evidence of this has been provided
by the installation of a people counter in April
05, indicating that more than 250 people visit the
Gallery weekly. Curator Anni Doyle-Wawrzynczak has
a unique approach to each exhibition, and provides
significant support to the artists and groups.
The gallery program far exceeded its proposed
targets for the year, which were to stage 12
exhibitions, prioritizing Belconnen based artists
and groups and targeting disabled and disadvantaged
artists and groups, regional artists, artwork
exploring cultural diversity and identity, children
and young people’s art, and indigenous work. In the
second half of 2004 exhibitors included the Aids
Action Council, Indigenous Textiles Artists Group,
Vijaya Sen, Fatemah Palangi, Melanie Hinde, Mental
Health Foundation High Schools Art competition,
Hands on Studio, ACT Downs Syndrome Ass, and BEAN,
while nine exhibitions graced the Belconnen Gallery
walls during the first six months of 2005.
Exhibitors included an Indigenous artist, a young
emerging artist, a mature emerging artist, an
artist re-entering practice after a twenty year
bout with mental health issues, an Iranian artist
and four group exhibitions, all of which furthered
the Gallery’s commitment to a diverse, localised
exhibition program.
Highlights from the solo exhibition program
included local Wiradjuri artist, Duncan Smith’s
Spirit of the Ancestors. Smith’s exhibition opening
included traditional singing, dancing and
storytelling in the Community Centre foyer. The
exhibition attracted high visitor numbers and
contributed to Belconnen Community Services growing
relationship with the local Indigenous community.
As a result of that exhibition, the Centre
purchased a beautiful ensemble comprising two
panels and a didgeredoo for permanent display in
the building’s foyer.
Belconnen Theatre
The Belconnen Theatre has now become a project
of the arts and cultural development program. There
are four initiatives currently operating:
- Support for
the theatre as a venue that can be hired out to
independent performance groups.
- Building a
Belconnen based community theatre Initiative
that seeks to engage a range of age groups with
theatrical interest in the production of their
own work mentored by well-known ACT theatre
director and theatre artist Garry Fry.
- Promoting,
attracting, and supporting a diverse range of
new groups to use the theatre.
- Forming
partnerships with established organisations
throughout the ACT to use the venue regularly.
Independent hirers have been able to take
advantage of reduced rates and upgraded equipment
in the theatre. They include John XXIII Drama
Society, Music for Everyone, Young Stars 2, Chris
Van Reyk, Tempo, Phoenix, and Concerra-t-on. The
simplified and upgraded technical aspects of the
theatre have opened up more possibilities for
one-off hirers to much more easily set up
performances, and this has been reflected in the
enormous increase in use from April 2005, when
these changes were made. We have already booked 140
uses for the theatre in the second half of
2005!
Community Theatre initiatives have viewed the
Theatre as a regional focus for creative energy
concentrating creative drive. The development
program aimed to encourage and foster projects to
draw on local desire and experience in broadly
attractive areas of activity such as dance/ amateur
theatre/ young people’s theatre/ community theatre.
The program provided working opportunities around
which ongoing theatre activity can form, and
allowed and encouraged these working opportunities
to grow into working relationships amongst
individuals and groups. Support structures were put
in place for skills development supporting the
projects, involving practical support with targeted
workshop, mentoring and/or skill building classes.
Results of this work included Sea Dog, the
brainchild of emerging artist, Kate Llewellyn,
which grew from a cycle of poems into a visual
art/physical theatre performance piece; a teenage
group that worked on developing So You Have Decided
To Become An Angsty Teenager, developing skills in
acting and improvisation (both performed in Nov
04); Lifting Lucy by local playwright, Eris
Harrison, with local actors and director, which had
a successful season in May 05; and Joan
MacGillivray as playwright/dramaturge of Two-Faced,
performed as work-in-progress in December.
2005 has seen a greatly increased level of activity
so far, with new groups and users such as the
Alliance Francaise, Indian Karnataka Ass, and the
Chilean Cultural Ass. The theatre is now seen as a
great local resource with diverse programming and
attractive to niche audiences. Some 2500 people
have seen shows since April 05, and over 600
participants have used the venue. Partnership
discussions are currently being held with Canberra
Youth Theatre, Maruki Community Orchestra, the
Australian Choreographic Centre, Ausdance, Music
for Everyone, Jigsaw and others to encourage an
ongoing presence of these organisations in
Belconnen. With a likely decision to keep and
upgrade the theatre as part of the new Cultural
Centre development, we will see the fruits of this
work in the next 18 months.
Finally, a Memorandum of Understanding between ANU
College- Performing Arts Vocational Education &
Training Course and Belconnen Community Service was
made for daytime use of the theatre from July to
December 2004, to accommodate the Performing Arts
Program in the Belconnen Theatre.
Other Program Activities
The Belconnen creative writing group “The
Scribblers” continued their work and had some
wonderful readings in the theatre - their work
continues to flourish under the direction of the
accomplished and incredible Mrs Barbara Olds. The
first Chinese Film Festival was held in
collaboration with the Cultural Attaché to
China in July. The Belconnen Festival took place in
Margaret Timpson Park on Nov 20th, following a gap
in festival activity of some years. The Community
Cultural Development Program had significant
involvement with the festival, through programming,
arts and cultural activity coordination, and
promotion. An ongoing sustainable Festival in
Belconnen is clearly desirable in increasing
awareness and ownership of cultural activity within
the local community, and there is massive scope for
development in the next 3 years, especially given
the imminence of the new Cultural Centre on the
lake, a site that is in close geographic proximity
to the expanding festival site.
Initiatives
A website has been developed which details arts
and cultural services, profiles local artists and
activities, contains many images of local work, and
provides links and information. An email cultural
news service commenced in 2005, and has received
huge positive feedback. Increasingly, partnerships
with other organizations are taking their place in
planning and implementation. A local regional
network of presenters, the MV Network, has been
initiated from Belconnen, and takes in Queanbeyan,
Tuggeranong, Southern Tablelands, and Casula,
providing further opportunities for local artists
and groups, who will be better serviced in
assisting their own endeavours and sustainability
through advice and grant application assistance.
Strategies are being implemented which will see the
increased presence of Indigenous artists in the
Centre. Publicity and marketing strategies for both
theatre and gallery have ensured increased use and
profile, with weekly items in the print media and a
long term advertising presence in the free press.
Separate funding is being sought for non-centre
based projects in other parts of Belconnen. More
meaningful statistics are being collected,
providing better evidence of use and penetration of
activities in Belconnen, and helping strengthen the
Belconnen community identity.
Jan Wawrzynczak
Arts and Cultural Development Officer
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