2005-06 AGM Report Belconnen Arts and Cultural Development Program

2005-06 AGM Report Belconnen Arts and Cultural Development Program

This period was the first full year of program operation with a full time development worker employed. The year was an outstanding success, with huge increases in activities and events, participants, audiences, and visitors, and an enormous uptake in use of the facilities by the community.

Following successful setting up of projects and venues during the first half of 2005, the rest of the year was conducted at high pace, continuing into 2006, with the first theatre booking on 16 Jan and first exhibition from 6 Feb. Theatre bookings over this whole period included use by the Multicultural Festival, bringing a high quality show from Queensland, the Bangladesh Dance Company, a jointly produced pantomime at Christmas, cultural groups, Music for Everyone, and Tempo Theatre amongst others. The theatre saw 368 uses, 156 performances, 1542 unique participants, and 10125 audience members. Average audience capacity was at 37%, audiences per week at 195, with 3 public events every week. Uses have continued at this rate, with over 300 bookings already for 2007. These figures are continuing the rapid growth of last year, and provide concrete evidence of the penetration of the Centre into the community, and of the need for more cultural facilities and activities. The mix of users was diverse, but predominantly local: over 40 groups and individuals, ranging from international dance companies to local community orchestras, and with a high representation of local theatre groups and activities. Maintenance and equipment and sound system upgrades were undertaken, increasing user friendliness. The high rate of use makes this an ongoing priority.

The Gallery continued to showcase community and diversity, with international, local, group, and BCS exhibitions. There were 22 exhibitions, including 4 BCS projects, and 2 group exhibitions of local artists. Altogether 200 artists were represented, with 10600 visitors to the Gallery, an excellent result and truly a gallery of the community! We were able to achieve significant press coverage. Curator Anni Doyle-Wawrzynczak continues to provides significant and highly praised support to the artists and groups.The interior of the gallery and doors were repainted.

Highlights from the solo exhibition program included Mark Ostell’s Second Glance, which was opened by the Chief Minister in September. Second Glance comprised paintings, and sketches made in local pubs, cafes and sports grounds. It signalled Mark Ostell’s return to exhibition after a decade spent recovering from the long-term effects of a serious accident. Belconnen artist Chantal Jackson exhibited original poetry and a selection of miniatures in both watercolour and Japanese ink. This delicate, emotional work attracted great media coverage, leading to a very successful opening night and an exhibition run that resulted in many sales. And Gaida Macs who was the EASS artist staged an exciting installation In-Habits which gave the gallery a totally different look, virtually sold out, and attracted 1000 visitors.

Due to the high workload of the theatre a casual admin assistant David Finnigan began work in 2006, looking at bookings, manuals, and programs, and has devised a project “WET Season” which will see support given to new, emerging, and ex local college theatre practitioners in 2007, with space being allocated in the theatre and other support devised, a fine way of increasing our involvement with colleges and young artists in the community. Justin Watson continued his fine work on the technical support for the theatre, and became a producer of local theatre on the side! Gary Fry left his position as Theatre Development Officer in October, after mentoring 2 more emerging local productions.

The Arts and Cultural Development Program has sought to form regular partnerships with other organisations, partly to add to their provision of services for Belconnen residents where there is an ACT wide brief, and partly to avoid unnecessarily duplicating existing services. Some of these partners have exhibited jointly in the Gallery, or have run workshops and productions in the Theatre, others are groups and organisations that we have had close connections with during the year.

The Maruki Community Orchestra (MCO) is an innovative community music project based at Belconnen Community Centre. The orchestra staged a concert, performed at the Belconnen Festival, and ran weekly rehearsals during the second half of 2005, and will continue to expand during 2006, and is in discussion re other types of joint projects for the future. Goldilocks The Pantomime was a joint venture with Ickle Pickle Productions, bringing traditional family entertainment to the Belconnen Theatre for Xmas 2005. We were particularly interested in attracting new and young audiences to the theatre, with a highly motivated and excellent young community cast and crew drawing nearly 1000 for the short season. We are looking at establishing this as an annual community program. Buzzing Productions saw six of this town's most addicted theatre kids exploring their vision with the ongoing support of the Belconnen Theatre. Initially the group was offered some free use of the venue as theatre development. Towards the end of 2005 this began to expand into a possible new program for support of local emerging theatre, which should start seeing significant results in late 2006 and 2007. During 2005 the Chilean Cultural Association of Canberra held workshops for children, to learn about an amazing woman and teacher, Gabriela Mistral, which resulted in an exhibition and performance at Belconnen. The Association continues to explore and show Chilean culture with the assistance of the Belconnen Arts and Cultural Development Program – including rehearsal space and support for a new Latin Folk Festival. Virgins and Seducers was an event staged for National Poetry Week 2005. 12 local poets went hammer and tongs at Belconnen Theatre. Belladonna Theatre Company is a new group in Belconnen, and performed its first play by local playwright Eris Jane at the Belconnen Theatre in May 2005, called “Lifting Lucy”. Belladonna was brought together for this new play with the encouragement of Garry Fry, as was another group, "Please Close The Door", which presented "The Scent of Lilac, Darling", a deeply depressing teenage angsty hilarious comedy by emerging playwright, Kate Wood at Belconnen Theatre. Koori Art Classes for Indigenous Carers saw a series of workshops run by Wiradjuri artist Duncan Smith, as a partnership between Belconnen Community Service and Carers ACT. A successful exhibition of the work was held at the Belconnen Gallery in December.

The Program was an integral part of the Belconnen Festival, organising all performers and staging, and sending 2 artists into local schools leading up to the event. Significant networking has taken place, with regular Canberra Arts Marketing meetings, 3 BANANA related events, and 4 MV Network meetings, with the first joint MV event scheduled for the Belconnen Gallery in November 2006. We are represented on the board of Canberra Arts Marketing, the national FECCA arts and culture committee, Festivals ACT, and ACT representative for the national multicultural touring network Kultour. Press coverage has been enormous, with over 200 articles and ads in this period, 900 arts and cultural email items sent out, and a significant mention in Hansard in September! The website www.belcomserv.com.au/art continues to be a valuable tool, with many images, links, and information about events and opportunities. Finally, in a highly competitive funding round, the Program for the first time secured 3 year funding from arts ACT, allowing a much higher degree of strategic planning to be undertaken.

Jan Wawrzynczak, Arts and Cultural Development Program