Belconnen Gallery

 

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.

 

The group exhibitions comprised; the Chinese Cultural Association, in conjunction with the Multicultural Festival; Belconnen Community Centre’s Bungee Youth Group, as part of Youth Week 2005;  the local watercolour group, Watercolour On Thursdays, (WOT); and an exhibition of works emanating from a workshop run by Belconnen Community Services Holt office titled Reconnecting to Joy.

 

 

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 didgeridoo for permanent display in the building’s foyer. 

 

Secondly, Belconnen artist James Rowell exhibited a series of large triptychs in a show titled Nostalgia Myths.  Rowell’s exhibition signalled his return to artistic practice following a twenty year struggle with schizophrenia.  A large opening, high visitor numbers, a sold out show and a number of commissions resulted for the artist.

 

Twelve exhibitions took place in the Gallery during the second six months of 2005.  Exhibitors included a young emerging artist, a mature emerging artist, a mature artist re-commencing exhibition practice after a ten year absence resulting from the extended effects of a serious accident, an established artist and six group exhibitions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The group exhibitions comprised; ITAG, the Indigenous Artist’s Textiles Group, as part of NAIDOC week 2005, showing 7 local, emerging Indigenous artists;  Canberra Printmakers Site and Soul exhibition, on tour from CMAG and Megalo, an exhibition which assisted in forging links between the Belconnen Gallery and other Canberra collecting institutions; Belconnen Community Centre’s Bungee program, exhibiting large scale murals created by Belconnen primary school children;  the annual BEAN exhibition, which this year celebrated Belconnen and its environs; a vibrant and colourful week of Chilean photography and children’s dance to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the death of Chilean poet and educator Gabrielle Mistral and finally, an exhibition by members of the Indigenous Carer’s Group, from a series of workshops initiated by BCC and run by Wiradjuri artist Duncan Smith.

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. 

 

During the year the hanging and lighting systems were upgraded, and a people counter installed in May, as no reliable figures had been kept for visitor numbers prior to this. The results were excellent, showing that the placement of the Gallery in the Community Centre ensured high visitation rates to all the exhibitions, and providing a very high level of visual art placement in the community. It was especially pleasing that the 2 “highest rating” exhibitions were of local emerging artists Chantal Jackson and Mark Ostell, with the local BEAN network the biggest group exhibition.

 

 

 

 

List of Belconnen Gallery users and visitors 2005

 

Exhibitor

# artists

# days

# visitors

Reconnecting to Joy

9

5

 

Chinese Cultural Ass

12

10

 

Katrina Newbury

1

14

 

U Turn

8

10

 

James Rowell

1

10

 

Watercolour Society

15

10

535

Soraya Takalou

1

9

508

Duncan Smith

1

10

554

Maggie Hunt

1

10

580

ITAG

8

20

750

Megalo

18

10

435

Bungee

35

5

230

Chantal Jackson

1

20

850

Mark Ostell

1

15

983

Erazm Ciolek

1

10

610

Ana Hanson & Bronwen Fielden

2

10

589

BEAN

25

8

807

Fatima Killeen

1

8

489

Chilean Cultural Ass

10

6

245

Fatemeh Palangi

1

9

471

Indigenous Art Workshop

12

4

345

TOTALS

164

213

8981

 

 

 

 

 

2005 Belconnen Festival

 

Overview

 

The Arts and Cultural Development Officer worked closely with Festival organisers and committee in 2005. Specific roles were organising performers and staging for the day, but advice was also given on site layout, promotion, infrastructure, and meeting Festival objectives.

 

The 2005 Belconnen Festival was undoubtedly successful, and attracted many more people than the initial 2004 event, which was a key objective in building its growth and sustainability in the Belconnen community. The program was varied, with a “something for everyone” approach, incorporating many local performers and a mixture of large and small groups. A decision was made early to attempt to bring the youth stage and activities into the same physical space as the “main” festival, achieved by closing the half of Benjamin Way beside Margaret Timpson Park. Staging and performers were thus spread around the site, with a main stage, a flat dance stage, a small children’s stage, and the youth stage. Programming was designed to bring crowds at different times during the day (i.e. large community groups bring their own supporters), to minimise sound crossover, to heavily showcase local performers, and to provide variety and diversity. The program was scheduled to finish much earlier than 2004, as it was perceived that festival goers would not stay late without large scale (expensive) attractions.

 

Staging notes

 

1.               the main stage was a truck that opened out, was easy to set up, and was of sufficient size and impact for the event

2.               the dance stage was excellent, being centrally placed at ground level and attracting a large audience all day. However it was occasionally too hot to dance on properly, and may need to be relocated to allow sufficient shade.

3.               the youth stage was on Benjamin Way, but probably too far physically removed from the other youth activities, and was not covered. This will need some re-thinking.

4.               the children’s stage was inside the children’s tent, and seemed to run perfectly in bringing small intimate audiences close to the action throughout.

5.               there was some sound crossover, but much less than was anticipated – whichever stage you were closest to was easily the main focus, with other sound as background only. The major issue was a percussion group on the street interfering somewhat with an orchestra on the main stage – easily solvable through programming.

6.               bumpin and bumpout went smoothly and quickly – the staging company was thoroughly organised and required minimal assistance from outside, freeing up the time and focus of festival workers and volunteers.

 

Performers

 

The program  was highly diverse in every respect, and had “something for everyone”.  The decision was made to negotiate payments for the performances, which varied according to their profile, needs, and desire to contribute to the community. Personal negotiations were undertaken by the Performance Coordinator, and many performers showed their commitment to the community festival by performing for free or at heavily discounted rates. They should all be applauded for their cooperation.

 

The program was designed to attract different audiences during the day, combining large, small, dance, cultural, music, and community groups, and finishing with a currently popular band on the main stage. End time was scheduled before sunset, in order to bypass lighting and other staging issues. This programming was mostly successful in achieving this aim, starting with a large community orchestra with their own audience! The dance stage was tremendously popular all day, regardless of who was performing. Stages were kept relatively close to time until right at the end, when the last band took a long time to set up. The quality of the acts was uniformly high, but, as is often the case, there were too many! The acts were evenly split between local and “visitors” – 14 each. Unlike 2004, there were no breaks in programming – great for spectators, but good stage management was crucial.

 

The performance program was effective and enjoyable, all acts were delightful to work with and co-operative, received timely information, and were on time and good value. The staging company was a bargain, and saved a lot of potential headaches by being self-contained and highly professional. There is no doubt that the success of the programming played a large role in attracting and keeping people on site for the day, and creating a grand festival atmosphere, as evidenced by survey comments from festival goers on the day.

 

 

In a separate program attached to the Festival, 2 artists were offered to work in local primary schools. They were Wiradjuri visual artist and performer Duncan Smith, and African musician and storyteller Gus Mpofu, both of whom performed at the festival. Duncan made a series of portable murals involving the handprints of children from 5 local schools which were then displayed at the Festival site, while Gus taught percussion rhythms and songs, which children had an opportunity to perform with HOZA on the main stage. As a promotional and awareness tool this worked excellently, and hopefully will be expanded in future years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

Festival Main Stage

 Maruki Community Orchestra                          

Canberra Celtic Pipe Band                                

Salsabor Dance Co – Salsa!                                

Yut Hung Kung Fu Academy - demonstration   

HOZA! – big band sound from West African roots      

Belconnen High School Band                            

Earthly Delights - folk-world-medieval music band   

Johny Huckle – indigenous singer/songwriter

Wiradjuri Echoes – Indigenous dance and performance        

Rosalya – Samoan dance and culture                

Te Rere O Te Tarakakao – Maori cultural group

Calypso Pantastic – steel drums and Caribbean rhythms       

Casual Projects – funk/hip-hop and groove from the popular big band!

 

Festival Dance Stage – join in!

Tai Chi demonstrations

Schmick As – circus performance in yer face

Scottish Country Dancing

Peacock Studio – Middle Eastern and Indian dance

Earthly Delights - folk-world-medieval music and dance

Canberra Dance Company – world tribal dance

Bushdancers Display Group

The Bellydance Performance Project

Chilean Cultural Ass – Chilean dance

Set Dancing Australia

The Veils of Baghdad – Cairo style!

              

Festival Children’s Stage

Tricky Nick the magician

Chenxu Li - Chinese storyteller

Johny Huckle - songs

Maria Josey and Jo Forestier - storytellers

 

Roving Street Performers

Drumassault - passionate and electrifying traditional music of West Africa. Performances overflow with high-energy, infectious drumming and sensuous dance.

Bogong Moth – stilt walkers