So COVID-19 has certainly impacted the creative industries yet there are a number of artist opportunities and events arising. Here’s a list of projects on our radar which may be of interest.
Burwood Council invites Sydney artists or collectives to submit an application for the Hornsey Lane Murals project. This opportunity is for three selected artists or collectives to create a painted mural along Hornsey Lane. https://www.burwood.nsw.gov.au/public_art.html
Big Picture Festival Newcastle – Newcastle, New South Wales during October 2-4 2020 http://thebigpicturefest.com/
ACT Creative Endeavour Grants
GRANTS OF UP TO $10,000 AVAILABLE FOR STREET ARTISTS//GRAFFITI ARTISTS via Transport Canberra and City Services to undertake professional research and development and/or sustain their creative practice while facing pressures during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Nullawil Silo Art Precinct Grand Opening Postponed
Postponed due to COVID – Follow online for updates.
https://www.facebook.com/siloarttrail/
QLD
Brisbane Street Art Festival BSAF 2020 will include 41 new mural artworks across Brisbane and Ipswich, with dates for many of the artworks to be moved later into the year. As a first for 2020, BSAF is expanding to Ipswich to produce a series of large scale public artworks with renowned local and international street artists. We’re working hard to keep providing opportunities to artists and creatives throughout this crisis, while adhering to all health directions from the Federal Government and QLD Health. Keep an eye on our website for updates, and subscribe to our social media to watch artists at work as the altered program evolves!
Through the generous support of the Australian Federal Government, Salamanca Arts Centre has been awarded a Commonwealth Regional Grant of $200,000 towards the redevelopment of the Salamanca Arts Centre Courtyard.
Salamanca Arts Centre has engaged PlayStreet to develop plans for the Courtyard landscaping project, and as part of the overall redevelopment. This will also include a commissioned artwork as well as new furniture, both to be designed by a Tasmanian-based artist and designer/maker.
The Courtyard redevelopment will also include additional sound and lighting equipment and a redesigned performance stage. We expect that the Courtyard redevelopment project will be completed by November 2020 and ready to be opened to the public at that time.
NT Darwin Street Art Festival 2020 Due to current global circumstances, this year’s festival will showcase some of Darwin’s finest artists. Starting in May, a new artist will complete a mural every fortnight up until September. https://www.darwinstreetartfestival.com.au/
SA Wonderwalls Port Adelaide
Held from 6-8 March 2020 and hosted International street artists alongside South Australia’s emerging and professional artists.
Failure:Lab the USA founded event focused on crushing the stigma associated with failure is coming to Sydney on 28 May 2016. With the theme of ‘The Highs & Lows of the Creative Journey’ this night is filled with successful creative professionals whom are going to erase the negativity associated with the F word – Failure, that is.
Seven creative professionals each share a story of failure, joining Failure:Lab’s global mission to eliminate the fear, stigma, and isolation around failure which, in turn, helps remove roadblocks to communication, innovation, and community.
Failure:Lab is a raw and intimate event showcasing personal stories of failure. With a refreshing environment of openness, it helps pave the way for change by crushing the isolation and stigma around failure. Failure then takes its rightful place as the crucial first step to the next big thing.
Our storytellers share memories of failure in a safe space for mistakes – no lessons learned or talk of who’s to blame! The audience can reflect on Twitter using #failurelab during the moment of reflection between stories.
Performances follow each story to recharge the audience. Electro poetry, spoken word, ‘gyp-hop’, acoustic melodies and oscillating guitar strings will lift the air between stories.
Don’t let the name fool you – while the stories may be about failure, the event is really about courage, determination, and the strength to get back up.
Crush the stigma around failure. Embrace it, learn from it, build on it.
Storytellers (who will have 9 minutes to share their failure story before dropping the mic and exiting the stage!)
Storyteller, Marcus Westbury
Marcus Westbury Marcus Westbury is the CEO of Contemporary Arts Precincts Ltd that is leading the development of the Collingwood Arts Precinct in Melbourne and the founder of the multi award winning Renew Newcastle and Renew Australia. Marcus has been a writer, media maker and festival director and is the author of Creating Cities (Niche Press, 2015) and has been the writer and presenter of the ABC TV series Bespoke and Not Quite Art.
Storyteller, Somaya Langley
Somaya Langley Somaya Langley has a built a career at the nexus between the arts and technology. She has worked for multiple government cultural institutions, broadcasters, festivals and not-for-profit arts organisations as a curator, director, producer and technical specialist. As a creative practitioner, her work primarily focuses on embodied and immersive audiovisual experiences. Her life is equal parts failure and success. Somaya is the Digital Curation Specialist at the State Library of New South Wales.
Storyteller, Jeremy Staples
Jeremy Staples Jeremy Staples’ work is all about creating spaces for community engagement and providing a platform for people to be heard and share their skills. He enjoys questioning, documenting, reading, writing and travel. He’s passionate about inspiring people to think and helping them along their own journeys. Over the past five years, he has been researching the future of radical print media abroad and worked alongside with and met with everyone from Maximum Rock and Roll to Tokyo’s largest English print magazine.
Storyteller, Annetta Mallon
Dr Annetta Mallon PhD Annetta was awarded her PhD in Social Science in 2016, and she specialises in feminism, identity, personal stories, sociology and professional practice. She is currently employed as a lecturer and tutor, with Western Sydney University in the areas of Social Science, Sociology, and qualitative research methods. In addition to her academic pursuits and teaching, Annetta is also a freelance writer & editor, and is currently involved in developing works in both the academic and fiction arenas. Her previous career was as a practising counsellor, advisor, and psychotherapist for over twenty years working in Australia, Italy, and the USA in the fields of injury and trauma recovery, grief and loss, mental health, and personal growth and development.
Storyteller, Chloe Beevers
Chloe Beevers Chloe has over 15 years experience as a creative strategist, collaboration broker, program producer and keynote presenter. As the founder of the consultancy firm Strategic Artistry, Chloe builds the capacity of governments, organisations, industries and communities to deliver creative outcomes.
Storyteller, Adam Monaghan
Adam Monaghan Intermittent breaks from nursing to work in office jobs (not his thing) as well as dabbling in photography. Never quite believed in himself as photographer. Made redundant in 2013 and took another leap into video production. Taught himself to shoot, script, edit, produce and direct. Has grown the business into a six figure turnover enterprise in under three years.
DA Carter DA Carter is a musician & lyricist who’s toured globally on streets and stages from Berlin to Burning Man to the Sydney Theatre, National Young Writers, Subsonic, Regrowth, Crack Theatre & Fringe Festivals.
DA performs his heady mix of beatbox, spoken word & freestyle with a microphone & loop machines.
Performers (who will shift your mood with a 4 minute entertainment piece!)
Performer, Casio Gloria
Casio Gloria “The Kook, The Keys and the Curious. You decide who’s which.” From the grottos of Newcastle to the far reaches of the imagination, this eclectic/ electro performance-poetry explosion will have you sidestepping and your sides splitting. Launching the newest version of their bespoke music software MusicFox for Vivid Ideas Sydney 2016.
The Tinderbox Lullabies The Tinderbox Lullabies are Blue mountains singer /Song writer Nic Alexander, and Sydney soul poet Brent Clarke, also known as B.C. They perform a mongrel breed of roots music and rap delivery, creating the affectionate term on which they’ve grown from, ‘Gyp-Hop’.
Structured on acoustic guitar, sweeping vocal melodies and rhyming poetry, The Tinderbox Lullabies tell their stories through a truly honest dialogue using humour, hindsight, tongues in cheeks and big, dumb hearts on sleeves.
Performer, Spindles
Spindles Spindles is a Sydney-living musician who spins songs about the two things she thinks are most important: love and revolution. Sometimes her feelings about these things become so strong that they demand physical space – for guitar strings to oscillate, vocal cords to vibrate, stereocilia to reverberate. Spindles has spent the summer adorning these spaces with sea glass and cicada shells and midnights and Blue, and you are invited in.
Performers, Ebb Tides
Ebb Tides A tiny town musical duo comprising the abilities of multi talented writer, director, choreographer Erin Brookhouse and childhood friend, poet and rap artist Brent Francis Clarke, also known by the stage name B.C.
Ebb-Tides take their name in reference of the river they both grew up by on the mid North Coast of N.S.W. before moving to Sydney and meeting again later as fans of each other’s work.
Beginning from beautiful melodies Erin would draw from the sounds and songs Brent was creating as B.C, a series of collaborations turned into a project that both agreed to continue, taking shape as the colourful duo. Two friends who truly love creating art together.
Get tickets now whilst you can to this Australian first!
Just a quick post to let everyone know that I have been located in Sydney since 2014.
Street Art Walking has still been doing tours in Newcastle, including a few murals, so you can still get in touch if you need a dose of street art in The City of Newcastle.
This also means Sydney can expect some new exciting projects. Simone has been connecting with some clever folk and is about to endeavour on some new creative paths. Stay tuned!
Come with us, on foot or bike, as we lead you through the streets of Newcastle sharing stories about the artworks, how they came to be, about the artists behind the murals, techniques used to create them and our role in in the burgeoning street art scene of Newcastle, Australia. As Simone takes you along the SAW history you will discover Newcastle with new eyes as your guide shares knowledge of Newcastle’s public art, placemaking and street art.
Saturdays from 10am until 12pm. $30pp. Call 0410115736 to confirm.for more information.
As many of our serious followers will know, late last year I moved to Sydney to pursue some personal career goals. It was all a bit of a hectic time as I was also working on This Is Not Art Festical as Director. We didn’t really have time to reflect or share the news, just quickly pack up our stuff (and sell our supplies super cheap!) to move to the big smoke. We are really proud to have secured the wall on the Panthers car park for TiNA Festival and here are some pics of the epic mural by Sekt, Puke and Itch.
Artwork by Sekt, Puke and Asone for TiNA 2014. Coordinated by Street Art Walking and Octapod.
Thanks to everyone who helped with the transition. The support from the community I have been involved in for close to ten years was amazing, including new people I just met.
What does this mean for SAW? We get to cover more ground! And, hopefully more walls!! We haven’t lost the passion for what we do and we do it to make sure that art is everywhere, in public places for all to enjoy.
Now we can focus on new ideas in a bigger city with more walls and more artists!
As we move to Sydney, Skel takes on a wall in Wickham which we helped line up!
Last year we found out that some of our art and placemaking friends were working on an exciting project for the stairs at Wickham train station. Mark Aylward (who has been a key driver in some great placemaking projects in Newcastle West), had sparked a project online with artists Lu Quade and Erynwithawhy. As we are all pals online, we had seen each other commenting on a photo featuring a brilliantly coloured mural over the face of a long set of stairs. Mark, being the proactive and ambitious artist that he is, decided to find some stairs so that Newcastle could have it’s own version.
Mark sought permission to paint the stairs, sourced sponsorship for paint from Dulux (special thanks to representative Steve Kiem) and mustered up artists Lu Quade, Erynwithawhy and myself to join in. This project was probably the most fun (aside from the somewhat awkward posture posed when painting stairs – it’s hard work!) painting project that I have been involved with.
It was great seeing people smile as we painted the bright colours over the dull concrete. Some people asked, ‘Why?’. To which we would say, ‘Why not?’ or ‘Because we can!’.
The stairs have since been featured in an article by The Herald which you can see here. I would like to personally give a shout out to Shrek for his comment. We agree, this is a first class piece of art, indeed. Oh and my favourite part of the day was when the popo turned up to see if we were vandals. No, sorry. We sought permission.
Unfortunately, most of the photos I took of the two days of painting have been lost after having my phone stolen (boo!). Yet, here are some photos which we shared on Instagram (lucky we have those, I guess).
It is all happening in Newcastle, Australia, at the moment with Look Hear presenting Hit The Bricks next week from November 22nd until 24th. Hit The Bricks is the first street art festival of it’s kind for the city once known for steel production with twelve walls being painted over the duration of the festival. Newcastle has been emerging as a city to watch for street art over the years with a number of pieces by local and national artists making their mark here.
Hit The Bricks will see Newcastle host some of street art’s most globally recognised artists to share their talent in painting large scale aerosol artworks. The line up is nothing short of stellar so check it out here. The festival will also include a street art panel, a bike ride tour to see all the works in production and a HTB shop to you can find a momento to take home.
The local interest and support is strong with a number of articles and interviews coming out over the past week. Today there is a feature article in The Herald with Adnate which is well worth a read, here. It is really good to see people getting behind the concept of street art, showing support for this ever-growing art form. 1233 ABC Newcastle have even gone to far as to start a catalogue, which is already getting many contributions from across the region. Artists from Hit The Bricks met with 1233 to talk about the festival and street art in Newcastle earlier this week – listen to it here.
Street Art Walking will be on the ground (overwhelmed with excitement to see the Newcastle cultural facelift happen!) taking photos and hoping to snap some interviews up with artists so keep an eye on our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to stay in the loop online.
Yesterday I was lucky enough to share some time with Naomi Hersson Ringskog from No Longer Empty (NLE), a New York based organisation with a focus on renewing and revitalising urban space.
Naomi’s background is in urban planning and it was fantastic to tell her about my home city in Newcastle, Australia.
As anyone from Newcastle knows, we have some seriously divine empty buildings, some of which are of a very large scale.
What kind of buildings, you ask?
Well there’s some heritage ones that come to mind which are the Post Office, two old department stores, local icon The Star Hotel and The Victoria Theatre. Oh, and the Ammityville Terrace house near Wickham Station, plus the big green empty terrace house next door to where I live. Oh, and Pigeon Palace, as I call it in Hamilton. These are such grand buildings (or would have been in their hey day), yet slowly slipping away right in front of the community. Here’s some pics for those who may not know Newcastle, Australia.
Luckily, we have Renew Newcastle supporting the good cause and making use of the spaces that can be matched with an eager creative industry business. This amazing organisation has helped launch over eighty creative businesses in many empty spaces with the heart of the Newcastle CBD.
My work with Street Art Walking has
been looking at the in-between spaces like laneways and blank walls. Or worse yet, grey walls. I’m also particularly interested in how arts intervention into these empty spaces can bolster the communities and businesses together. A good place, filled with art, is so much better than an empty space.
It was great to chat with Naomi about their process of interacting with a site to produce exhibitions or events that not only activate spaces but also engage in important dialogue. The NLE team go through stages of research such as looking at the phstical space, researching the history and interacting with local community groups and organisations to find out what the space means to the people within the area. There is a sensitivity to their process that I feel is perhaps the key thing I will take away from this meeting.
What’s a good place? Well, for me, it could just be a local moment, an event that celebrates the story of an area, it’s people and the history that is important to the identity of an area.
As I’m out and about in the streets doing my research (photographing and measuring up, are usually what I get up to in empty and disused laneways) I always meet someone who is curious about what I’m up to. When I get a chance to speak to them about my vision for what could be in the area, I’m met with such enthusiastic tones and excitement. And there is always a story. Or two. Or three.
One NLE project that resonates with me is Living Walls, The City Speaks which is an annual conference on street art and urbanism in the city of Atlanta.
There’s so many good links, resources and projects coming from NLE that I urge everyone reading this to follow them, if you aren’t already. Email subscribe, Facebook and Twitter follow and if you are feeling generous like I am, why not give a donation. It truly is nice to support a project like this and if I lived in this country I would certainly be heavily engaged with what they do as a punter, volunteer and anything else that I could be involved with. But for now, I shall continue to support this organisation online by clicking through to their articles and sharing with fellow ’empty space’ and arts enthusiasts.
I am inspired to come home and follow the path that I am on in intervening with empty slaves through arts based projects. A term that Naomi used yesterday reminded me of the powerful role we can have as ‘Agents of Change’. I had read the term before but hearing it out loud was validating and confidence boosting.
I realised after sharing my ideas, vision and current processes with Naomi that I am well on track with the revitalisation projects that I am working on. The main areas for me to pursue are now to engage with wider community groups beyond the arts sector such as historical societies, elderly citizens, youth groups and church groups. It’s time to find the mass community and start finding out what stories they have to share, as well as what ideas they might have for Newcastle.
On that note, I am pleased to be a judge for Newcastle2020, a local exhibition ran by young Novacastrians who want to inspire brighter visions for our city, as well as find out what ideas out cities young people have for their place.
I’m confident we (all the various groups and organisations) are well on-track with revitalising Newcastle and look forward to bringing together more people to help lift dreams into realities. We just need to bond and work together a bit stronger. Many hands make light work, as they say.
Thank you to Naomi for her time and feedback on the projects I am involved in back home. I look forward to continue to build on this newfound connection and will happily be a tour guide for NLE, should they find their way to Australia.
Don’t forget to follow Street Art Walking on Facebook www.facebook.com/streetartwalking
and Twitter @streetartwalkin
