The recipients of the Regional Arts Fund (RAF) Project Grants Round 2, 2021 have been announced! The Regional Arts Fund provides approximately $3.6 million per year to support artists and communities in regional and remote areas. Funds can be used to:

  • encourage and support sustainable economic, social and cultural development in regional communities;
  • develop partnerships and networks which leverage support for projects and encourage ongoing collaboration;
  • develop audiences and broaden community engagement with the arts; and
  • increase employment, professional development opportunities and profile of regional and remote artists.

The Regional Arts Fund is an Australian Government program that supports sustainable cultural development in regional and remote communities in Australia. The program is managed by Regional Arts Australia and organisations in each state and territory including Regional Arts NSW.

 

The NSW recipients are:

Bathurst Regional Council T/A Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre

$30,000

Fast Cars & Dirty Beats

Bathurst Regional Council T/A Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre is undertaking an arts and community capacity building project considering Mt Panorama/Wahluu. The project engages community and professional artists to develop a site-specific work to celebrate the famous Mountain and their relationship to it.

 

Borderline Regional Arts Association

$15,710

Journeys at the border

Borderline Regional Arts Association will be exploring the theme ‘Journeys at the Border’ through hosting five workshops culminating in three exhibitions. Artists in the region have faced drought, bushfires, extensive rain and now COVID-19 restrictions and this project provides artists the platform to respond to these rural circumstances.

 

Kyogle Writers Festival 2022

$30,000

Kyogle Writers Festival 2022: KWF22

Kyogle Writers Festival 2022 (KWF22) will present a three-day smorgasbord of author talks, workshops, poetry readings, panel discussions and lively conversation. With its theme of ‘Close to Home?’, the Festival explores notions of place, space, home, homelessness, travel, identity, belonging and rural/regional life.

 

Southern Tablelands Arts

$18,622

Woven Together

Southern Tablelands Arts will host ‘Woven Together,’ partnering with artist Ronnie Jordan and Indigenous communities to deliver 12 workshops across six local government areas. The project will also see the installation of four micro galleries hosting a series of rotating exhibitions.

 

Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF)

$30,000

New immersive artwork installations at SWIFF’s STORYLAND

Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF) will present STORYLAND, a one day multi arts annual event hosted during SWIFF’22, weaving together storylines and song-lines of the Gumbaynggirr Nation.

 

Big hART

$30,000

Sticks and Stones

Big hART will be developing ‘Sticks and Stones’ which is an intergenerational project exploring stories, visualisations and sounds from Yuin country, on the NSW Far South Coast.

 

Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA)

$29,967

The First Aboriginal Olympian – Research & Development           

Northern Rivers Performing Arts will be researching and developing ‘The First Aboriginal Olympian.’ Inspired by the life of boxing champion, the late Francis ‘Frank’ Roberts, and the local Widjabul Wia:Bal/Bundjalung community, ‘The First Aboriginal Olympian’ is a site-specific work at Cubawee (Tuncester Aboriginal Reserve).

 

R.R. Pascoe

$19,770

Undertake professional development to up-skill in digital design and fabrication techniques and technologies

R.R. Pascoe will undertake a self-guided professional development program in digital design and fabrication techniques. The project includes developing a body of work for future presentation in a newly established studio and gallery in Portland, NSW.

 

South East Arts

$14,400

Almost A Mirror (Live) – Headland Writers Festival

South East Arts will present ‘Almost A Mirror (Live)’ a spoken word and musical performance based on the book of the same name by writer Kirsten Krauth. The performance will be included in the program for Headland Writers Festival in Tathra, May 2022.

 

Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery

$8,045

Woven Workshops

Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery will host ‘Woven Workshops’ a textile based project bringing together senior high school students and weavers from the Gumbaynngirr community. The project aims to offer cultural enrichment to regional youth and strengthen existing partnerships between Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, local schools and Saltwater Freshwater stakeholders.

 

Aimee Volkofsky

$22,050

Boneyard Sessions Roadshow

Aimee Volkofsky will tour ‘Boneyard Sessions Roadshow’ a show of music and storytelling by musicians based in regional areas to audiences in regional towns.

 

Sprung!! Integrated Dance Theatre Inc

$19,654

French Café – Reimagined

Sprung!! Integrated Dance Theatre Inc will perform ‘French Café – Reimagined’ a cabaret dance-theatre work set in a French bar. French Café will be reimagined using the 2019 production as a framework, but now focussing on a disability-led process.

 

The Cad Factory

$12,000

Face to Face: The New Normal

The Cad Factory will develop ‘Face to Face: The New Normal,’ considering the relationship between health, science, technology, and the arts. It explores the role of the artist within non-arts sectors such as health.

 

Katie Crane

$11,100

Wild Thyme debut album

All female contemporary folk trio, Wild Thyme, will record their debut album, drawing from their diverse heritage and individual musicianship in the bluegrass, folk and jazz music genres.

 

FLING Physical Theatre Inc

$30,000

The Tent – Presentation

FLING Physical Theatre Inc will present ‘The Tent,’ exploring the intersection of dance, design and immersive performance. It will be directed by Rob McCredie and performed by the FLING Company.

 

Spiral Gallery Cooperative

$4,950

Clay Fire and Community

The Clay Fire and Community Project will deliver a professionally curated exhibition ‘Unearthed,’ featuring established ceramicists from the Bega Valley region, as well as ceramics workshops for the community. Workshop participants’ work will be showcased in a second exhibition. Both exhibitions will be held at Spiral Gallery in 2022 and will celebrate the artistic creativity of the community, in Spiral Gallery Co-operative’s 25th anniversary year.

 

Amala Groom

$20,000

How to play bridge        

Wiradyuri conceptual artist Amala Groom will perform ‘How to play bridge’, a full-scale live performance work to premiere at the Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art, Carriageworks in 2022.

 

Cementa Incorporated

$30,000

So hot right now now now

Cementa Incorporated will host ‘So hot right now now now’, a creative and professional development opportunity for eight regional artists, resulting in a group exhibition at Firstdraft, Sydney in September/October 2022.

 

Annemaree Dalziel

$17,519

A very long echo

Annemaree Dalziel will conduct a sequence of exhibitions, multisensory participatory and performative art activities that explore history, memory and relationship to place with Wingecarribee communities. ‘A very long echo’ will be exhibited at Mental Gallery and Studios, Mittagong (NSW).