- Eleven regional performing arts organisations to
receive grants of up to $150,000
- Funding program enables circuses, theatre shows,
ballet and Aboriginal storytelling to reach audiences in regional Western
Australia
- Possible thanks to the State Government's
Regional Performing Arts funding
Eleven
regional performing arts organisations will receive more than $1.3 million
between them to support touring and reaching audiences in Western Australia's
regions. The recipients include circuses, theatre shows, music, puppetry, and
Aboriginal storytelling.
The State Government
support is via Regional Performing Arts funding, including the categories
Playing WA and Made in WA, and comes from the Regional
Arts and Culture Investment Program (RACIP).
An independent panel of
peers from Western Australia's regional arts touring and performing arts
industries assessed dozens of applications against stringent guidelines before
selecting the recommended recipients. The recommendations were approved by the Culture
and the Arts Minister.
Grants
totalling $1,330,435, for 2024, go to:
- $72,258
to Whiskey & Boots
for Mama Stitch to tour to Moora and Harvey;
- $86,975
to Tura New Music
for Mungangga Garlagula to tour Albany, Denmark, Margaret River, Busselton and
Bunbury;
- $150,000 to Bunbury Regional Theatre Inc to produce and present This is
where...
- $143,682 to YUCK Circus for their 2025 tour to
Mullewa, Walkaway, Geraldton, Narrogin, Albany, Borden, Varley, Hopetoun and
Kalgoorlie;
- $107,359 for Zap Circus to tour to
Broomehill, Carnarvon, Dalwallinu, Three Springs, Albany, Cranbrook,
Kalgoorlie, Brookton, Mukinbudin, Busselton and Esperance;
- $149,800 to CircuitWest Inc to
tour their show From Be-bop to Hip Hop
with the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra and Zero Emcee in Harvey, Margaret River,
Esperance, Ravensthorpe, Karratha and Mandurah;
- $149,914 for Australian Baroque to deliver A Double Bill: Space Music and
Bach and Beer over five weeks in Wokalup, Denmark, Albany, Kalgoorlie,
Merredin, Geraldton, Exmouth, Karratha, Port Hedland and Esperance;
- $130,598 to Indigenous Arts Foundation for aYarning Singing Tour 2024 in Margaret River, Mandurah, Northam and Karratha;
- $147,924
for CircuitWest to
deliver An AWESOME Little Ballet Tour: The Lost Little Llama and Little Red
Riding Hood double bill in Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Busselton, Port Hedland,
Karratha, Beverley, Hopetoun, Narrogin, Harvey, Albany and Moora;
- $42,119 – Spare Parts Puppet Theatre's The
One Who Planted Trees in Geraldton and opening night of the Red Earth Arts
Festival in Karratha; and
- $149,806 – Yirra Yaakin love story Songbird
to tour in Roebourne, Karratha, Exmouth, Carnarvon, Harvey, Merredin, Albany
and Bunbury.
Comments attributed to Culture and the Arts Minister David Templeman:
"Our Government is proud
to invest in performing arts work, made right here in WA, and this funding
ensures it reaches regional audiences who otherwise might not get to see these
wonderful Western Australian shows.
"A range of diverse and
unique stories are being told through the successful applicants and I know
receiving arts and entertainment centres and communities will delight in the
performances.
"Supporting regional
preforming arts helps with social cohesion across the State and has flow-on
economic benefits for our regional towns that host the productions."
Comments attributed to Regional Development Minister Don Punch:
"It is fantastic to see regional audiences benefit from the Regional
Performing Arts program.
"This latest round really has something for everyone, with circus
performances, puppetry and Aboriginal storytelling all represented."
Background
- Whiskey
& Boots will tour their performance work Mama Stitch to the Moora
Performing Arts Centre and Harvey Recreation and Cultural Centre. They will
collect interviews from local people reflecting on their mothers and retell
these accounts with original, bespoke, live music.
- Tura
will remount and tour the remarkable new work Mungangga Garlagula by Mark
Atkins and Erkki Veltheim. This theatrical story and sound-based work is a
deeply human journey of disorientation, reorientation and homecoming which
speaks to the heart of Mark Atkin's experience as a Yamatji man growing up in
Albany, WA. The tour will feature performance and community engagement programs
in Albany, Denmark, Margaret River, Busselton and Bunbury.
- Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre will
co-produce and present a multistage development and premiere of 'This is
where...', a new South West-made multidisciplinary theatre production by
Bunbury creative Siobhan Maiden. The production is a site-specific promenade,
exploring moments in time, personal stories and places of the Bunbury CBD, as
well as sharing ideas of belonging and home.
- YUCK
Circus will tour two company shows, DEADSET and self-titled work YUCK Circus,
to nine regional communities including Mullewa, Walkaway, Geraldton, Narrogin,
Albany, Borden, Varley, Hopetoun and Kalgoorlie. The two works are performed by
the same cast, and toured with the same equipment, hence provide sustainable
and marketable options for regional communities. The tour will also include
circus skills workshops aimed at all ages, all genders, and all physical
capabilities.
- Zap
Circus will tour a circus and physical theatre piece designed for families and
older couples. The tour will reach 11 towns including Broomehill, Carnarvon,
Dalwallinu, Three Springs, Albany, Cranbrook, Kalgoorlie, Brookton, Mukinbudin,
Busselton and Esperance and include performances, Q&A sessions and skills
workshops that provide alternative learning environments for young people.
- CircuitWest
will coordinate a regional WA tour of From Be-bop to Hip Hop with WA Youth Jazz
Orchestra and Noongar hip-hop MC, Zero Emcee. This exciting and engaging
repertoire takes audiences on a journey on how melody, improvisation, and
self-expression cross music genres. The production will tour an 18-piece
orchestra with community workshops in six regional communities including
Harvey, Margaret River, Esperance, Ravensthorpe, Karratha and Mandurah.
- The
touring show, Yarning Singing, is a concert hosted by Ernie Dingo, featuring
Phil Walleystack, Warankga Band, Miss Genius and Sam B. The concerts and
community workshops will tour to Margaret River, Mandurah, Northam and Karratha
and will be supported in each town by local support acts and a traditional
dance group.
- Australian
Baroque will deliver a five-week regional tour of their multimedia production
Space Music as well as the classical music and craft beer fusion experience
Bach and Beer to Wokalup, Denmark, Albany, Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Geraldton,
Exmouth, Karratha, Port Hedland and Esperance. The tour will include incursions
into aged care facilities, as well as music and science incursions in schools,
performance masterclasses, and presentations catered for mums with young
children.
- CircuitWest
will deliver a five-week regional tour to 11 regional communities of the
children's ballet productions The Lost Little Llama and Little Red Riding Hood
as a double bill. The shows are a collaboration between AWESOME Arts and the
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. It will also include engagement
opportunities for young people and skills workshops offered in each community,
which includes Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Busselton, Port Hedland, Karratha,
Beverley, Hopetoun, Narrogin, Harvey, Albany and Moora.
- The One
Who Planted Trees is an original puppet musical with a message of community and
sustainability. The show has great resonance and respect for regional
communities and their care for land. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre will remount
the work in Geraldton which includes sector building, professional development,
and workshops for the regional centre, then move to Karratha to showcase at the
opening night of the Red Earth Arts Festival.
- Yirra
Yaakin will tour Songbird by Shakara Walley to seven regional communities
including Roebourne, Karratha, Exmouth, Carnarvon, Harvey, Merredin, Albany and
Bunbury. Songbird is a deeply layered love story about a young couple who
experience love, loss and reconnection in a remote town.
