From the 90 applications we received, Arts OutWest has been able to fund 27 grants to the value of $36,340.
We had a truly overwhelming response to our 2021 Micro Grants program with so, so many excellent proposals. It clearly showed the need for support for regional creatives, the resilience within communities to bounce back into action and the abundance of positive new ideas being explored.
So, along with the initial NSW Government Arts Restart money we have searched our budget and found additional funds from our own resources to cover as many activities and requests as possible.
We’ve found extra from our IVAIS funding from the Australian Government and our own funds.
Funding for this round of Arts Restart has come from:
- $24,000 from the NSW Government’s Arts Restart
- $6,340 from Arts OutWest funds
- $6,000 from our funding from the Australian Government’s IVAIS (Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support) program
A total of $36,340 will be distributed throughout the Central West from Arts OutWest’s Arts Restart Micro Grants. Grants range from $450 to $2000.
We’re also actively looking at other ways to support as many of the unsuccessful applicants as possible.
Thank you to all the applicants for putting the time into your proposals and for the widely supportive response we’ve received from many of those who didn’t make the list but understand just how competitive this grants round was.
The applications selected were scored highly by the assessment team (we used an external panel of assessors from the region) because they were able to make a good case for the impact that the funding would have and because they showed good value for money.
These 27 funded projects and activities will contribute to the employment of arts workers and creatives, largely focused on the development of new work, in line with the priorities of the NSW Government’s Arts Restart funding.
The NSW Government’s Arts Restart funds are designed to stimulate arts activity and economic growth in regional areas, prioritising:
- Employment of arts workers and creatives
- Development of new work
- Supporting Regional NSW through touring or other measures.
Arts OutWest’s Arts Restart Micro Grants were offered with a quick turn-around time-frame in terms of assessment, providing the money to recipients and the delivery of the funded activities: Activities supported by the funding need to be completed by 30 June 2021.
Read about the background and criteria
2021 Micro Grant Recipients
Allegri Singers
BATHURST. To rehearse and provide outreach concerts we need an electronic keyboard of good quality as many of the centres we rehearse in or hope to visit do not have a piano. The keyboard will be purchased from Landers Music in Orange.
Bathurst Regional Council for Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre for Bathurst Writers’ & Readers’ Festival
BATHURST. The Bathurst Writer’s & Readers’ Festival is a free, three day event for the Bathurst community. With the Arts OutWest Microgrant we will pay regional writers to attend the festival as panellists and participants.
Beatrice Murray
COWRA. Community Activity – Wiradjuri School Holiday Workshops. This project will benefit the local Aboriginal community of Cowra. Children and parents/carers will attend workshop aimed to develop contemporary dance with Wiradjuri songs. The revitalisation of Wiradjuri language will be a focus by teaching the language through conversations and instructions throughout the course of the school holiday workshops.
Cate McCarthy
YETHOLME. Record visually using drawing, printmaking and photography with a view to developing a body of work using diverse media around the Bathurst Female Factory which opened in the early months of 1833 and operated until the new gaol was built in 1844.
Colour City Creatives
ORANGE. To complete the computer lab a data projector is needed as a teaching aid to enable all participants to see class material at the same time. The portable data projector will enable the teaching of small groups of artists. Initially CCC artists, with the future aim being to provide this facility to other community groups and individuals.
David Isbester
CANOWINDRA. To assist in reopening his gallery in main street of Canowindra.
Dirt Lane Press
ORANGE. To assist with production and design costs for a proposed ‘story walk’ in collaboration with Orange City Council and Orange Botanic Gardens. We plan to launch our next picture book, Just One Bee, at the Orange Botanic Gardens on 16 May 2021 by featuring a ‘story walk’.
Festival of Bells
BATHURST. Funds will contribute to the completion of a commission by Carillion Society of Australia for composer Gerard Brophy for the inaugural Festival of the Bells.
Forbes Arts Society
FORBES. Supporting a one-day Regional Art Trail event.
Forbes Public School P&C
FORBES. To engage a local Indigenous artist who is an old boy of the school to paint an Aboriginal mural. Will involve our local schools (Forbes North Primary, St Lawrence’s Primary, Forbes High and Red Ben Catholic College) Aboriginal Education Community Group (AECG) representatives and our 292 students in education connecting them to country (NAIDOC theme this year) and Dreamtime storytelling.
Gooloogong Public School Parents & Citizens Association
GOOLOOGONG. The school P&C will facilitate the creation of a community mural on the external wall of the school hall.
Henry Spirek for Artists of Orange
ORANGE. Purchase of plinths for the exhibition space.
Home-Start Cowra, Canowindra and Weddin
GRENFELL, CARAGABAL, GREENETHORPE. Local Wiradjuri Artist, Storyteller and Elder, Julie Ferguson will partner with Home-Start Family Worker in Weddin, Kirstin Stevenson, to engage children and staff of Grenfell Preschool, and Caragabal and Greenthorpe Public Schools in 3 weeks of Aboriginal art, stories, language, painting and bush tucker.
Irene Ridgeway and Conrad Mill
PARKES. Working with Wiradjuri artist Irene Ridgeway who teaches young indigenous emerging artists. Irene will work with young artists.
Julie Williams
LITHGOW. In 2020 I completed a Cementa21 artist residency at Kandos where work commenced on my project ‘Smother’, which explores the identity of Jessie Hickman (1890 – 1936) the Lady Bushranger from the Central West who was given away to a traveling circus at the age of 8. In collaboration with local community members from the Kandos region, I will use analogue photography to present portraits of the ‘aliases’ that Hickman created; in an act of historical reinterpretation and a cultural attempt to pay homage to Hickman and her story. I have commissioned Sally McInerney to write an essay for the project and would use this grant money for the writer’s fees.
Kate Smith for the Fast Cars project
BATHURST. Fast Cars is an arts and community capacity building performance project that explores the importance of belonging and sense of place wrapped in spectacle and celebration. This grant will fund Rob Shannon-world-renowned gypsy jazz guitarist, educator and the Director of the bi-annual Kalari River Arts Festival, Forbes- to lead a community drumming group for Fast Cars for Phase 1 – Feb – June 2021
Kris Schubert
O’CONNELL. Stage a series of outdoor music performances at the Avenue Cafe in O’Connell. The money would be used to provide PA equipment (Kris will operate/engineer at no cost), and to pay musicians.
Lachlan Arts Council
CONDOBOLIN. Reinvigorate the arts community to revive our Mosaics Project. We shall utilise the funds to employ the design artist, and a concrete/mosaic finisher, to install the completed clay ceramic tiles, (which were designed by community members – both individuals and groups. E.g. Indigenous artists, Condobolin Medical Centre, Preschool, farmers.
Margaret Braithwaite
BATHURST. A socially isolated visual artist. To buy paints canvasses and frames.
Orange Art Trail
ORANGE. We have developed an Art Trail for Orange Area consisting of 5 artist studios however, due to covid restrictions in 2020, we were not able to get it off the ground. We are ready now to go ahead and would like to create a brochure for our trail. We will distribute this thru the Orange Visitors Centre, major hotels and accommodation and wineries to build awareness of not only our studios but the artists elsewhere in Orange.
Parkes Shire Library and Cultural Centre
PARKES. The funds from this grant will be used to host a workshop series in the Parkes Library’s new Makerspace Studio- post January’s flood. Engaging Ronda Sharpe, local indigenous elder and artist to do four weaving workshops. These workshops use traditional Wiradjuri weaving methods with modern materials (data cables) to create usable objects (such as baskets or bookmarks). These workshops are being delivered as part of the NetWaste Waste to Art program.
Spring Hill Activities Group Incorporated
SPRING HILL. Engaging an artist to create a community mural.
Steven Cavanagh
HILL END. Having work framed at Pigments and Palettes in Bathurst for DARK, my first major exhibition in a regional gallery.
Towri Aboriginal Corporation
KELSO. We would like to work with Denison College to reawaken Aboriginal art within our community by way of a 6-week art program for a group of 20 young Aboriginal women from the Kelso area. This program would include ongoing lessons from Aboriginal women on Aboriginal art, Aboriginal storytelling, Aboriginal artistic symbolism and feeling connected to culture.
Veritas House
BATHURST. This year celebrating its 40th anniversary of delivering services to vulnerable children, young people and families in the central west region. To celebrate, we propose to launch a Youth Art Project in the Bathurst and Orange communities during Youth Week, commissioning young artists aged 12-25 to produce works that can be wall mounted in the medium of their choice.
Vince Lovecchio
CANOWINDRA/ REGIONAL. Filmed interviews with Craig Lawler as short, contextualising introductions to explain the historical facts and significance of the stories outlined in ten History Here films. The AOW micro-grant would pay for filming, editing, post-production and mileage. It would add value to an already-created body of short films, repurposing them into a new and more accessible product for broadcast, and provide potential new income stream for artists (Project Zone).
Will Shone for Grenfell Dramatic Society
GRENFELL. To set up and operate with members of the local community a narrowcasting radio station. Funds to cover the costs of the radio licence and application fee.
