victorian association of performing arts centres

Applications for 2012 Long Paddock are now open. As Australia’s premier national touring forum, Long Paddock will run on 3-4 April 2012 at the Albury Entertainment Centre. Co-hosted by Regional Arts Victoria and Albury Entertainment Centre on behalf of the Blue Heeler Network, Long Paddock is geared towards national touring in 2013. If you’re a producer with a show that you’d like to tour, don’t miss this opportunity to have your production seen by those in the know.

Long Paddock, Australia’s premier national touring forum, will run on 3-4 April 2012 at the Albury Entertainment Centre. Hosted by Regional Arts Victoria and Albury Entertainment Centre on behalf of the Blue Heeler Network, Long Paddock is geared towards Playing Australia funding for national performing arts touring in 2013.
 
Producers are invited to submit their productions for Long Paddock National Touring forum consideration via the Cyberpaddock website.
 
Producers - how to register 
To register your production for entry into Long Paddock, you must first set up a Cyberpaddock profile (http://cyberpaddock.com.au), and then submit your event registration through Try Booking (http://www.trybooking.com/19184). The entry process closes on the 20th of January and each production entry incurs a $50 +(+GST) administration fee.
 
Voting Process   
Presenters will be invited to cast Long Paddock selection interest votes for productions via Cyberpaddock from January the 23rd though to the 2nd of February – after which Producers will be informed if they will be invited to present at the Long Paddock. 
 
Keen to attend? All interested parties can register to attend the Long Paddock forum. Registrations will be managed via Trybooking.com and will open on February the 27th. An update will be posted once the event registrations are open.
 
Need more info?
You can read more about Long Paddock on http://cyberpaddock.com.au, the website of the Blue Heeler Network of performing arts touring coordinators.
 
Cyberpaddock, Long paddock, and the Blue Heeler Network are all managed under the Auspices of Regional Arts Australia - http://www.regionalarts.com.au.
 
Find out about the Albury Entertainment Centre and the Albury region via the council website - http://www.alburycity.nsw.gov.au/www/html/1535-coming-events.asp.
 
Read about Playing Australia, its objectives and guidelines here - http://www.arts.gov.au/topics/regional-touring-arts/playing-australia.
 

As part of the Australia Council’s focus on the viability of the arts sector, the Australia Council’s Market Development section will support a Market Development Skills Program to enable arts organisations to build sustainable and innovative models to develop national and international markets.
Research and sector feedback highlight the need to support the performing arts sector’s skills in market development planning.
Market Development is calling for tenders from established and respected arts consultants to deliver the Market Development Skills Program through:
• delivery of workshops nationally in 2012, including  targeted learning for different levels of experience and specialist sessions for Indigenous producers, artists and companies
• development of online resources for ongoing use by the Australian performing arts sector.
To view the full tender document click here  Tenders are due 2pm (EST) 13 February 2012.

Showcase Victoria is an annual touring forum hosted by the Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres (VAPAC) and Regional Arts Victoria (RAV). Showcase brings presenters (venue managers) and producers of performing arts works together with the aim of building Victorian state tours during 2013.
Showcase is now in its 14th year and we are delighted that Frankston Arts Centre will be hosting the event. The Frankston Arts Centre plays a significant role in the both the national and state touring circuits and programs a diversity of works into its venues. We know producers and presenters will be well catered for by the Frankston team.
How does it work?
Showcase Submissions (6th February – 5th March)
Showcase submissions will be run via the Cyberpaddock website (http://cyberpaddock.com.au). Producers need a producer profile and to set up a production profile for the show being put forward. If you are a first time Cyberpaddock user you can get all manner of tips about setting up your profile in the “about” section (http://cyberpaddock.com.au/about). Showcase submissions need to be complete with show copy, images, video (if possible), budget, marketing and technical details. Incomplete profiles may be rejected and if you are experiencing difficulties please contact a RAV staff member (http://www.rav.net.au/performing-arts-touring/about). Once you have set your production profile you then register via Trybooking.com (http://www.trybooking.com/19738). Each registration incurs a $20 + GST administration charge.

Showcase Selection
The Showcase selection panel, comprising ten industry representatives from regional and metropolitan venues, plus festival, producers and industry members, meets in late March. The panel reviews each submission and shortlists the productions that will be invited to be included in the Showcase presentation program. Submissions are assessed against the Arts Victoria criteria (see web link below) and more mechanical issues such as venue programming requirements, technical capacity and artistic quality. Regional Arts Victoria does not select the Showcase Victoria program.

At the Event
Showcase runs over two days. Each production is allotted approximately 15 minutes which can be used for any mix of spoken presentation, performance excerpt, digital presentation (including video, audio and PowerPoint) and time for questions. Presenters are the main audience and use the information gleaned from presentations to make decisions about shows they want to present to their community.

EXPO
Producers who do not make it into the Showcase presentation program have a chance to participate in the Showcase EXPO. EXPO runs during Showcase and works well for productions that can perform at short notice (i.e. do not require a tour to perform in regional locations), that have a proven track record with venues managers (i.e. do not require a pitch spot) or production companies with an array of works on offer. Each EXPO producer is given a stall space and presenters approach stall holders directly to talk about your offer.

After Showcase
After Showcase presenters vote for the productions they would like to see developed into tours. Productions that receive enough support will then go through a process of tour development (negotiating appropriate dates and building a project budget) and most will be submitted for tour funding support via Arts Victoria. We expect tour funding applications will be due August 1st and results are usually received 12 weeks after submission. Regional Arts Victoria will develop and deliver a number of tours on behalf of producers and presenters. However there are other avenues to touring on offer – check the RAV website for some of the options (http://www.rav.net.au/performing-arts-touring/how-to-tour/vic-tour - see the “other pathways” section).

Showcase Victoria aligns with Arts Victoria’s Touring Victoria program. Showcase is open to presenters and producers from outside Victoria, but please bear in mind that Touring Victoria funding does not cover interstate performances and is not open to interstate companies. If you are considering applying to Showcase and are an interstate producer it’s best to be thinking about a future Playing Australia funded tour or a project that does not require tour funding support.

To Recap
Who: The Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres (VAPAC) and Regional Arts Victoria (RAV)
What: Showcase Victoria 2012 – state touring forum
When: May 29-30 (successful producers will be required for technical rehearsals during May 28th)
Where: Frankston Arts Centre
How: http://cyberpaddock.com.au, http://www.trybooking.com/19738

Information about Arts Victoria’s Touring Victoria Program can be found here- http://www.arts.vic.gov.au/Funding_Programs/Touring_Victoria/Touring_Grants
Information about VAPAC can be found here – http://www.vapac.org.au/
Information about RAV can be found here - http://www.rav.net.au/performing-arts-touring/about
Information about the Frankston Arts Centre can be found here - http://artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au/
Cyberpaddock is managed by the Blue Heeler network of performing arts touring coordinators – http://cyberpaddock.com.au

Extra special thanks go to Delma and the team at TryBooking.com - Showcase Victoria sponsors and experts in event ticketing – http://trybooking.com.
 

After close to three years at Kultour and leading significant organisational change, Kultour CEO Magdalena Moreno will depart  February 1  to take up a senior position at the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes (National Council for Arts and Culture, Government of Chile).
Magdalena joined Kultour in 2009 and during her term has successfully steered a re-imagining of Kultour, transitioning the organisation through substantial structural, governance, and operational changes,  into a thriving and robust national advocacy body,  dedicated to ensuring that the Arts in Australia reflect our cultural diversity.
With the unanimous support of the board Magdalena has initiated and led national discourse on transformational change for a more open, diverse and inclusive arts community and been an active voice on the importance of diversity in the National Cultural Policy.

She has not only brought this important debate to a national platform but has sought to link Kultour and Australia’s diversity to the international debate on diversity of expression and developed strong links with the Arts Council England, Scanlon Foundation, Australia Council for the Arts, and DFAT amongst many others.
 
Magdalena has delivered outstanding opportunities and outcomes to the Arts in Australia and brought a profound generosity, intellectual and strategic capacity, and diligence to the role of Kultour CEO. She has been an exceptional performer in demanding times.
Whilst the Kultour Board of Directors and Staff will greatly miss her energy, passion, and advocacy, we are equally excited by the opportunity that lies ahead for her in her future role in the arts in Chile and wish her all the best.

Caroline Stacey, Kultour Chair

The Australia Council for the Arts invites artists to propose big ideas for exploring the cultural potential of next generation
high-capacity broadband.

The Broadband Arts Initiative <http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/items/news_features/broadband_arts_initiative>
will support innovative arts project that are enabled by the NBN with funding of up to $100,000 each. The aim is to provide significant
grants for artistic teams who have the bold ideas, technical expertise and strong partnerships for projects which demonstrate the potential of the NBN for Australian culture.

Expressions of interest are due by 15 February and funded projects will be starting from 1 May 2012.

As the NBN develops across Australia, artists have new capacity to transform how we create, access, consume and contribute to Australian culture. It will enable new ways for all Australian residents, no matter their life circumstances or location, to engage in the arts and be part of building stronger communities. With high-capacity broadband there will be more opportunities for convergence in arts and broader cultural industries, along with new business models, education and innovation possibilities.

The Australia Council encourages ambitious arts proposals which complement the deployment of high-capacity broadband and are truly dependent on broadband infrastructure, particularly its high-capacity bandwidth, low latency and future ubiquitous nature. This can involve significant artistic and technical research over a year, but should result in an outstanding art outcome for the public before June 2013.

See the complete details for experssions of interest and selection criteria at www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/broadbandarts
<http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants-2011/grants/2012/broadband_arts_initiative>
You are encouraged to discuss your proposal ideas with Australia Council contacts:

Kevin du Preez, Arts Organisations Project Manager, phone 02 9215 9015, email k.dupreez@australiacouncil.gov.au
Kathryn Gray, Inter-Arts Officer, Phone 02 9215 9077, email k.gray@australiacouncil.gov.au

The VAPAC Tech Managers Network Executive would like to invite you to exhibit at our Mini Trade Show at The Frankston Arts Centre on the 26th & 27th March 2012.
We wish to keep it as relaxed as possible; it will be part of our first TMN meeting for 2012. It was organised in part to help those of us who find it difficult to get to the interstate tradeshows and also to help raise funds for VAPAC Tech Managers Network professional development training. This is also an opportunity for you and your companies to come and demonstrate any new toys or items that you think would be good for either our Performing Art Centre’s or our clients in one handy location, instead of having to travel to the far flung corners of Victoria and Tasmania.
We would love to have the opportunity to speak with presenters on Monday evening and Tuesday morning, allowing you time to set up on Monday morning.
We have arranged for the venue to be open so that you can invite other clients or prospective buyers to see your set up on Monday evening and Tuesday until midnight. Please be aware that VAPAC will not be advertising this event externally. The public viewing part of the trade show was designed to make it worthwhile for presenters.
There are power restrictions on the Mini Trade Show Site. Please see below. If there is a demonstration that requires 3 Phase, the theatre can be used to house the demonstration.
We will be offering sites that are approximately 3.5m X 3.5m (Multiple sites maybe purchased under consultation) 240v Single Phase power will be run to each site. To book a site there will be a one off price of $300. A $50 deposit will be required by the 26th of Feb 2012 to confirm your site.
There are also separate opportunities for sponsorship.Please contact Rebecca Bennell on r.bennell@wangaratta.vic.gov.au or on 0411 122 953 to book a site, arrange your deposit or to talk about sponsorship opportunities.
If there are any questions about the venue site please contact:Adam Cartwright. (03) 97841050 or adam.cartwright@frankston.vic.gov.au
 

PlayWriting Australia will bring the National Play Festival to Melbourne for the first time with the Malthouse theatre to play host to five days of innovative new theatre from 22- 25 February 2012.

The fifth National Play Festival will showcase some of the best new playwriting talent in a curated season of performances, discussions and workshops drawing together industry professionals and the general public to celebrate the craft of theatre making.

Each year the festival is staged in a new location and is designed to inspire and celebrate the next slate of new theatre work.

The Showcase Season will see five new Australian plays cut their teeth in front of festival audiences. These are plays shortlisted from 160 submissions and will be developed, rehearsed and presented as part of the Showcase.

Selected plays are: Every Second by AWGIE Award winner Vanessa Bates ; The Sun and Other Stars by Nicki Bloom; Therese Raquin by Green Room Award winner Gary Abrahams; One Scientific Mystery by first time playwright Victoria Haralabidou; and Faces Look Ugly by multi-award winning Tom Holloway.

Next year the National Play Festival will also pay specific attention to international connections by investigating the ways that Australian playwrights and theatre companies can connect with global audiences and professionals.

As part of the international aspect of the programming, special guests will participate in public forums, view the Showcase plays and participate in closed industry sessions.

International guests are: Sebastian Born, Associate Director (Literary) at the National Theatre in London; Jason Loewith, Executive Director of the National New Play Network in the United States; Colin McColl Artistic Director, Auckland Theatre Company; Huzir Sulaiman Artistic Director Checkpoint Theatre in Singapore; and George Aza-Selinger, the Literary Manager at the National Theatre of Scotland.

The National Play Festival will also welcome two playwrights from the UK as part of an exchange with the National Theatre of Scotland. Lynda Radley and Morna Pearson will present a public reading of their plays as part of the Festival.

The full program will be announced on Tuesday 31 January 2012.Program and ticketing information will be available at www.nationalplayfestival.org.au

The Australia Council for the Arts has launched a Broadband Arts Initiative, where visionary arts projects enabled by the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be given funding of $300,000 and up to $100,000 for individual projects.

The aim of the initiative is to demonstrate the opportunities for Australian culture made possible by the implementation of the NBN, through providing artistic grants for artists.

“We want to uncover teams of artists who have the bold ideas, technical expertise and strong partnerships to create online cultural experiences and content with the NBN,” says Kathy Keele, CEO of the Australia Council.

Arts Minister Simon Crean has welcomed the initiative, and highlighted the importance of linking the creative industries with the potential offered by new technologies, such as the NBN.

“I have been a constant advocate and proponent for this potential, arguing that the NBN is the highway,” Mr Crean said.

“The creative industries are a key part of determining the vehicles that go on the highway. The access and applications are vital.

“This is a core principle of the National Cultural Policy discussion paper.”

The initiative stems from Australia Council’s ‘NBN Geeks in Residence’ which has helped raise awareness among artists and organisations, as to how art can be exhibited in a digital space.

“The NBN Geeks in Residence program has given us the first, hands-on experience of the possibilities for Australians to develop content and engage with art via the NBN,” says Ms Keele.

“Now, with the Broadband Arts Initiative, the Australia Council is encouraging ambitious arts proposals that are truly dependent on broadband infrastructure, particularly with its high-capacity bandwidth and ability to connect artists and audiences across regional, remote and metropolitan centres.”

Expressions of interest must be submitted before February 15th and funded projects will commence from May 1st 2012.

Further details can be found at the website.
 

An independent review of the Australia Council for the Arts will be undertaken leading up to the release of the first National Cultural Policy in Australia in almost two decades.

Arts Minister Simon Crean made the announcement today, saying that the Australia Council had a proud record of helping local artists develop and connect with national and international audiences.

"The new National Cultural Policy will set the framework for Australian Government support for the arts, culture and the creative industries for the next decade," he said.

"In line with the broader conversation about Australia's future cultural policy, we have an opportunity to look closely at what aspects of the current model can be improved.”

The National Cultural Policy has received a huge amount of media attention and community groups, artists and audiences have responded to the discussion.

Reviewing the Australia Council must be part of the response to the feedback on the policy, especially as the arts community responds to new technologies, audiences and ways of consuming and creating art.

The Council has faced criticism in recent years, with artists claiming it has lost touch with the digital age. Arts Journalist Ben Eltham wrote in Overland Spring 2010 edition that, “The Australia Council has lost its way... It has failed to meaningfully engage with the arts practices of everyday Australian artists and no longer enjoys the support of many of those who create art in this country. The time has arrived to seriously re-assess the role of the country’s chief cultural policy body.“

Mr Angus James, Principal Partner of Aquasia, and Ms Gabrielle Trainor, a company director and former lawyer, journalist and public sector executive, will review the Australia Council for the Arts and its links with other arts support organisations and agencies.

Mr Trainor and Ms James will work to assess the process to award grants to artists and will look at the areas identified by stakeholders where arts support needs to be reformed. Both have a broad significant experience in corporate change and governance both in the private and public sector.

"This is the first major review of the work of the Council and other agencies since the 1980s. The reviewers will consider the feedback and work closely with the Australia Council and its Executive and the outcomes of their independent review will be considered as part of the National Cultural Policy," said Mr Crean.

Minister Crean said a Reference Group would now provide expert advice on the development of the National Cultural Policy in 2012.
 

To our all wonderful friends in the Arts sector, It is with the greatest of excitement that we are able to share with you the most incredible news! 

On Friday, The Captioning Studio won the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2011 Human Rights Award for Business for contribution to the lives of people with a hearing loss.We still can’t quite believe it....  This was completely unexpected!

We are so grateful for this Award as it will help us to raise awareness of the fact that 4.5 million Australians do have a hearing loss and to educate about the value of captioning inclusion. 

Sincerely, we would like to say to you: it is all well and good that The Captioning Studio has a passion to bring access and inclusion for people with a hearing loss, but without your support and your commitment to make the Arts accessible, all we would have is our dream.   You are the ones who are making the dream a reality, and this is what we look forward to sharing with the media.

We are also absolutely thrilled to bits that the President of the World Federation of the Deaf has just publicly acknowledged our receiving of this award – this is an unprecedented acknowledgement from the world’s signing deaf community and means a great deal to us!

Our media release can be found at:http://captioningstudio.com/?p=1292