11 creative endeavours have been successfully funded through the third round of the Arts North West Micro Grants program. The program was originally developed as a direct response to the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. Due to the overwhelming response from the New England North West creative community in 2020, Arts North West has made Micro Grant funding a part of their 2021 programming.
Designed to support the continuation of locally determined community arts and cultural practice in uncertain times, this funding aims to be as flexible as possible. Projects do not require a specific outcome but can focus on skills development or capacity-building. Arts North West recognises the recent hardships faced by the New England North West including drought, bushfire, mouse plague and COVID-19 and their effects on arts practice or arts businesses.
“We are still finding ourselves in very unusual times in the New England North West and we really understand the difficulties faced by the arts and cultural communities in our region” said Arts North West Executive Director, Caroline Downer. “Yet again, we are absolutely thrilled at the response to this initiative, with over 40 applications received which is a significant increase on last year. This goes to show that despite the current challenges faced by the sector, the arts and culture landscape in the New England North West is a very resilient one” Ms Downer continued.
The successful applicants are as follows:
1. Tania Hartigan, Wallabadah: Continue development of creating natural inks from native plants growing in this region.
2. Buluuy Mirrii, Tamworth: To prepare for the upcoming Fabrics of Multicultural Australia (FOMA) in 2021-2022 at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney.
3. Goldheist, Tamworth: Record a live acoustic EP of love songs.
4. Sophie Honess, Tamworth: To seek the services of A2 framing in Armidale for upcoming solo exhibition at Weswal Gallery, Tamworth.
5. Yulugi Marumali, Moree: To create dance tutorial videos that will include basic dance tips and terminology.
6. James O’Hanlon, Armidale: To buy supplies that will be used to prepare a series of entirely new artworks for exhibition.
7. Arushi Nayar, Gunnedah: Work on an artistic project about experiences of living on a farm.
8. Marianne la Cour, Glen Innes: To develop resources for future teaching.
9. Beattie Alvarez, Armidale: To write, illustrate and print a series of micro stories, based around the toys that I make.
10. Helena Pastor, Armidale: To cover the costs of an online writing course offered through Writing NSW and a new author photo.
11. Vicky Taylor, Kentucky: Hire a video producer to produce a 10-minute video of local contemporary lace makers.
For more information, contact Caroline Downer via rado@artsnw.com.au