They had grown up only two suburbs apart, both commuted to the city for university and somehow Natalie and Thomas never crossed paths. With a distant appreciation for his work, in 2016, Natalie conducted an interview with artist, Thomas Quayle.
By 2030 every job will be affected by automation and globalisation, according to research about the New Work Order.
The arts sector, still painfully traditional in its administrative ways, is not immune. In order to provide relevant education and sustainable employment, the sector needs to have joined this conversation a long time ago. What’s stopping us? Read More
Over the last decade a new form of festival has been flooding cities and lighting up the faces of citizens. Pardon the cliche puns, but of course I am talking about events that use projections to temporarily activate urban landscapes. In these events surfaces that are passive, be it not for the history they represent, come alive under a mask of digitally rendered images. Read More
Stories, history and culture are embedded into everyone. But not everyone has had equal opportunity to share their stories. Power structures and dominant systems have seen people and their cultures spoken about, spoken for or worse, silenced. Read More
Fear of Missing Out, or FOMO, is rife in the arts. There is a lot of activity across greater Western Sydney and NSW, which means that getting to everything is just not humanly possible. I know because on more than one occasion I have tried. Read More
It has never been made public why ARTEXPRESS ceased touring to Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C) after the year 2000. The only evidence of the decision was its absence from the Friend’s Journal in subsequent years. The return of the exhibition, which exhibits major works from HSC visual arts students, has filled a critical gap in C-A-C’s program, where young people are given wall space once a year as a part of the Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize. Read More
Innovation is broadly defined as new ideas, methods or products. This is true in the arts, where it can also refer to new ways of seeing society, or methods of engaging with ideas and knowledge. Read More
For those who are yet to cross paths with Bilal, you might soon because his presence in Western Sydney and beyond is only going to increase. I first met Bilal when he was performing as a part of Night Sky at Bankstown Arts Centre in early 2017. He is eloquent with words, deliberate in his delivery and an all-round great human being doing youth work.
The Sydney Story Factory is opening up an office in Western Sydney and the Bankstown Poetry Slam regular is going to be the Storyteller in Chief. We took some time out to have a chat about his new role, turning passions into careers and the power of storytelling. Read More
Beyond Tick Boxes (2017). Image courtesy of Diversity Arts Australia. Photo by Chris Woe.
Paula Abood once said that ‘every system has cracks. You have to find the cracks and fill them. If you fill them with enough colour then that system falls.’ Read More
When she settled into her assigned seat last month, artist Shivanjani Lal knew she wouldn’t be returning to the family home in Lidcombe for at least another 12 months. She is off to India to pursue her Post Graduate Diploma and a project she has been working towards for the past three years. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Shivanjani before she left to talk about what the year ahead holds. Read More
The arts sector is not well equipped for the digital era. Read More
Attaining greater representation of culturally diverse practitioners in the arts has been a 30 year conversation. Research by the Australia Council for the Arts (AUSCO) demonstrates that the arts sector is less diverse than the rest of the Australian workforce. Only 8% of professional artists come from culturally diverse backgrounds. That’s rather embarrassing for a sector that promotes cultural inclusion and diversity. Read More
