Blue Mountains City Council continues its support of local artists and creative projects, announcing $62,520 in funding through its 2024 Blue Mountains City of the Arts Trust Grants Program.
This year's round will support five local artists and organisations: The Bowerbird Collective to present a musically-rich Lyrebird Festival; sculptor and ceramic artist Linda Seiffert for her project Entanglements of Earth; painter and printmaker Locust Jones to complete and present his Tokyo Katoomba Woodblock Print Series; Modern Art Projects Blue Mountains for a new site-specific project 5+5; Dharug Elder Chris Tobin for his project Terms of Occupation; Musician and sound artist Jerrah Patston to take his project Abandoned Cricket Game to a new level; and theatre-maker Kyle Walmsley for the development of a new stage work Admins please delete if not allowed.
Council's City of the Arts Grant Program offers individual artists, creative professionals and not-for-profit organisations grants of up to $10,000 to make our communities more expressive, vibrant, interesting, and creative.
The program's primary objective is to support and strengthen the arts and cultural fabric of the Blue Mountains by encouraging arts quality and innovation; strengthening the local arts sector; and engaging local communities and visitors in arts and cultural activities.
Blue Mountains Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill said, "We have seen a tremendous increase in the number of local creative projects over the past year, and the diversity and calibre of applications is a testament to the incredible range of people and organisations producing creative work across the Blue Mountains.
"The 2024 recipients represent everything from contemporary art and new music, to theatre, First Nations stories and vantage points, and artist-led projects that promote planetary health."
Jerrah Patston, a Springwood musician and songwriter has been awarded a $7,549 grant for his project Abandoned Cricket Games. Patston will utilise the funding to accept an offer from MONA-Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art-where he will record his next album in their prestigious Frying Pan Studios and offer a debut performance at the Hobart institution.
His project breaks new ground for neurodivergent artists, creates important new work from the Blue Mountains, and showcase his talents to visitors, festival producers, and a whole new audience.
Jerrah said: "It means so much to me to be able to share my music with some new people because it's a lot of fun, and I think they'll like the words and harmonies. I'm so excited to record my new album Abandoned Cricket Games in Tasmania and share my songs with people in a live show."
Modern Art Projects Blue Mountains President Alex Gooding said the organisation is excited to receive funding for its '5+5' project-and to be partnering with Blue Mountains City Council in reactivating the Wentworth Falls School of Arts building as a vibrant community-based cultural hub.
"The 5+5 project will combine the building's century-long history as a major multi-purpose cultural facility, together with our organisation's 10-year history of 35 contemporary art exhibitions and events and look both back and ahead," Gooding said.
"We will select five works from our previous exhibitions and commission five new works from our members that respond to our archive, as well as to the history of the building, and the underlying School of Arts movement.
"Modern Art Projects has considerable experience in activating and exhibiting in a variety of buildings from shops to houses, hotels and even churches-and we are really looking forward to working with the local community and Council in developing this exciting public art project."
Almost 30 funding applications were assessed by the City of the Arts Trust Advisory Committee in May. Projects are assessed on their merit against the assessment criteria, and applicants are supported in the process by Council's Cultural Development Team.
