Brave New Works
Act-Belong-Commit Brave New Works#17
Meet the BNW#17, Bridges team
Coordinator Jo Smith
Marketing Libby Corson
Finance Oona Mansour
Volunteer Coordinator Teresa Thornell
Program Design/Documentation Nic Duncan
Poster Artwork Nikki Green
Bar Manager Tracey Lousada
This years Brave New Works Festival was building BRIDGES
Brave New Works # 17 Festival Program
read about this year's guest artists
Festival Sponsors
Healthway Act Belong Commit, Lotterywest, Water Corporation, Shire of Denmark, Department of Culture and the Arts, CANWA Catalyst Fund, Sydney Myer Fund, Centre for Sustainable Living, Spot Newsagency, Denmark Bulletin, Thornton's Hardware, Moombaki Wines
BNW#17 Projects:
North of Us
Coordinated by sculptor Tony Docherty, this is an art trip to the Wheatbelt town of Lake Grace with 9 other professional artists from Denmark (working in writing, music, and visual arts). They will be engaged in discussions with and visits to the town from October 2009 – March 2010, and then live in the small community for a week in mid March. During the week-long residency they will respond to what they see and understand of the community through their various art forms. This project is an extension of the highly successful project ‘East of Us’ (which occurred in Ravensthorpe) at the 2009 BNW#16 festival. This project is seen as a way of bridging between isolated communities.
Participating Artists
Tony Docherty - Sulpture
Robyn Lees - Ceramics, Sculpture
Gaby Gehlhaar - Mosaic, Sculpture
Nikki Green - Visual Artist, Printmaking
Adam Currie - Musician
Jude Iddison - Musician
Tony King - Musician
Mark Cresp - Musician
Nic Duncan - Photographer
Virginia Jealous - Writer
Graham Kershaw - Writer, Poet
The North of Us Exhibition will be shown at Vancouver Arts Centre
The North of Us residency was supported by the Department of Culture and the Arts
The Kwoorabup Art Walk
A new art walk is being opened as a joint project between Denmark Arts, the Shire of Denmark, local community groups and the Department of Indigenous Affairs. The Kwoorabup Walk Trail is envisaged as an ongoing living, ever-changing site-specific art trail.
This year’s festival was engaging Artist-in Resident Alison Clouston from the Burragorang Valley in NSW, to create a work that is ephemeral, working with site-specific principles, and aiming towards being carbon neutral. The local community was invited to meet with Alison during her stay. Local artists were invited to create their own art work on the trail during the period leading into the festival.
At an indigenous woman's workshop facilitated by indgenous artist Norma MacDonald 5 indigenous women created several artworks along the Kwoorabup Art Walk.
The community forum, River Stories¸ took place on Saturday March 20th at the Centre for Sustainable Living and provided an opportunity to meet the artist, hear about the project and about site specific ephemeral art, as well as hearing local river stories from Indigenous, historical and environmental perspectives.
Project Coordinator: Vivienne Robertson vivienne@denmarkarts.com.au
Participating Artists:
local: Andy Ducker, Janine McCrum, Trisha Powell
Indigenous: Norma MacDonald, Kim Marsden, Glenda Williams, Patricia House, Sharyn Egan
Our Secret River
Dive into ‘Our Secret River’. Let ripples of poetry, story, dance, installation art and music wash over you and take you on a journey into this land.
A large cast of local and indigenous performers from the Denmark community and the wider region have created a compelling experience that explores our personal histories of connection and disconnection between our indigenous and non-indigenous cultures and the land.
*This project is the first of a two year project. The performance shown at BNW#17 will be seen as a work in progress. Following this the project will continue it’s exploration and will be completed and shown at BNW#18 in 2011.
Creative Team:
- Director/Choreographer: Annette Carmichael
- Noongar Leader and Choreographer: Joe Williams
- Dramaturge & Theatre Director: Silvia Lehmann
- Writing Co-ordinator: Nicola Le Breton
- Installation Artist: Andre Steyl
- Indigenous Dance Consultant: Justina Truscott
- Sound Making Workshop Facilitator: Jonathan Mustard
Street Theatre
Peripatetic comedy duo Cocoloco ,Trevor Stuart and Helen Statman,were working with a group of local performers.These experienced performers specialise in roaming performance and site specific work. They were seen around Denmark over the Easter weekend, with their hilarious and sometimes controversial antics.
Cocoloco:
Helen Statman & Trevor Stuart
Local Performers
Liz Jack,
Don Anderson,
Kate Gillett,
Gareth Anderson,
Laura Rice,
Declan Brown,
Deb Edmondson
Building Bridges
Local visual and community artist Andy Ducker has developed and coordinated this project.
9 community groups and individuals have created and decorated bridges, which have been placed around Denmark over the Easter weekend.
The project has been supported by Thornton's Hardware.
The followong groups and individuals have contributed to this project:
CWA, Palmerston Association, Historical Society, Golden Hill Steiner School, Denmark Scouts,Hedge Bandits Junk Collective, Bob Grettin, Teresa Thornell , Andy Ducker
Opening & Closing celebration
The festival Opening and Closing ceremonies marked an Easter crossing from places of longing to places of fullness. Following a Noongar Welcome to Country, local musicians from the Quiet Longings project took participants on a contemplative journey marking the Sanctuary in the Community Park as a place of vigil. The Sanctuary remained open over the festival weekend for people to spend time in reflection and create a bridge of prayer flags which marked the entryto the Kwoorabup Art Walk. The Flags wrer collected during the celebratory closing ceremony, and released in fire.
Coordinator: Alison Kershaw, Susan Clarke
Quiet Longings
Local Singer/songwriter Susan Clarke has developed this project as a way of encouraging and helping new and emerging songwriters through a mentor programme between professional and emergent musicians. The project aims to encourage participants to work with other art forms, provide a creative opportunity for experienced songwriters, to reach out to songwriters hiding in their bedrooms/home /recording studios, to include a wide variety of musical genres, to have fun and build on the growing song creation in this town.
Musicians:
Liz Jack, Laura Rice, Terry MacKintosh, Katie White, Tony King, Craig Sinclaire, Sue Cunningham, Bridget Morrigan, Avril Steyl, Jude Iddison
Denmark’s Art and Craft Market
This legendary Market, located in Berridge Park, gathered together the region’s artisans and performers in a village atmosphere on the banks of the Denmark River. There were over 100 stalls of art and craft and food with a program of performances presented free to the public. The Kid's tent was a winner, with facepainting and craftactivities happening all day. Cocoloco and crew were roaming through the markets.
Market Coordinator: Anna Steyl
Entertainment Coordinator: Katie White
Gondwana Youth Arts Project: Puppet Making
In the afternoon the Puppets made by Denmark High school kids were parading through the crowds. This Puppet making project was part of the ongoing Gondwana Youth Arts Project, which aims to engage young people and raise awareness of our environment, the cultural and indigenous background of the region.
Project Coordinator: Nikki Green
Puppet Workshops: Karen Hethey
Festival Finale
The Festval Finale presented some of the hihlights of the weekend as well as some brave and new performances.
Excerpts of the Secret River Performance, video, poetry and musc form the North Of Us Project and the Best of the Festival Longe were performed on the night.
Cocoloco's outstanding comedy pieces, Alice & Alice and Snack Attack had the audience captivated.
Also part of the variety performances were two dance pieces I lost my Heart and Under the Bridge chreographed by Symantha Parr in collaboration with 6 local dancers.
The Choir for Gaia directed by Lumari McGuiness warmed our hearts with a soulful and rhythmic ovation to Mother Earth, while the Ukulele Brother made fun of some of Denmarks highly contoversial topincs.
Artistic Director: Cathy Fotios
The Festival Lounge
Terry MacKintosh – producer of Transmission Café, a monthly open mic evening – will create an intimate and inviting environment, with food and beverages available, at the CWA Hall. This will be an opportunity for festival participants and audience to kick on into the evenings of Friday and Saturday and purge their creative demons. This will be a safe environment where any locals can come and share. Over the two nights there will be a mix of programmed and open mic slots.
Mix and mingle with some of the artists, participants, residents and visitors at the CWA Hall Friday 2 April and Saturday 3 April from 7pm.
