The programme is printed on a single piece of folded card.

Inside: the full cast, crew and set list for “The 20’s and all that Jazz”; handwritten and signed thank-you notes to “Pat”; an unexpectedly deep reflective piece on a decade bookended by war on one side and a great depression on the other; and a list of forthcoming attractions for 1978, presented by the Victorian Arts Council.

As the Victorian Arts Council and now Regional Arts Victoria, we have been supporting performing arts on tour across the country for decades. Five decades, to be exact.

Though the aforementioned programme may lament “the tragedy of youth is that it cannot last forever,” our commitment to performing arts touring has remained strong throughout our advancing years.

As proof of our ongoing work, we are proud to present, for your reading pleasure, the latest roaring edition of the Regional Arts Victoria eNews.

Joe Toohey
CEO

“Spot Lines in Latitude”, Dale’s Album Cover, Reader Head Lookout, Cossack

PROGRAMMING

Sayonara, a sign of 'so long'

After 6 years, Touring Services Manager Dale Packard is sadly leaving Regional Arts Victoria on March 21. And we've only just found out he speaks fluent Japanese, and Auslan!

"It’s been an incredible experience managing the touring services program and getting to know all you lovely people. When I look back it’s a bit of a giddy blur consisting of 80-90 tours, 15 or so arts marketplaces and lots and lots of funding applications!

Thanks to all the artists and venues that have helped bring these projects together, creating a bit of magic for the audiences of regional Victoria. Also a big thanks to the staff at Regional Arts Victoria who have always been supportive, hard-working and just all-round good people" says Dale.

Dale Packard has spent a large part of his career touring the world with many of Australia’s most successful bands as a tour manager, sound engineer and musician. He is passionate about the performing arts, coordinating events around Australia and connecting artists with new audiences and opportunities.

We wish him well as he moves into a new role as General Manager for Music Victoria.

Touring Services

PAC Australia’s 33rd Conference and National Performing Arts Exchange (PAX) will be held on 26-27 August, 2019 on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, and applications to pitch open Monday 11 March.

“Whether it’s to buy work, find creative or presenting partners or build your network, this is the place to be” says PAC Australia.

Selfie by Dale Packard. “Spot Lines in Latitude”, Dale’s Album Cover, Reader Head Lookout, Cossack. PAX 2018.

More information about PAX

Check out What's Touring

Australian Children's Theatre Foundation Commission

PROGRAMMING

Meeting in mentorship

Connecting Placess mentorships are in place so incredible community presenters can meet, and share their knowledge and experience, with each other.

We are privileged to connect with these communities, and pleased to announce Bruthen Arts & Events Council (BAEC) and Tallarook Mechanics Institute as being successful in gaining 12 months of professional development, support and advice from leading Community Presenters, and independent strategists and project managers.

These mentorships have been created to share knowledge, experience and skills across our amazing network of volunteer-run arts organisations in regional Victoria. It aims to provide tailored support directly to committees in their particular areas of need.

We run these each year, EOIs will open towards the end of each year.

Talk with Rosie Dwyer
Connecting Places Manager
rdwyer@rav.net.au

#RAVOnTheRoad

Image courtesy of Bruthen Blues Fest 2015. Inside Bruthen Hall.

Speak with us

Trash Mountain by Trash Puppets, image by Ted Adair

PROGRAMMING

Don't fit the stereotype

Pippin shared her love for circus yesterday, as we were looking at the schools touring program. "The form doesn't discriminate," she says. "It's raw, exposing, and unforgiving. It's about the way we wish to speak from a stage". It is a form that has shaped her approach to the world today.

Through this lens, she regaled in the story of Kinko Klork (pictured above) a travelling vaudeville acrobat who uses traditional and contemporary circus acts to problem solve his way through the seemingly impossible. It's a performance touring throughout Term 2, across the state.

"Circus lends itself beautifully to complimentary artforms, and opens us to different ways we can incorporate narrative and impart values for those who may not respond well to traditional learning conventions," she muses back in her chair.

Involve yourself in a steampunk circus act blending traditional and contemporary circus with classic literature, ingenuity, and... your students.

Talk with Pippin Davies
Arts & Education Manager
pdavies@rav.net.au

#RAVOnTheRoad

Image courtesy of Joshua Phillips, Man in the Mail.

Meet Kinko Klork

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PARTNERSHIPS

Collaborating through pARTnerships

The Regional Arts Fund has a had a bumper round of applications and projects across Victoria, so far this year. Please be aware that Round 1 Community Grants close at 5pm on Monday 18 March.

We've seen the likes of The Nesting Project, and Beechworth Festival of Change connect, with collaboration in community being central to both projects. They are both funded by the Regional Arts Fund. Event details are listed below.

Arts Connect, our professional development series for artists, returns to the North East region in Whitfield for Creating and Community on Saturday 23 March. The day is host to panel discussions, presentations, and case studies offering a spectrum of practical advice in response to the needs identified by artists and leaders in the region. Join in conversation extending knowledge on building creative networks, managing volunteers, pricing artistic work, applying for funding, wellbeing and place-making.

We also look to our Creative Arts Facilitator partnership regions for events and opportunities arising, that reflect the communities from which they emerge. Harmony Day in Swan Hill is coming! Creative Gippsland's Come and Play in May 'Artist in Community' expressions of interest are open, and Skill Up! in Ballarat is on a roll. Our support in helping these events happen is a response to a thriving creative practice, and examples of our partnership at work.

The Regional Arts Fund is an Australian Government initiative supporting the arts in regional and remote Australia.

For more information about Partnerships, speak with
Liz Zito
Director of Partnerships
03 9644 1800
lzito@rav.net.au

Image by Leonie Van Eyk. 123 Years and counting, Pip conducting at the Goods Shed by Thompsons Foundry Band. Quick Response Grant 2017 recipient.

More about the Regional Arts Fund

PARTNERSHIPS

The happiest day of the year

Harmony Day started at Swan Hill in celebration of new migrants to the region. Ten years later, the event is committee run, and a third of town rocks up for the party! Community members say, "it's the happiest day of the year in Swan Hill". A highlight on the events calendar of Victoria's North West.

To develop events or grow your artistic practice in this region, speak with

Kim Bennett
Creative Arts Facilitator: Swan Hill
kbennett@rav.net.au
0438 920 653

Image by Amanda Gibson. Swan Hill Harmony Day.

Check out Harmony Day

PARTNERSHIPS

Creative play in Gippsland

... is literally about your wonderment. Because we see your passion, and we share your story. Within each shire of the Gippsland region is a community seeking to delve in and play, with an artist.

This is an opportunity for an artist - visual, performing, writing, dancing - to spend 10 - 14 days in a beautiful, small town, creating a piece of work in response to the environment, as an act of giving back to the host community.

Expressions of interest are now open, and close Sunday 24 March.

Image by Tim Dakin. The Tea Totaling Farmer by James Cattell, 2017. Artist in Residence, Boisdale.

Express your interest

Create what you want to see where you live

PARTNERSHIPS

Arts Connect is back, and in Whitfield Saturday 23 March 2019.

Featuring Alyce Fisher (Executive Director, Murray Arts), Susan Reid (Director, Arcadia Gallery, Beechworth), Troy Firebrace (Aboriginal artist and educator), Jemma Toohey (CEO, Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau), Arts Connect Whitfield: Creating and Community will galvanise regional creatives to build what they want to see where they live.

Image by Diana Domonkos. Artlands Club 2018.

Book in for Arts Connect Whitfield: Creating and Community

COMING SOON Arts Connect Dookie: Connection and Momentum

#RAVontheRoad

PROGRAMMING

Australian Booty by Black Honey Productions
7 – 29 March
Australian Booty is a show about learning how to love yourself

By a Thread by One Fell Swoop Circus
20 March – 18 April
Seven acrobats and 30 metres of rope…

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra
27 – 29 April
Music brimming with inspiration, magic and discovery

Mission Songs Project by Jessie Lloyd Music
22 March – 12 July
The Mission Songs Project faithfully explores the musical journey of Indigenous music

Picasso and His Dog by Lemony S Puppet Theatre
27 March – 13 April
Picasso and His Dog - for anyone who’s ever patted a dog or been moved by an artwork.

Image courtesy of Candy Bowers. Australian Booty by Black Honey Productions, 2018.