CARCLEW
carclew.com.au

National Youth Arts Sector Summit – Friday 6 October 2017
Carclew has a 44-year history of providing young South Australians with everything from their first creative experiences through to nurturing the launch and development of their careers. We are South Australia’s lead multi-art form and cultural organisation dedicated to artistic outcomes by and for people aged 26 and under and we are advocates for youth arts practice with a long history of using the arts as means of community development and social change.

Carclew hosted the first sector-run national meeting for a number of years on Friday 6 October 2017. The National Youth Arts Summit: Future Proofing Youth Arts theme and content were developed through consultation and a review of two previous gatherings initiated by the Australia Council to invigorate and connect the sector.

The NYAS attracted 111 delegates from across Australia with a variety of art practices. Energetic provocations from youth arts leaders followed a keynote from the South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People.

Themes for the summit and the provocateurs:
Future Proofing – how do we articulate the social health and educational benefits of youth arts engagement? Fraser Corfield – Artistic Director, Australian Theatre for Young People
Trailblazers – spotlight on the nexus of social enterprise & arts practice. Sara Strachan – Working Group Leader: Arts Front Under 30s National Summit, 2018; Leigh Boswell – General Manager, The Young Company
Collaborations – what is a successful collaboration? Lee-Ann Tjunypa Buckskin – Deputy Chair, Australia Council Board
ATSI processes & perspectives – what are the new directions and understandings. Alethea Beetson – Artistic Director, Digi Youth Arts; Lilla Berry - Project Officer - Arts Programs, Carclew
Critical Questions and wrap-up of the provocations. Kate Gould - Digital entrepreneur and arts consultant (MONA, Dark MOFO)

Notes from the theme workshops and a survey will come out in the next week or so. The feedback will help the sector plan where to from here: A youth arts policy? A working group? Another summit? An advocacy plan? There are still plenty of conversations to be had, but the 2017 NYAS has moved those conversations along just a little.

Capacity Building Grants for youth arts sustainability
A further change to our funding programs saw the establishment of the first round of the new Capacity Building Grant, open to arts organisations with a focus on children and young people designed to support the arts business development rather than the arts programming of these small organisations. The grants will support more sustainable business practices for these organisations that are the heart of the youth arts sector. With the program designed and promoted during the year, 2018 grants will be awarded before the end of 2017.

Education collaborations in SA
The Department of Education and Child Development and Carclew have signed an agreement for over $600 000 for three and a half years to develop and deliver a professional learning program in the arts curriculum for primary school teachers. The focus of this work is to build the capacity of dozens of teachers to increase their confidence and skills through working closely with artists to teach the arts. The results will be arts rich classrooms for better learning outcomes for more children.

Carclew has won a grant of $88,200 from Perpetual to fund a significant pilot program of collaborative music education in primary schools by some of South Australia’s leading music organisations and presenters. Our partners include the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Musica Viva in Schools, Adelaide Youth Orchestras, Northern Sound System, the Adelaide Festival Centre and more. The pilot will be completed in 2018.

TRUE NORTH
www.truenorthyouththeatreensemble.com.au 

The northern suburbs of Adelaide have long lacked opportunities for young people to be exposed and trained in the practice of theatrical Arts. True North is a youth theatre ensemble that engages youth people aged 8-23. It is led by award winning Director Alirio Zavarce. 

True North has recently been supported by the City of Marion to start a new exciting chapter: "True North Marion.” 20 scholarships valued at $800 each will be offered to young people aged 13 to 17 residing in the City of Marion to attend weekly workshops at the Marion Cultural Centre Marion

We are currently developing a new initiative: True North Pathways – a youth led group that uses theatre to bring light in social issues and use theatre for change. This is a pilot program that will see the most senior and skilled members of True North using their skills and resources through the first of its kind leadership program reaching young people from 17-23. True North provides a scholarship program in Elizabeth with Anglicare SA Community for Children’s Plus and the Senior True North Ensemble in Klemzig.

“Theatre as a vehicle for social change is hardly a new concept, but what this group does is truly impressive, inasmuch as they engage the audience while delivering theatre of a really high standard, delivering their vital message in such a way as to encourage the audience to confront vile, cruel behaviour when they see it.” Advertiser review of EBully at the DreamBIG Children’s Festival May 2017 

CIRKIDZ
www.cirkidz.org.au    

The South Australian Circus Centre is a not-for-profit, fully equipped, state of the art circus school located in Bowden, SA. The school runs weekly circus arts classes for children aged from 2.5 years up to adults aged 80! Whether you want to improve your child's confidence and coordination in a non-competitive environment or improve your own strength and conditioning through mastering the art of aerial trapeze, there is a class that will suit your age and skill level.

Highlights of the last few months include The Boat presentation at Her Majesty’s Theatre as part of Adelaide Festival Centre’s Something on Saturdays program. It was a scaffolded artistic conversation between professional artists and young performance program artists. Working more independently, young emerging companies Kinetic Noise and Time in Space held seasons at The Circus Centre for Adelaide Cabaret Fringe and Perth Agricultural show.

Ongoing Programs include regular circus school development, Playford International College transitions program,  Kurruru Youth Arts Nungga Circus Program, Occupational Therapy community practices, and regular school holiday circus adventures!  Come and check out our space!

RIVERLAND YOUTH ARTS 
http://www.ryt.org.au/ 

Aug – Oct
This year, for the first time, we decided to do a Medieval Night fundraising event. We laughed through the night of eating, dancing and jousting, culminating in some karaoke craziness. We are saying ‘see you soon’ to one of our projects, Postcards From the Riverlands. After many postcards were shared between Outback Theatre for Young People and RYT, we drew the first year of Postcards from the Riverlands to a close last week with an installation exhibition of some of the postcards from NSW, some from our participants in the Riverland, and we screened a documentary of the process. This took life at the Riverland Field Days and was taken in by the crowds that gathered across the two days. 

Another of our big projects, Pathways 2 Performance took flight at Riverland Field Days with a performance art piece called Garden Fairies. The performers are currently working on development of the piece to be performed in one of the open gardens during the Renmark Rose Festival in October. 

RYT is also abuzz with very early Christmas cheer as we kicked off rehearsals for our end of year community offering of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. With a cast of 37, there is never a dull moment in the rehearsal room. Next term, we will be kicking off a new series of Hip Hop and cultural dance workshops for Nunga Rhythms: Set in Motion. This project is continuing on to a major performance later in the year.

SLINGSBY: Journey Into Wonder
www.slingsby.net.au

It has been a huge few months for Slingsby! In July we opened our 2017 World Premiere production of Emil and the Detectives in Adelaide. Once again we reactivated disused retail space at Level 5, Myer Centre and built an immersive world including pre-and post-show experiences. We were thrilled with the audience and critics’ responses and the show will tour in 2018.

On September 9th Slingsby celebrated its 10th Birthday with a concert of music composed for our productions by Quincy Grant. More than 200 people enjoyed a 10-piece orchestra, choir and soloists in the atmospheric Queen’s Theatre, Adelaide. 

On September 25th Slingsby, in partnership with Ding Productions, directed and produced the Opening Ceremony for the International Astronautical Congress at Adelaide Convention Centre.  

We also secured a $100,000 Australia Council Project Grant to develop a new music-based theatre production with the working title Songs For Those Who’ve Come Across The Seas, to premiere in June 2018. The funding also supports the Oct/Nov 2018 Ireland and UK Tour of The Young King. As we write, we’re about to tour The Young King to New York and the Sydney Opera House in October and November!

WINDMILL
www.windmill.org.au 

It has been a busy few months at Windmill Theatre Co. In August Windmill premiered Beep, a new work for early childhood audiences, by the creative team behind the award-winning Grug and Grug and the Rainbow. 

Following the premiere of Beep, Windmill launched its 2018 program. It includes the return of Grug and the Rainbow to Adelaide in April 2018 as well as two new works. First up, Baba Yaga, co-created by Christine Johnson, Rosemary Myers and Shona Reppe, co-commissioned by Windmill and Imaginate, will premiere at the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival in Scotland in May 2018. Secondly, Amphibian written by Duncan Graham and directed by Sasha Zahra will premiere in Adelaide in September 2018. 

Windmill also announced the establishment of Windmill Pictures, an arm of the company dedicated to developing screen works from Windmill’s live theatrical repertoire, and Screen Australia story development funding for a second feature film, School Dance. 

Also in August, The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk toured across Victoria and was supported Regional Arts Victoria. In October 2017 Windmill’s much-loved work for children and families, Big Bad Wolf, returns to Adelaide for the first time since 2013.

ATYP
www.atyp.com.au 

Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is the national youth theatre company based at The Wharf in Sydney. For a full list of activities please check out the ATYP website or e-news. Projects delivered this quarter include:

The Fresh Ink national mentoring program for emerging professional playwrights ran this year in Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin (in partnership with Browns Mart) and Perth (in partnership with Barking Gecko). During November the programs will culminate in 30 minute rehearsed play readings in each of these cities. The readings bring to an end eight months of professional development facilitated by Ross Mueller (Melbourne), Will O’Mahony (Perth), Mary Ann Butler (Darwin), Jennifer Medway and Jane FitzGerald (Sydney). 

Wonder Fly by Nick Atkins, winner of the 2016 ATYP Foundation Commission for 10 -13 year old actors, will be performed from November 8 - 18 in ATYP’s Studio 1 at The Wharf and live-streamed to a national audience on November 15 at 1pm AEDT. Wonder Fly is a coming-of-age hero’s quest. The only problem is no one’s sure who the hero is supposed to be. Set in Sydney-slash-Gotham City, the play leaps out of the world of a comic book. People are isolated, and evil preys on the spaces in between. There are bright lights and dark alleyways, just the way the Red Wasp intended. The script is published by Queensland’s Playlab, and can be performed by schools and youth theatres around the country.

Rose Byrne and Rebel Wilson Scholarships call for applications from emerging professional artists aged 18- 26 will open 30 October 2017 and close 29 January 2018. These unique professional development opportunities offer twelve months mentorship by ATYP, $10,000 cash to support your artistic practice and culminate in a trip to LA to present your work at the Australian Theatre Company and attend the G’day USA Gala dinner. Check out the website for more details.

MONKEY BAA THEATRE COMPANY
www.monkeybaa.com.au 

Monkey Baa is about to undertake our fourth international tour, with The Unknown Soldier touring to 10 venues across five states in the USA. Written by Sandra Eldridge, The Unknown Soldier will star Sandra Eldridge and Felix Johnson.

Auditions with Director Jonathan Biggins and Composer/Lyricist Phil Scott are underway for our cast for Josephine Wants To Dance, written by Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge and Tim McGarry. Josephine will tour to 46 venues in 2018.

Our 2016 tour of The Peasant Prince received the Tour of the Year Drover Award, with our touring coordinator Arts On Tour NSW.

Diary of a Wombat is currently in Queensland, before travelling onto Darwin and Alice Springs and then five venues in WA, before it finishes on 8 November. The tour will have seen Mothball visit 59 venues throughout Australia. Diary of a Wombat has been invited to Showcase at IPAY 2018 in Philadelphia in January.

POWERHOUSE YOUTH THEATRE
http://pyt.com.au 

PYT in Fairfield has been busy, we have been touring works and preparing for 2018 with several new developments happening between Sept- Nov 2017.

Artistic Director Karen Therese has been selected as a speaker at the Regional Conference Art State on December 1 in Lismore to talk about our work Pagoda Parkour presented through collaboration with Cementa Festival in Regional NSW.

Pagoda Parkour placed young Western Sydney artists in a remote Australian bushland. This exceptional work layered and adapted urban street dance to the unique pagoda rock formations in the Wollemi National Park. Directed by Karen Therese, Choreographed by Victoria Hunt performed by the Dauntless Movement Crew and local Botanist Dominic Del Librere.

In September PYT in partnership with Force Majeure  toured our Helpmann and Australian Dance Award production ‘Jump First Ask Later’ to Griffith Theatre in regional NSW for performances and workshops with young people.

PYT | Fairfield is currently in-development for three new works being presented in 2018-19.

ENFLAME: PYT I Fairfield in collaboration with Branch Nebula
Branch Nebula have been in the studio working with four members of the PYT Ensemble to create ENFLAME; a fluid, guerrilla interventionist performance work, that is about the visibility & inclusion of young people in the arts, particularly children of immigrants in an Australia where migration is a highly charged and contested issue.

TANTRUM THEATRE 
www.tantrum.org.au

HOME
Created by Janie Gibson and the Tantrum Trajectory Ensemble. Presented by Tantrum Youth Arts in collaboration with PACT.
What happens if the place you call home vanishes beneath your feet? The world you once knew, now gone. “Home” is unfamiliar, strange. In an intimate performance, Tantrum’s Trajectory Ensemble weaves a sea of stories from original poetry, found texts, songs, myths and music in a personal exploration of what it means to feel at home: in the world, in your country, in your suburb, in yourself.
Sydney Season @ PACT, Erskineville: 4-7 October
Newcastle Season @ The Playhouse, Civic Theatre, Newcastle: 11-14th October

The Tantrum Trajectory Ensemble is an annual program of professional development for emerging artists interested in process-driven performance making. Each year the ensemble works with a professional artist to create and present a daring, brand new contemporary performance work.

TRAJECTORY – TRIPLE BILL
Created by Tantrum’s Trajectory Residency Artists; Stephanie Rochet, Alex Travers, Allison Van Gaal, presented by Crack Theatre Festival as part of THIS IS NOT ART.

Stephanie Rochet’s AMOR is a love story about two Chileans separated by 13,000km. They use the world of technology and instantaneity to make their long distance relationship work. In Alex Travers’ Sleep, Perchance to Dream, Ophelia loves a man driven mad. As she sleeps, an alternate landscape filled with desire, child's play and revealing vignettes come to life. Welcome by Allison Van Gaal is about a boy in a world that doesn't accept difference. A complex mind searching for connection with people, patterns and community. Who needs to shift? Him? Or us?

Watt Space Gallery, 20 Auckland St, Newcastle
Sat 30 Sept & Sunday 1 Oct

The Trajectory Residency provides space, time and mentorship to Newcastle’s most exciting emerging artists to develop new work. 

ZEAL THEATRE
www.zealtheatre.com.au

Zeal has enjoyed a bumper year touring five plays in repertoire including new show Role Model featuring young indigenous actor/singer Kyle Shilling. Zeal director Stefo Nantsou has also collaborated with two youth organizations in Sydney to make Surprise Party (with Youth Zone in Hurstville which played a season in April) and To Be Honest (with Bankstown Youth Off The Streets which played a season at Bankstown Arts Centre in September). Zeal hits the road again in Term 4 with tours to regional and metropolitan high schools in Victoria and NSW. 

BYRON YOUTH THEATRE
www.byronyouththeatre.com 

Byron Youth Theatre, established in 2010, is a social action youth theatre company auspiced by Byron Youth Service and Byron Bay Community Association. With funding from a range of organisations, they have been devising original works on a variety of prominent youth issues, which they tour to local high schools as well as conferences and public events in Northern NSW. 

Currently they are creating a new production on the complex issues of youth suicide prevention. After a period of research, interviewing and surveying local young people, health and education organisations combined with a series of facilitated sessions with Director Lisa Apostolides, the Company are now script writing. This will be workshopped in October and performances will commence in late November. 

Also in October BYT will be presenting Mind Made Me, which was created in 2013. This production exposes the challenges of a range of mental health issues and illnesses. Mind Made Me is one of BYT’s longstanding productions. It was performed to high school students and Byron Bay community from 2013-2015, and for the past three years it has been a featured part of Richmond Valley Mental Health Expo held annually in Lismore. Performances this year are October 20 at Lismore City Hall and October 25 The Drill Hall Theatre, Mullumbimby. 

For some light relief BYT are joining The Uncle Project and Byron Youth Service for this year’s Byron Quest. Cast members will be playing a range of Street Theatre characters providing challenges and tests for participants in this all age scavenger hunt in Byron Bay, October 14. 

Over the next few months BYT members will also be filming interviews with local young people about the effects of growing up in a tourist destination for a project funded by Byron Council. 

OUTBACK THEATRE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (OTYP)
www.outbacktheatre.com 

Since 1989, Outback Theatre for Young People has been developing and refining our model in the context of our region; small, rural communities spread out across vast plains of bush and agriculture with limited services and little or no arts infrastructure. We deliver intensive resident engagements producing substantial performing arts works directly from the stories, concerns, frustrations, joys and aspirations of the Riverina people. 

OTYP has a 27-year history of engaging with small communities and leaving a lasting impact. Currently our jurisdiction covers over 30,000 square kilometres in South West NSW. We are fiercely regional; proud of the people we live and work with, and committed to sharing their stories with their communities, and wider Australia. 

This year we have spread our wings into four other remote communities (Lake Cargelligo, Wilcannia, Walgett and Gunnedah) with support from Create NSW Regional Partnerships, in order to strengthen rural collaborations and adopt more sustainable arts opportunities for young people in regional Australia. We have also commenced a project in partnership with Riverland Youth Theatre in Renmark, SA to connect two groups of remote young people in a theatre making project, premiered a new verbatim work (Folk Song by playwright Julian Larnach) to the communities of the Berrigan Shire after 18 months in development in the region, and we are looking forward to working with International Touring artists One Step at a Time Like This in Deniliquin later in the year on our final project for 2017, While You Were Sleeping. 

SHOPFRONT
http://shopfront.org.au 

Shopfront is a multi art-form creative co-operative that engages diverse young people and emerging artists, 8-26 years, through the power of their own creativity, curiosity, opinions and experiences; amplifying their voices and championing their visions for the future.

Artslab
The Artslab Program, now in its eleventh year, supports emerging artists to develop new work in a supported environment. Each artist is paired with a mentor from the industry, in their chosen field of practice, and will develop new work to show as part of our season. Currently the four groups of artists involved are preparing for an industry showing of these works before a full presentation season in February 2018.

Open Shop
Open Shop is Shopfront’s new creative development program. It supports artists to create new work through the provision of rehearsal space, basic marketing and technical support. The program offers a one-month space residency for creative development for independent emerging artists or emerging artist collectives - providing a dedicated space and time to really dig into an idea. For those projects and artists who don’t fit the brief for a one-month residency, we are also offering a responsive program, providing ad-hoc space for all independent artists, regardless of age.

St George Metre Squared Festival
St George Metre Squared is an interactive art festival celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of St George. Discover the stories of people from all over the world who have made St George home. Learn about our Aboriginal culture – past and present. Participate in pop-up activities, roam around interactive art exhibitions, watch short films in the Shopfront Cinema and taste food from across the globe. Each day, SGM2 will finish with an explosive performance night of local music and talent. Created and powered by 150 young people, and featuring experiences for people of all ages, SGM2 is a journey of art exploration through this often-overlooked corner of Sydney.

Un (Talented)
Our Junior Ensemble (12–15) are preparing to present their new work Un(Talented). It’s part talent show, part award ceremony, part performance spectacular! Welcome to a world judged by Shopfront’s Junior Ensemble where prowess, skills and talents that you didn’t even know existed share the limelight. Dazzle at exhibitions of skill ranging from water chugging contests to the reciting of Shakespearean sonnets, giving both adult audiences and members of Junior Ensemble a chance to flaunt their best.  This is a marathon dance eisteddfod turned on its head where, for once, the kids rule all. Who will be crowned with Shopfront Junior Ensembles much sought after “best audience member” award? Find out at Un(Talented) 2017.

Playwave
Alongside the Sydney Festival launch this month, Shopfront will launch Playwave – an initiative created by Shopfront in partnership with the City of Sydney. Playwave is an experimental space creating connections between Young People and the Arts, through immersive online and curated in real life experiences.

Playwave is a membership platform for Young People offering them unprecedented access to discounted tickets, exclusive events, original content and more sweet features. Playwave is produced and led by the Voice of Shopfront Youth Council and our Young Leader who works on Shopfront staff. Aged 15 – 19? Join us and discover the best experiences that Sydney has to offer – live and in real time. Playwave is art. But different.

POLYGLOT THEATRE
www.polyglot.org.au

Polyglot has been busy with an exciting combination of international touring, Melbourne performances and long-term community projects. 

In August, we had simultaneous tours in the USA, South Korea and China. In September, Paper Planet was presented at the National Gallery Singapore for its inaugural Children’s Biennale, and Boats sailed into the Esplanade for its international premiere. October saw We Built This City constructed in China for the first time, at the Shanghai Interactive Festival of Theatre. First On The Ladder (our three-year art-meets-sport collaboration with Aboriginal sports clubs) kicked its final goals for 2017. 5678 Film Club was celebrated at St Joseph’s Primary School’s event ‘Collywood’, our final Mahogany Rise Primary School residency (from a 7 year relationship) came to a close with Altogether and school workshops rolled out across Victoria. In November we’re embarking on the final stage of In Your Hands, a collaboration with Tjanpi Desert Weavers and FORM in Perth. 

And while Ants delighted at Melbourne Museum during the winter and spring school holidays, Polyglot presented at the 2017 APACA conference and Australian Theatre Forum, and attended the Australia-Singapore Cultural Leaders Forum.

WESTERN EDGE YOUTH ARTS 
http://westernedge.org.au

Six Hours in Geelong – Created and performed by the Geelong Edge Ensemble. Presented by Western Edge Youth Arts. A story of loss, loathing, love, and racism. A fast and funny musical ride, through a cultural kaleidoscope, into the soul of a changing city. A true story about a group of young people, who witness an Islamophobic incident on the Melbourne to Geelong train which leads them to question their identity, friendships and sense of belonging.

The Geelong Edge Ensemble are a company of emerging artists from Middle Eastern, Pacifika and African backgrounds, who draw on personal experience to create theatre that fearlessly examines the complex cultural landscapes they inhabit. Six Hours in Geelong features rap, spoken word, original score and multimedia elements and contemporary and traditional dance and song from a range of cultures and subcultures thriving in Geelong.

Showing at Geelong Performing Arts Centre 1.00pm & 7.00pm Friday 27 October
Bookings via www.gpac.org.au or call Box Office on 03 5225 1200
Six Hours in Geelong facebook event

Six Hours In Geelong Interactive - The Geelong Edge Ensemble have been touring Six Hours In Geelong Interactive to schools in the Geelong region. The interactive involves students in sophisticated discussions around racism. 

Western Edge Youth Arts School Residency Programs – WEYA teaching artists have recently concluded twenty week programs at Wittington Primary School, Victoria University Secondary Collage and North Geelong Secondary Collage with performances of original works, devised with the students. 

Western Edge Youth Arts Open Access Programs – Participants in WEYA’s open access programs in Footscray and Werribee have recently created original new works At First Glance and In The Light of Day, presented as part of the Due West Festival.

ST MARTINS 
https://stmartinsyouth.com.au

For The Ones Who Walk Away
27 September – 1 October (Melbourne Fringe Festival)
‘My utopia has no ground, everything is just sky... ’
What would make you abandon immeasurable happiness for a world that promises nothing? From the company that brought you The Bacchae and Gonzo, this new performance installation takes over SITEWORKS, Brunswick, and invites audiences to roam its many rooms in search of the traces of the ones who walked away.

Genius
Abbotsford Convent, 9 -  12 November
Genius is a performance event led by neuro-diverse young people. It's an opportunity to walk into the minds of six unique thinkers & reframe perceptions of the world around you. 

Through a series of six unique offerings which have been created by the Geniuses on their own terms, you will have the invitation to walk inside a collection of dynamic worlds which include a Satirical Art Gallery, a Linguistics Laboratory, an Endangered Australian Animals tour and a Royal Families of the world Rock Concert. 

Genius appeals to those curious about the world & the ways in which we exist. That’s the beauty of a spectrum, we’re all on it somewhere & it’s about finding points where we all intersect. 

WESTSIDE CIRCUS 
westsidecircus.org.au

UNCOVERING NATIONAL TREASURES
National Treasures is a collaborative research project, youth exchange, creative development, and a platform for future international opportunities. It was developed by partners from the UK, Sweden, Brazil and Australia, working in formal, non-formal and informal education, who assist young people struggling to function in mainstream education.

The project brings together six young people from each country for two one week-long youth exchanges, one in Melbourne, November 11–19, 2017 and one in York, UK. March 24–31, 2018. The exchanges will use play, led by the young participants, to explore and combine different interests and ideas, and begin development of a theatre piece that combines sport, theatre and circus. A creative development showing will be offered in Melbourne in Nov 2017.

AWESOME ARTS
www.awesomearts.com ​

The 2017 AWESOME Festival took place in Perth from 30 September to 13 October for children aged 0 – 12 and their families. For the first time, the AWESOME Festival opened with two amazing shows, Bambert’s Book of Lost Stories by Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Slapdash Galaxy by Bunk Puppets at the University of Western Australia on Saturday 30 September and Sunday 1 October. The Perth Cultural Centre was buzzing with international acts, amazing shows, creative workshops, circus, music, exhibitions and hands-on activities. AWESOME was also host for the international launch of Dame Lynley Dodd’s new book Scarface: Claw Hold Tight! with an accompanying exhibition, The Life and Times of Scarface Claw, at the State Library of Western Australia. For more information about the AWESOME Festival, or to download a copy of the 2017 program, please visit awesomearts.com

MAYBE (  ) TOGETHER
www.maybetogether.com.au 

Maybe (  ) Together had a busy first half of the year premiering Small Voices Louder at Perth International Arts Festival followed by a regional south west WA tour, Dear Hope Street for City of Stirling, aMoment Caravan in Mandurah and the yellow megaphones at the Social Impact Festival. We are very lucky to be working with Performing Lines WA who support in many magical ways but especially touring. We will be seeding a new work towards the end of the year (pending funding) called Everyday Superhero. We will be running children’s workshops around this work throughout 2018 so if you're a WA based presenter looking for weekend or school-holiday workshops – let us know.

SOUTHERN EDGE ARTS
www.southernedge.org.au 

It has been another successful term with happy members, happy families and happy audiences. SEA has been busy with lots of rehearsals, performances and projects. Our Noongar connections have been expanding with local artists working with Noongar kids on a number of visual art displays along the main street, Albany; spirit animal puppet masks were created, as well as stencil stickers. We have just had confirmation for the Building Better Regions fund to develop a Noongar Circus Troupe, the first of its kind in WA. The program will incorporate weekly circus skills workshops for youth at risk of disengagement with school and a 12-week public art project increasing emotional literacy around anger and family violence.

Our weekly classes have had an explosion of colours with showcases, performances and excursions. The Puppetry students got backstage passes to explore the amazing puppets from Erth at the Albany Entertainment Centre. We've been delivering circus, drama, dance and all kinds of performance workshops all around the South West of WA, from Hopetown to Katanning.  As always, we're going out with a bang! SEA has no less that 4 productions to be presented between now and the end of the year. SEA is mentoring a young emerging playwright through the writing, direction and production of A Place Not To Stray. We have improvised theatre, playful puppets, youth-devised theatre and community youth circus shows.

BARKING GECKO THEATRE COMPANY
​​www.awesomearts.com ​​

Barking Gecko has unpacked the shipping container from Edinburgh International Children’s Festival and is dusting off our production of Bambert’s Book of Lost Stories in preparation for seasons at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (11-15 Oct) and the Melbourne Arts Centre (25-28 Oct). Next up, into the rehearsal room to realise our major new commissioned work for 2017, My Robot, by Finegan Kruckemeyer, a new work for your youngest audiences featuring a bespoke remote controlled robot puppeteered in real time during the performance. My Robot opens 11 November at the State Theatre Centre of WA.

The Gecko Ensembles for young people continue across metropolitan Perth and regional WA with young people gathering every week to explore, play and create together. From Broome to Kununurra, Toodyay to Perth the wisdom, energy and playfulness of these young people never ceases to captivate and amaze us all.

RIPTIDE YOUTH PERFORMANCE COMPANY
www.manpac.com.au/riptide 

The Riptide Youth Performance Company (based at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre) is currently working on three different new works for 2018 presentations. We will be presenting a public work in progress showing of our interactive audio/site-specific performance work, called Walk With Me at the 2018 WE Regional Arts Summit in October. This work will take audiences on a walking tour of the Mandurah town centre where they will wear headsets with text written and recorded by the company, as well as engage with pop up performances along the journey.  

Secondly, the ensemble are entirely devising, directing and designing a new work for the Perth Fringe World Festival, which will be performed in both Mandurah and a metro Fringe Hub venue. This is the first work the company of young makers are entirely creating and performing their own content, with only mentorship from the artistic direction team. 

Lastly, we are in partnership with ATYP on a new script commission for a work to be presented in Mandurah in 2018, called <Tagged>. We received Australia Council project funding along with commissioning support from ATYP to undertake a workshop and script development process with our company. Our final reading will be in November this year. 

FINEGAN KRUCKEMEYER
www.finegankruckemeyer.com 

August-October saw plays performed by theatres, universities and high schools in five US states. Meanwhile across the Atlantic, the wonderful Spark Arts presented the world premiere of Sylvia South and the Word Catcher, touring far and wide throughout Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

In September, a journey to the 2017 Australian Writers Guild Awards saw Where Words Once Were (commissioned by DC’s Kennedy Center for the Arts, and soon to have a New York life at the Lincoln Center) receive the Best Theatre for Young Audiences Award.

And October will be spent in a Perth rehearsal room, watching the excellent Barking Gecko team add final touches to My Robot, and in Brisbane, enjoying new imaginings with Jute Theatre and leading workshops at the Queensland Writers Centre.

TERRAPIN PUPPET THEATRE
www.terrapin.org.au

Terrapin has just completed a collaboration with Gruppe 38 (Denmark) and Trickster-p (Switzerland) for the creation of a site-specific work titled All this Coming and Going. Four Terrapin artists travelled to Aarhus, Denmark, to develop the work, and premiered on the Aarhus waterfront in late August.

Prior to that, Terrapin worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company to stage a bespoke version of its international hit, I Think I Can, in Stratford-upon-Avon. To fit its 2017 program of staging Shakespeare’s Roman plays, the RSC built a model Roman village, and the two companies collaborated to create 150 characters that could be found in the Roman plays, or in a Roman village.  In the production, participants choose a character and then imagine a story for the character in the village, which is then published in an online newspaper. Check it out at https://ithinkicanonline.com.au/avonville/.

Meanwhile, Terrapin has just completed a Tasmanian school tour of a new play, The Riddle of Washpool Gully, created in association with Dead Puppet Society.

BACKBONE YOUTH ARTS
http://backbone.org.au/ 

Backbone Youth Arts begins a four weekend-long celebration of its 30th anniversary of supporting local and emerging artists. Referencing the past, present and future of youth arts in Brisbane, the programming is passionate, energetic and fearless.

Opening weekend has just passed and featured familiar bands and an exhibition titled Faces of Our Town with portraits of the unsung heroes of Brisbane. To top-off the homage to our shared history we featured 30 songs by the darlings of Brisbane’s music scene in To The Moon and Back in 30 Songs.

October 20/21 celebrates the present as SUI Ensemble returns with their drag comedy spectacles Tragic Trivia and Ballistic Bingo; Chris Beckey stages Disco Inferno featuring Backbone’s performance ensemble; Express Media launches the latest edition of their prolific art publication Voiceworks and present a writing workshop for all ages on Saturday.

October 27/28 we ask emerging artists to run wild and use every inch of the bowls club to present works that interrogate the future of art in an evolving landscape. The FUTURE30 lineup perform in a multitude of mediums for two nights of vibrant experimentation that offers something for everyone.

November 3/4 The Danger Ensemble commits a take-over of the venue with We Will Not Kiss Touch Frighten You in the Dark. This is a celebration of The Danger Ensemble’s long relationship with Backbone and a final hurrah before they conquer Melbourne.

“‘It’s hugely exciting to be welcoming so many people from the Brisbane arts community into our new home all to celebrate the incredible achievement of reaching our 30th birthday. As a youth arts organisation we are always looking forward, and looking at what the next 30 years might have in store for us as artists” says Artistic Director and Backbone Chief Executive Officer Katherine Quigley. “Backbone, like many other arts organisations has seen its fair share of challenges, but we have overcome them to be here bigger, brighter and louder than ever and the Future 30 Festival is testament to that.”

THE YOUNG COMPANY
www.theyoungcompany.com.au

LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding – presented by The Young Company Theatre and Cairns Festival

After a plane crash in the ocean, a group of students reach an uninhabited island. Group leader Ralph organizes the boys, assigning responsibilities for each one and establishing governance. When the rebellious Jack neglects the fire camp and they lose the chance to be seen by a helicopter, the group split under the leadership of Jack. While Ralph rationalizes the procedures, Jack returns to the primitivism, using the fear for the unknown to control the other boys. What started as an island adventure quickly descends into a struggle for survival in a darkly sinister world of superstition and immorality. This riveting stage adaptation of William Golding’s still shattering novel unfolds with a dreadful, compelling inevitability.
Season ran 1 – 2 September @ TYC Adventure Theatre

PLATFORM – presented by The Young Company Theatre and REACH.

Platform Youth Theatre Festival is designed as a pathway for passionate young creatives (14yrs - 25yrs) from within the Far North Queensland region to recognize the power of their own potential in creating exciting theatre experiences.  The three-day festival is a culture jam for young creatives. The Festival will open with an adventure showcase by Platform’s young ambassadors. A full, interactive theatre experience featuring works by two of Australia’s most renowned playwrights; Compass by Jessica Bellamy & Where In The World Is Frank Sparrow by Angela Betzien. Young creatives participating in Platform can engage with established local artists, arts workers and theatre companies in unique workshop sessions including Writing, Physical Theatre, Performing, Design & Technical Theatre. Other performances include Reef Up by acclaimed choreographer Liz Lea which is currently touring QLD schools; and original productions created by participants and their peers: Silence, One Second, The Curing Jars, The Lift, What Kindness Can Do, Paperbark and many more. Ran from 20 Oct – 22 October 2017 @ TYC Adventure Theatre.

THE 5FT GIANT Creative Development  presented by The Young Company Theatre and Cairns Children’s Festival 2018.
TYC will head into another creative development session in November for their upcoming children’s work The 5 FT Giant which will be presented at the Cairns Children’s Festival in 2018. The immersive theatre experience will invite the audience to intimately participate in the hero's creative imagination as she battles her way to the throne and realises that the power of the imagination makes us infinite. Working with both emerging and professional artists from across the Cairns region and state, the creative development session will be exploring how children can experience stories in new and innovative ways.

CRUNCH FESTIVAL – presented by The Young Company Theatre.
TYCs Crunch Festival provides an opportunity for all children and young people in FNQ region to experience performing for a life audience. Over the course of three weeks, over 350 children and young people will perform for their parents and friends in TYCs Adventure Theatre. Students will be performing both fictional and non-fictional stories and events, and some of their own creations too that they have worked on over the course of the semester.
Runs from 11 Nov – 30 Nov 2017 @ TYC Adventure Theatre.

FLIPSIDE CIRCUS
http://www.flipsidecircus.org.au/

Flipside is Queensland's largest youth circus company. We are a not-for-profit company that provides:

• Regular classes and training at our circus training centre and right across Queensland;
• An artistic program of performances by, for, and with young people; 
• Community and social circus programs; 
• Support for emerging and professional circus artists and companies.

Our trainers have just returned home from a residency workshop tour working with young people and communities in Cairns, Ayr, Pentland, Charters Towers, Mt Morgan, and Bajool. Our team racked up over 4,000ks and were supported by Arts Queensland, local arts centres and schools, Rockhampton Regional Council, and Charters Towers Regional Council. 

Our performers recently performed in the Brisbane Festival public program and in Company 2's Kaleidoscope at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Kaleidoscope was originally developed and produced in partnership with Flipside it's fantastic to have our performers (and trainers) back on stage as part of the Brisbane Festival season. 

Our performance troupe have just begun rehearsals for our next major production Wasteland, which will premier at the Brisbane Powerhouse in November.  

GOAT TRACK THEATRE
www.goattracktheatre.com

Goat Track Theatre is a theatre company for children and young people who offer world leading drama classes growing greatness one student at a time. The program is created by celebrated teachers and industry professionals, with years of experience working with children and young people in drama. This means that whether your child wants to build a future in the performing arts or they just want to build their confidence, there is something in our program for them. Whether you are 3 years of age, in primary school, high school, 18 years of age (or anything in between) we have a class or program suited to you. 

Goat Track Theatre is also a national leader in youth theatre and community arts and cultural development projects. We work alongside young people throughout the creative process to create professional productions with an emphasis on community needs and value the voices and concerns of young people in the creation of new works. As a result, Goat Track Theatre has a proud tradition of creating daring, challenging and transformative new works with the youth of regional communities.

The Bunyip Story
written and directed by Andrew Wright (in consultation with Yugambeh Language Museum)
“I have a secret. There’s a bunyip that lives just down the road from me. It’s ancient. Which means it’s lived there for a long time – before I was born, before my parents were born, before my grand parents or their grand parents, thousands and thousands of years ago. It lives in the lagoon. People like Isabella Taylor don’t believe in the Bunyip. But I don’t care because we know it’s real.”

Charlie is brave and adventurous and he would gladly spend every day exploring the local creek instead of going to school. Isabella, by contrast loves the world of books. She is diligent, hardworking and hates dirt. The two of them have nothing in common until they are teamed up at school to deliver a presentation on...Bunyips.

Their research will take then on a rollicking adventure through the libraries, historical records and waterholes of the area.

This beautiful piece of theatre for primary school audiences explores Bunyip Stories from across Scenic Rim and the Gold Coast. It shares stories of these guardians of our local waterways and the lessons they have taught the Indigenous people of the Yugambeh Region.

This project has been conceived with the assistance of stories collected from elders across the Yugambeh Language region and historical records – in many ways the journey to create this piece of work is remarkably similar to that of Charlie and Isabella – piecing stories together bit by bit in order to maybe just get a peak at this mysterious creature.

We proudly acknowledge the contributions of the Yugambeh Language Museum, Queensland Theatre Company, The Regional Arts Fund of Australia and Scenic Rim Regional Council in the creation of this work. For more information on how we might share this beautiful play with your community or school, please email info@goattracktheatre.com or call (07) 5545 4421.