News & MediaDear CaPT colleagues,
Firstly, congratulations on Carnival Cinema’s Melba Film Night and launch of their new partnership with Mike Finch and Kareena Hodgson. TNA members and Next Wave artists also gathered for the ninth annual Victorian Theatre Forum at Arts Centre Melbourne and Testing Grounds on Wednesday 9 May 2018. Listen to the keynotes and documentation of the event here.
We’ve also had our second CaPT advisory group meeting this month, reviewing the list of identified sector issues from the Circus Industry Forum, and digging deep into some of those.
One key issue that has persisted in the CaPT sector has been the need for circus specific understanding and expertise in grant assessment processes. TNA is working on an advocacy strategy around this, and a tangible early action is to encourage more circus artists and arts workers to be in the various pools of peer assessors (state and federal). More below.
Also, read on for an update on the performing arts sector’s response to sexual harassment and what key actions the sector is undertaking.
As always, stay connected with us. And feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Jamie Lewis
Communications Manager
MORE CIRCUS ARTISTS AND ARTS WORKERS ON PEER PANELS – REGISTER YOURSELF NOW!
In TNA’s extensive work with the independent and small to medium sector, we witness and empathise with the labour and heartache involved in making grant deadlines, and not always receiving the funding. However, you do build up your grant writing experience and (sometimes) gain valuable feedback for your project from applying, so we encourage the CaPT sector to keep applying for funding. Grant officers report on trends and where the demand is, so you also help to show the case for funding CaPT projects.
We also encourage people to register as peers. (These positions are usually paid – to cover your time and costs). Even if you aren’t chosen to be an assessor, having a really strong and diverse pool of CaPT practitioners in the pools shows that this sector is a valuable and serious artform.
This is useful for the following reasons:
– Circus artists and companies are applying for grants, and these applications should also be assessed by people with broad knowledge of the art form.
– Peer assessors have articulated the experience as valuable professional development towards their own practices, project planning and grant applications.
– It assists with relationship building with colleagues from the wider performing arts sector, which was another issue identified at the 2018 Circus Industry Forum.
Here are the different ways to register/nominate yourself to be on the Australia Council for the Arts, and State-based registers:
Australia Council for the Arts
Peer nominations are ongoing.
Create NSW
Peer register is ongoing.
Arts NT
Peer nominations are annual.
Arts South Australia
Peer register is ongoing. Contact the relevant staff/department:
Independent Makers & Presenters
Peter Grace – peter.grace@sa.gov.au | (08) 8463 5429
Julia Moretti – julia.moretti@sa.gov.au | (08) 8463 5455
Department of Culture and the Arts WA
Peer nominations are every three years.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
On behalf of our members on the issue of Addressing Sexual Harassment, Theatre Network Australia has been working on sharing information and representing the small to medium and independent sectors in particular.
In Victoria, TNA is represented on an arts-wide working group commissioned by Creative Industries Minister Martin Foley, and we have been attending national roundtables and meetings with various stakeholders including Live Performance Australia, who are finalising a sector wide code to be adopted by the performing arts. (LPA members will be obliged to use it.) The LPA draft code can be accessed here.
On 23rd March a group of 47 people from across the theatre sector released a joint communique about the inaugural Safe Theatres Forum that took place on the 18th and 19th of March 2018 on Wurundjeri land in Melbourne. TNA was represented by Executive Director Nicole Beyer.
TNA is also running a series of Peer-learning Roundtable meetings. Share where you are up to, what next steps are needed and what you need help with. Upcoming meetings include Melbourne 26 June (for TNA Company Members) and Darwin 10 July (followed by a sector gathering). Contact Nicole Beyer for more information and to find out what’s happening in the other states.
TNA INDIE SURVEY REPORT
In April, we also released the Indie Survey Report, ‘THIS IS HOW WE DO IT: Working trends of independent artists, creatives, and arts workers’. Read the report here.
“In circus there is so often someone willing to do it for less. It’s like a race to the bottom but completely unsustainable.” – Mid-Career Urban Circus Performer.
2018 TNA MEMBERSHIP
We invite you to sign up as a financial member of Theatre Network Australia and support our work strengthening the small to medium, and independent performing arts sector. Individual membership starts from $33 ($29.70 with discount).
More information about membership is here, or feel free to contact us to find out more.
ENEWS & CaPT BULLETIN
Click the button below to sign up to the TNA monthly Enews and quarterly CaPT Bulletin. Got something to include? Send your updates to jamie@tna.org.au
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Compiled by Jamie Lewis, Communications Manager.