Summer 2018: Happy Holidays from the CuriousWorks Crew!

FESTIVE GREETINGS TO OUR CURIOUS FRIENDS!

It’s December!!! And what a massive year 2018 has been for CuriousWorks.

Projects we’ve been working on tirelessly over several years, like Laka and Las Rosas, finally came to fruition. We continued our STEAM explorations with students in the ReFill program and went to production on our latest iteration of the Beyond Refuge series. It was also the year that we launched our new sister company, Co-Curious and celebrated with a brand new company logo and look!

2018 has been a year of planting new creative seeds for what’s to come; Let’s look back at the year and see what has blossomed so far.

LAS ROSAS

After two years of love, dedication and hard work, Las Rosas has finally bloomed! Western Sydney’s first telenovela inspired web-series hit our screens in late September and has been steadily building audience since then. The making of Las Rosas was not an easy feat and was only possible thanks to the generous support we received throughout the process, including the many supporters of CuriousWork’s first Kickstarter campaign.

Our current goal is to now see just how far Las Rosas can fly, so if you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to watch + share this unique Western Sydney story of love and sisterhood!

Watch, Like and Subscribe!

LAKA

Laka was an ambitious project that spanned across mediums, cultures and the continent of Australia. Since its premiere at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in July, it has been globe-trotting across the world, from the Deckchair Cinema in Darwin, to the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, to the Vox Popular Media Arts Festival in Ontario, Canada and back again to Sydney for the Winda Film Festival last month.

We’re excited to see where Laka will go next!

BEYOND REFUGE: DIALOGUES

Beyond Refuge: Dialogues is the third iteration of the Beyond Refuge series, bringing the work of Australian artists with refugee/ asylum-seeker experience into focus.

The series currently has five new works in development, ranging in style and story from a cinema poem about El Salvadoran folk-dancing and identity, a short film about love and carelessness in the diaspora, and a 12 min one-shot film depicting a time-critical portrait of an Ahwazi asylum-seeker family in Liverpool.

REFILL

CuriousWorks returned to Miller Technology High School again this year with our latest iteration of ReFill, a series of multi-arts workshops for students. This year, workshops were STEAM-focused, blending art with science, technology, engineering and maths. ReFill student’s amazed young visitors to this year’s WOW Festival with the Universum Mobili, an arts and science wonder cart. Follow ReFill‘s explorations and multi-arts play on the ReFill Blog page.

ReFill BLOG

LOOKING FORWARD 2019

In January 2019 Counting and Cracking will finally be hitting the stage after almost 10 years in the making! Following a Sri-Lankan Australian family over four generations, this co-production between Co-Curious and Belvoir will be presented at Sydney Town Hall as part of Sydney Festival.

Next year we will also premiere works from Beyond Refuge: Dialogues at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre as part of the Head-On Festival. Miranda Aguilar’s humorous and intimate LGBTIQ play, Let Me Know When You Get Home will continue creative development with our partners at Q-Theatre in Penrith. Our CuriousWomen Leadership Program and the CuriousCreators program will continue to be critical vehicles for achieving our mission.

Our unique Social Enterprise program has grown from strength to strength this year and will continue to deliver professional multimedia and community engagement services, while supporting the professional development and employment pathways of our Curious Creators. So if you want to create some great content in 2019 and support young emerging artists from Western Sydney – LET’S WORK TOGETHER!

What we offer!

MAKERS SPACE PROGRAM

And excitingly, in 2019 we are starting a new workshop-based program that explores the intersection between storytelling, technology and innovation!

This is an incredible opportunity for a group of dedicated young people to participate in a year-long program of workshops and masterclasses run by cutting edge practitioners with a focus on story world-building, new media and experimentation.

Participants will be guided and encouraged to produce innovative, cross-disciplinary works that shine a light Western Sydney stories to be experienced at public events and festivals in the local community.

So if you are a young creative with a passion for new media, innovative digital technology and storytelling, we want to hear from you!

Applications are NOW OPEN, so get yours in by December 15th!

Apply today!

2018 has been all things LOVE, BIRTH, and LIFE & DEATH.

Las Rosas, Laka and Beyond Refuge: Dialogues

Thank you to the inspired artists, communities and colleagues in education, community services and the arts who fuel the work we make together.

Heartfelt thanks to the young artists who have made CuriousWorks such a vibrant hub this year. It is a huge source of delight to see what the next generation has in store for us all and to support new Australian artists to break through!

Thanks to the keepers of CuriousWorks, our Board of Management who have worked hard to support the birth of sister company, Co-Curious and shepherded the organisation as a whole through major change.

Congratulations to CuriousWorks founder and Australian playwright, S.Shakthidharan for the inaugural season of Counting and Cracking opening in Sydney Festival in four weeks time. Book your tickets here.

Thanks to all our partners for your trust, investment, conversation and advice!
Long may it continue.

As we finish the year, we acknowledge the Darug nation, on whose land we work and thrive, here on the banks of the Georges River.

We pay our respects to all First Nations Elders and emerging leaders across the country who have worked with such creativity and grace this year (and every year), to ensure Australia’s cultural life is true, deep and strong. This is and always will be Aboriginal land. At CuriousWorks, we, along with much of Australia, hope for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Australian national vision.

May 2019 be a year of creative change, peace, friendship and safety for all!