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We’ve got lots of exciting updates to share this winter: we welcomed three new members to our management committee, bringing expertise in strategy, business development and philanthropy to the mix; we just launched Curious 360 – a new documentary and extended reality commissioning project; we celebrated the work of artists on our Refugee Artist Development Program and Stories of Welcome project with the Homelands Tour; our Testing Ground artists reached the half-way mark of their creative developments; the FUNPARK team have been busy with a calendar of activities; we published our 2022 Annual Report (another reason to celebrate!) and we submitted our application to Creative Australia for multi-year funding and wrote a new strategic plan!
We wish our friends and colleagues in the sector who did the same good luck and hope you took some time off after pressing that big “submit” button.
Welcome Elizabeth, Ameer and Ashley! Ameer is Senior Manager (Advisory and Strategic Analysis) for the ABC and has experience as a chartered accountant and translator. Ashley is a brand, marketing, sales and digital strategy expert and is a partner at GNG Partners. Ashley joins as a Management Committee Member and as Public Officer. New CEO Kiriaki Zakinthinos comments “I’m excited to be working with Elizabeth, Ameer and Ashley alongside long-running committee members, leaning into their expertise as we collaboratively develop a future-focused strategy to steward CuriousWorks through this time of change and opportunity.”
Our Curious360 Program applications have opened! What does it mean to be a “Western Sydney artist”? CuriousWorks is looking for Western Sydney-based documentary makers, digital storytellers and multi-disciplinary screen artists interested in making new work based on challenging tropes around Western Sydney. Curious360 is a new CuriousWorks digital documentary project. We’re looking to work with four early career artists interested in creating a new screen and XR (Extended Reality) documentary work that directly challenges the Western Sydney-based stigma, stereotypes and the trappings of “representation”. Pitch us your ideas and join the Curious360 lead artist team! Go big, go bold, go weird. This is a paid commission. We highly encourage applications from artists from CARM (culturally and racially marginalised) backgrounds. You can find more information on the application form. The Expression of Interest closes August 14th. If you have any questions, feel free to email Creative Producer Miranda Aguilar at miranda@curiousworks.com.au. Homelands Tour 2023 was an intimate and beautiful series of showcases in partnership with Settlement Services International! To learn more about our programs and the tour please check out our website and social media! We have published our 2022 Annual Report! – and what a year it was! They have brought together a wonderful group of 12 young people aged 17-25, who have been working on advocacy and building stronger community connections. The YLC also went for a fun scavenger hunt with the Mount Druitt Police Force! To see their Tiktok recap of the night go check out the link below. o The Testing Grounds Cohort for 2023 have been hard at work in and outside of the mentorship program. Here’s what some of the artists have been working on! “Santa Niña” as detailed by Nicole is “a deeply personal project of mine… [that] reflects what it means to navigate the intimate experiences of womanhood through my own framework as a Filipina Australian. While we as Filipinos tend to celebrate our culture in pride and abundance, I want this film to instead create a space for quietude and meditation — to find reverence in the silence and connect to this story’s themes of family and spirituality.” The film is currently in pre-production, and you can be a part of bringing it to life! To learn more and be a part of the project please click the link below! Kayla has been developing a new series with her Testing Grounds mentor, Elias Nohra, on the ‘melodramatic existential experiences of adolescents amid saving the world’ as climate activists. Kayla is drawing from her years of experience as a young climate activist as she learns more about the realities of filmmaking through this process. Though in its early stages, the show has developed in leaps and bounds since the program started. The work threads a tricky needle of delving into the messy nuances of youth climate activism while never discounting the ability of youth activists, or the ridiculous beauty of communal solidarity. Though Sarah Carroll is developing her screen practice through Testing Grounds with their mentor Laurrie Brannigan-Onato, they’re also a theatre-maker with multiple shows to look out for! Sarah Carroll is an up-and-coming screen practitioner developing a new work titled “Chronically Single,” a series about growing up queer and mixed race, with a specific focus on demisexuality. Though Sarah Carroll is developing her screen practice through Testing Grounds with their mentor Laurrie Brannigan-Onato, they’re also a theatre-maker with multiple shows to look out for! Her show “Unkissed,” has been announced as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival for 2023! If you were interested in “Chronically Single”, you have to watch its spiritual predecessor, “Unkissed.” This “Y2K Powerpoint night of your dreams” will only be on for two shows on September 23rd at Riverside Theatres. Check out the link below for tickets and more info! Sarah Carroll is also co-producing “Saturday Girls” which is being presented at Belvoir Theatre! The show is playing 9-27 August, grab your tickets below!
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