Hi everyone,
Hope that 2025 has treated you kindly so far!
Before we dive into what we have on the horizon, let’s take a moment to applaud Tender which recently wrapped up at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery (FCMG) after two months. Huge congratulations to the artists: Mohammad Awad (3awadi), Carielyn Tunion, Diamond Tat, and Sharon Mani as well as their respective teams! You can view some happy snaps from the FCMG opening launch event here. Friendly reminder that you can still stream the films on the Sydney Opera House site here.
Make sure you also keep an eye out for the following! Curiously West Film Club is set to make a comeback soon & we will also be launching a new multi-year program of activities called Holding Space with our partners SSI Community Refugee Welcome Centre and the Sydney Opera House – don’t miss the call out for EOIs coming out soon.
Furthermore we’ve been busy learning alongside our Future Culture 2024-25 cohort, being wowed by our Testing Grounds artists & continuing our program Utopia with WSU academic Dr Karin Louise, and lead artist, Emmanuel Asante, with Liverpool Boys and Liverpool Girls High Schools.
Curious about we’ve been up to? Read on…
Everything Is Writing: We’re Still Here
Everything is writing. Outlining is writing. Brainstorming is writing. Reading is research, and research is writing!
Welcome back to Everything is Writing, a series of unserious writing and creativity workshops. Led by facilitator Miranda Aguilar, this year, Everything is Writing: We’re Still Here is specifically for local LGBTQIA+ youth as well as allies to come together to be creative. From the get go, we will actively shape and form our own safe space where everyone will be held in their kaleidoscopic multitudes.
Queer people have always existed in Western Sydney. We have always been here. We’re still here. No matter what, we deserve a safe space for joy and creativity.
Join us on Wednesday evenings, starting on March 19th at Fairfield City Headquarters at the Vic Winton Community Room from 6-8pm. Drop in when you can, or attend every session. No experience required. These workshops are free, but please register your attendance below.
Open Door Days
A few times a year, we’ll host Open Door Days, where you can book time with one of our friendly team members for a chat. Whether you’re seeking professional insights, guidance on navigating the art world, needing a sounding board for your ideas, or simply wanting to talk about what we do here at CuriousWorks, our doors are open. We’re here to answer questions, chat about your work, or simply get to know each other better.
Our next sessions are on the 4th and 5th of March 2025, and we’d love to see you at Fairfield City HQ for a cuppa and a chat! You can book a one-on-one with one of our team members, or if you can’t make it in person, you can opt for a video or phone call.
We also have a dedicated drop-in time from 12-1pm on both days for anyone who prefers a more spontaneous visit. Light refreshments provided. You’re also welcome to bring your own lunch.
Head to the link below to pick who you’d like to chat with – you can book in multiple meetings with different team members. If you can’t make the March Open Door Days, don’t worry – keep an eye on our website and socials for future sessions. We can’t wait to see you!
Sign ups close on the 28th of February 2025.
Welcome to the team, Vandana!
The team at CuriousWorks is thrilled to welcome Vandana Ram as our new Senior Creative Producer!
Vandana brings deep experience in community-based arts practice and cultural development to CuriousWorks.
Vandana has been directly involved in the growth of community cultural development as a practice in Australia – helping to shape and advocate for it as an embedded practice for artists and communities. Specifically, she has over 20 years of expertise working in the arts for Western Sydney, most recently as the founding Director of Bankstown Arts Centre, as well as extensive experience in curation, policy, arts management, and public art, developing successful community partnerships along the way.
She is also a practising visual artist exploring migration, and colonisation as well as the histories and geographies of Western Sydney.
We extend a huge warm welcome to Vandana! We’re looking forward to working together and learning from the depth of experience in community arts that she brings!
CuriousWorks – more news
Here’s a snapshot of everything else we’ve been up to since our last update. Make sure that you follow us on our social media (LinkedIn, Instagram & Facebook) to keep up to date with all things CuriousWorks!
- In December 2024, some of the CuriousWorks team (Kiri, Kirsten & Jenny) attended Multicultural NSW’s COMPACT x DIGI Engage Summit, which brought together young people, digital industry experts, and organisations to discuss how we can collaborate on building more harmonious online and offline communities. We had the privilege of meeting and hearing from inspiring people whose stories, lived experiences, and advice have become invaluable learnings. We also loved catching up with our friends from Outloud Arts and Diversity Arts Australia & our favourite panel was hearing from the Storycasters!
- In November 2024, CuriousWorks extended a warm and appreciative welcome to the newly appointed Chair of our Management Committee: Ameer Ali, who is a senior executive, Chartered Accountant, and certified translator with over 18 years’ experience. Ameer started his career at the Australian National University followed by ten years of management consulting in the private and government sectors. He is a Strategy Manager at the ABC, leading large and cross-divisional projects across the organisation. Ameer is passionate about creating opportunities for people from all backgrounds and he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in corporate strategy and planning. You can read more about his appointment here.
- CuriousWorks is seeking to appoint up to two new Management Committee members to join current members, diversifying and expanding our expertise and representation. This is an exciting and rewarding opportunity to help lead a respected South-West Sydney-based community arts organisation actively working to develop the potential of local artists and communities, and to shape a future culture that is vibrant, democratic, generative, and relevant for Australia and beyond. Please send your submissions before 5pm Friday March 28, 2025. You can find more information here.
CuriousWorks exists at the intersection between contemporary multi-arts practice and community arts and cultural development. Since our inception, our mission and values remain unwavering – to help build a fair, inclusive, equitable, innovative arts landscape that reflects the plurality and complexity of lived experience in contemporary Australia.
Alt text are embedded within the images and image descriptions can be found below:
1) A summer-themed e-newsletter header that promotes CuriousWorks’ Summer Newsletter of 2025. The background is a creamy white colour featuring decorative, summer-related icons such as suns and flowers scattered around. On the left-hand side of the header is the CuriousWorks logo in its colourful, horizontal format and underneath that are the words ‘Summer Newsletter 2025’ in cap-locks. On the right-hand side of the text is a polaroid graphic held by a cloud-themed piece of washi tape. The polaroid contains a photo of the CuriousWorks team. The CuriousWorks team are all standing next to each other. They are all smiling and in conversation with each other.
2) A social graphic that promotes CuriousWorks’ program ‘Everything Is Writing: We’re Still Here’. The background is bright with a soft gradient colour concoction of purple, yellow, blue, green, and pink. On top of this graphic is a teal envelope with light red, chalk-like star drawings and lined elements – evoking that of a library card. The graphic displays the following several elements from top to bottom order – the text ‘EVERYTHING IS WRITING’ in bold, cap-locks font; the words ‘WE’RE STILL HERE’ with each individual letter displayed in a scrapbook, magazine cut-out format; and the CuriousWorks white logo in its vertical and stacked version. In the bottom-left and top-right corners of the envelope are gold stars and ripped pieces of paper with writing on it.
3) A square promotional graphic of CuriousWorks’ Open Door Policy program. The background is a a colourful spiral background of yellow, purple and blue colours. In the top-right corner is a cartoon graphic that depicts a door that opens to a sunny scene. The CuriousWorks logo in white is positioned on the bottom-centre of the graphic. In the centre of the graphic is a group image of the CuriousWorks staff standing next to each other and smiling at the camera. This group image is framed by a polaroid-like border with a sticky tape graphic placed on top of it. On the polaroid is the text ‘OPEN DOOR POLICY. 4TH + 5TH MARCH 2025’ in all-caps text.
4) A portrait-like graphic with a cream-coloured background and decorative confetti illustrations that showcases Vandana Ram’s headshot. Vandana is smiling at the camera and is positioned in front of a leafy background. Her photo is framed by a dark red border. On top of her photo is the horizontal, coloured CuriousWorks logo. At the bottom of their photo is the following text in bold, black font, ‘CuriousWorks welcomes Vandana Ram as new Senior Creative Producer’.
5) A square social graphic that depicts a polaroid-themed, two photo collage. The graphic has a cream-coloured background and around the polaroid elements are decorative squiggle graphics. The first polaroid is on the bottom left of the graphic and the second polaroid is on the top right of the graphic. The first polaroid contains a selfie of the CuriousWorks’ team (Kiri Zakinthinos – CEO, Kirsten Maglalang – Future Culture arts intern & Jenny Trinh – Communications Officer) at the COMPACT x DIGI Engage Summit 2024. Each team member is smiling at the camera and posing with their summit lanyards in front of the summit photo wall. The second polaroid is of Ameer Ali – Chair of the Management Committee & Kiri Zakinthinos – CEO at New Beginnings Festival. They are both standing next to each other and smiling at the camera.