IETM-Australia Council for the Arts Collaboration Project program update 2012-2013

The IETM-Australia Council Collaboration Project announces the first of two programs of supported projects for the 2012-13 financial year.

The aim of the project is to create new opportunities for Australian performing artists, companies and producers in Europe. Sophie Travers, Project Director, is based in Brussels, in the office of the IETM network, where she matches the market development aspirations of Australian artists with opportunities and resources throughout Europe.

Residencies, exchanges and collaborations

The Project has initiated a series of bilateral dance exchanges with Finland, with partners Campbelltown Arts Centre, Critical Path, Strut and Moriarty’s Project engaging with Finnish dance producers in Helsinki and the northern towns of Kuopio and Oulu. Directors and artists from the Australian organisations will travel to the Nordic Dance Platform Ice Hot in Helsinki in December 2012. In March 2013, the Finns will travel to Dance Massive in Melbourne. Artists including Helen Herbertson and Michelle Heaven will undertake residencies for research and development in centres in both countries leading to a program of presentation and collaboration. In dialogue with Dance Info Finland and other Australian dance organisations, it seems there is great interest in developing the exchange over time and including more partners in both countries.

James Brown, a Sydney based composer, sound and media artist is undertaking a ten-week residency in Brussels with SOIT, the company of Hans van den Broek. James is collaborating on a new production that will tour in Europe in 2013/14. He is also in residence at the company’s new Renold art space, exploring a model for artist-led programming and production that he is interested to adapt to his Australian context.

Elision, the contemporary music ensemble based in both Australia and the UK, are commissioning Australian composer Luke Paulding to create work to be played in prestigious European contexts by the Ensemble. This initiative introduces new Australian composition to Elision’s network of European festivals and presenters including Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Rosie Dennis, Artistic Director of Sydney’s Urban Theatre Projects (UTP) will undertake two theatre development residencies in the UK, with a view to establishing a co-producing structure for the new work, Flamingo. Rosie will spend time at The Junction in Cambridge and at Dance4 in Nottingham in 2013, working with local communities, engaging with local artists and developing her relationship with the venue Directors as a route into creating a commissioning network in the UK for UTP.

Sydney based choreographers, Jane McKernan and Lizzie Thomson, will undertake a residency in Nottingham in the UK in December 2012, as part of a continuing relationship between Critical Path and Dance4. Their practice that engages with dance and visual art is of particular interest to the National Dance Agency that focuses on interdisciplinary practice.

Research, networking and advocacy

Michael Cohen of Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority travelled to the IETM meeting in Zagreb in October and visited several arts projects in France and Belgium in relation to an EU Culture Fund Third Country bid that he is preparing. Cohen is formulating a project that commissions artists to make water-themed works that engage with the cityscape and agendas of regeneration and social change.

Lenine Bourke of Contact Inc in Queensland attended the IETM meeting in Zagreb and met with key arts producers and presenters in the UK as part of a strategic market development project she is developing to explore opportunities for work made in communities across Europe. Lenine is exploring specific partnerships for her Walking Neighbourhood project in addition to her work with queer artists.

Bec Dean of Performance Space in Sydney travelled to the ANTI live art festival in Kuopio, Northern Finland to experience the Up to Nature EU project in which Performance Space will play a key role in a 2013-15 EU Culture Fund bid. Bec also met several European presenters in Kuopio and travelled on to the UK where she engaged with partners old and new for Performance Space’s artists and projects.

Matt Cornell, a Sydney-based dancer worked with Ultima Vez, the company of Wim Vandekybus, in the inaugural summer program in their new central Brussels home. This was an opportunity for Matt not only to work with influential theatre and dance artists associated with the company, but also to create his own wide network of peers with whom to continue to develop connections for artistic development.

For more information, contact Sophie Travers at sophie.travers@ietm.org or Ellen Dwyer at e.dwyer@creative.gov.au