Arts amped up with funding boost for local fans
Tropical north Queensland offers so much inspiration for artists and the industry has just received a double boost to revive it following lockdowns and the damage caused by Covid.
With the tourism industry on the rebuild through Port Douglas and Daintree the region continues to also attract events and productions.
A new 10-year Roadmap for arts, culture and creativity in Queensland will guide the vision for Queensland as a state renewed by arts, culture and creativity and use this inspiration at its core.
Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch is a passionate advocate for the industry and spoke on how important the roadmap and roll out was for the state.
“Underpinned by the $22.5 million two-year Arts and Cultural Recovery Package, and a further $7 million for Queensland’s live music industry, reinforced the recovery and rebuilding of the arts and cultural sector following the impacts of COVID,” Minister Enoch said.
“This will see Queensland fostering deeper partnerships and collaborations to strengthen and celebrate culture and country, and to acknowledge Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts as unique and powerful expressions of cultural identity.”
Performances, visual arts exhibitions, and educational workshops will visit 102 locations across the state with Palaszczuk Government funding of more than $640,000 through round 4 of the Touring Queensland Fund, announced recently.
Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch announced twelve successful productions, performances and exhibitions combined with artist-in-residence and educational projects will tour to an extensive list of locations, from Palm Island through to Burleigh Heads.
“The tours include a mix of regional and Brisbane-based companies, along with dedicated funding specifically for four arts-inspired education projects that will benefit students,” Minister Enoch said.
“Helping to drive social change through arts, a range of these productions will work with First Nations women who have experienced family and domestic violence, offering music-focussed workshops and culminating in a concert,” the Minister said.
“Flipside Circus will work closely with communities in the Gulf, Far North, Western, Central and Southwest Queensland, while theatre company shake & stir will reach more than 8,000 participants on their Far North School Tour, with many young people engaging in theatre for the first time.”
“Heatley Secondary College’s People Culture & Country tour will create wearable art works together with dance, sharing the skills and traditions of First Nations communities in north Queensland, while the Mirndiyan Gununa Aboriginal Corporation’s Mornington Island Dance Tour for Youth Dancers will strengthen cultural identity and facilitate greater understanding between non-Indigenous and First Nations Cultures.”
Minister Enoch said the State Government investment in touring helped to provide access to quality arts and cultural experiences in communities across the state.
“These projects help to deliver the Creative Together 2020 -2030 roadmap, with initiatives through the next action plan, Grow 2022-2026, continuing to bolster regional access to rich arts and cultural experiences underpinned by additional investment of $50 million over four years as announced in the Queensland State Budget 2022-2023.”
The roadmap hopes to strength and help guide growth of the arts sector and audiences in all regions of Queensland.