WORDS FROM OUR CREATIVE DIRECTOR
The arts community are well known for their ability to be nimble, to adapt and, not surprisingly, to find creative solutions to novel problems! Enter a world that feels like a bizarre episode of Doctor Who – one where our government keeps us safe by ensuring we don’t interact with others. Also enter, the transformation of our arts community to a virtual arts community!
Seemingly overnight we have access to virtual gallery tours, free YouTube tutorials for kids’ illustrations, mindfulness exercises and progressive street art.
Here at the Gardiner Street Art Collective we have (virtually!) embraced our country roots and have a weekly Baking Challenge based on recipes from the ageless pages of the CWA Cookery Book and Household Tips. So far, we have baked a delightfully aromatic Cinnamon Tea Cake and a mouth-wateringly delicious Apple Cake (No. 2 – for those looking it up). Our Baking Challenge is just that; a challenge, not a competition. We love seeing the slight tweaks each of our bakers are making to the recipe. Even more than that, we’re loving this great excuse to eat cake!
Stay safe and happy.
Nyree Taylor
Creative Director – Gardiner Street Arts Collective
ARTS HAPPENINGS
We managed to sneak in a few creative pursuits before the COVID-19 related restrictions meant we converted our Community Arts Hub into a Virtual Community Arts Hub!
In addition to our dance workshops, music lessons and art workshops, the Gardiner Street Arts Collective was lucky enough to welcome Sandra McKendrick and a group of Yued Elders to the Collective’s space.
Sandy is an arts practitioner who works across performance, puppetry and multi-media. Sandy is working with the Community Arts Network to give a voice to the unheard. “Place Names” is a program engaging communities across Noongar country and beyond in the sharing of Aboriginal stories, language and culture. These stories will be bought to life through film and art and encourage the use of Noongar words for places that we used pre-colonisation. Sandy is working closely with some of Moora’s Yued Elders to explore the language origins of town and place names using a variety of contemporary art forms that reflect langue, place and identity.
Place Names is a Community Arts Network Project supported through the Australian Government’s Indigenous Languages and Arts program, The Australia Council for the Arts and Principal Partner Moodjar Consultancy