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Smallworks 2016 Art Prize

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10th Year Anniversary, 15th May – 4th June

Opening Event 20th May, 6pm-9pm

What’s On

It’s time – the tenth anniversary of SmallWorks 2016 is upon us and we’d love for you to help us celebrate by attending the opening event on the 20th of May. See further details about the exhibition below.
Annual open call art prize

BSG’s annual open call art prize, SmallWorks 2016, presents work from a large range of artists, with all artwork entered exhibited for the duration of the show, the only criteria being that the work must be smaller than 30x30x30cm. We offer amazing prizes for our artists and support work from all different mediums and levels of experience.

This year we celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the exhibition with an opening event and the announcement of prizes on the 20th May, from 6-9pm. However, the show is open to view from the 15th of May until the 4th of June.

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Art in Public Spaces Grants

BanyuleApplications close Monday 23 May 2016.

 Banyule City Council is seeking expressions of interest from artists to get involved in the Pinpoint Art in Public Spaces Program in July 2016.

We looking for small art projects that are new (have not been seen in public before) and are original (created by the artist or group). These works will be one-off, ephemeral art experiences in public space.

Contributing an idea to Art in Public Spaces is an excellent opportunity for exploring and/or developing a new idea and pushing the boundaries for art making and performance.

The aim is to invigorate public spaces with new artwork; a shopping strip, car park, laneway, swimming pool, local park or even a bus stop – it’s up to you. It could be a contemporary performance, visual art, new-media, writing or a combination of many art forms. We are looking for work that is engaging, accessible and invites contemplation. Think about bringing life to a location that is significant to your community.

Applicants are encouraged to suggest unusual and innovative sites in Banyule for their work.

Applicants do not have to reside in Banyule.

Works must be delivered between Friday 1 July and Sunday 10 July. Depending on the proposed nature of the work, applicants can nominate to have their work displayed for the duration of the program, or to nominate a preferred time and date to present their work.

Proposed works must respond to the themes of Pinpoint:

  • Local connections – between communities and to place
  • Collaboration
  • Maps and geography
  • Promoting the creative industries

A fee of $1,000 will be paid to each successful project.

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More Government cuts to the Arts Sector

Many of you may have received this email today. It is a disgrace that the Government continue to make cuts to funding the Arts.   With around 11 million visitors a year, galleries are now more highly attended than Australia’s most popular spectator sport, Australian Rules Football, which had 10 million attendances in 2009-10 and yet they can afford to pay their players $million plus salaries.

imagesPlease see below NAVA’s media release which was sent out this morning. You may have seen today’s article in The Age/Sydney Morning Herald. We will send out further communication to you shortly and we thank you for your continued support.

Your sincerely,
National Association for the Visual Arts

MEDIA RELEASE
13 May 2016

Changed outlook for NAVA

The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) is facing one of its toughest challenges in the 33 year history of the organisation. This week the Australia Council for the Arts, the federal funding agency notified NAVA that it will not continue to fund its core operations as decided in this key organisational funding round. NAVA, the peak body for Australian visual and media arts, craft and design sector, like many other arts organisations is bearing the brunt of the cuts to the Australia Council and changes to the arts funding environment.

Tamara Winikoff OAM, NAVA’s Executive Director said today, “I suppose what is most disappointing is that we have worked really hard to protect arts funding in general and the Australia Council in particular. However NAVA will do its best to continue as an essential advocate for artists’ rights, professional development service provider, grant administrator and leader in establishing and implementing best practice standards. This is something that is needed now more than ever, not just for NAVA’s 17,000 members and subscribers who gain direct benefit from its services, but also a record number of organisations which have been defunded by these decisions and the unfolding damage this will cause to the Australian arts ecology.”

Internationally recognised artist and NAVA Board member, Sally Smart said today, “NAVA has proved itself to be an agile and adaptable key infrastructure organisation. It has been proud to achieve improved opportunities and working conditions for artists, art organisations and other art professionals and is committed to supporting risk taking, innovation and invention in contemporary art practice. This will not change.”

In the coming months NAVA will adapt its business model to these new circumstances. As with every other challenge, NAVA’s board and staff will make their best effort to ensure that the Australian visual arts sector can continue to enjoy a firm grounding of industry support.

Highly acclaimed Australian artist and NAVA Board member Michael Zavros said today, ”The withdrawal of key organisational funding to our national advocacy body is a huge blow to the Australian art world. NAVA is well known as the respected advocate and voice on behalf of its constituents. The organisation has been instrumental in securing a series of important rights for artists including moral rights, resale royalty, an income tax ruling, the national arts curriculum for schools and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy which has substantially increased the level of funding to the sector. It’s really hard to understand the logic of this decision.”

Over the last year NAVA has worked across the political spectrum to call for the development of a coherent vision and evidence based policy framework to guide the initiatives and allocation of resources by governments. To strengthen the support base, NAVA itself has been responsible for establishing other bodies including Viscopy, the Australian visual arts rights management organisation, National Visual Arts and Craft Network, the Australian Design Alliance and ArtsPeak, the confederation of national peak arts organisations. It also has advocated in partnership with others including the National Advocates for Arts Education, Coalition for an Australian Resale Royalty and the Australian Coalition for Cultural Diversity.

Winikoff commented, “One thing is sure; that NAVA will continue to engage with and be strongly supported by its loyal constituents and the arts sector well into the future. We know we are essential to the wellbeing of Australia’s cultural creators.

We call on all our members and supporters to let their feelings be known to the Australia Council and the Government.”

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The Slow Clothing Project

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Slow Clothing Project manager Jane Milburn (right) and her first “maker” Julie Hillier in Ms Hillier’s sewing studio.

Jane Milburn wants to turn the tide on fast, disposable fashion and spark a conversation about where clothes come from, by getting 40 people from across Australia to create 40 garments in 40 weeks.

Her Slow Clothing Project encourages both beginner and advanced “makers” — her new term for dressmakers — to reuse and rejuvenate old clothing, either from the wardrobe or an op shop, or from fabric that has lurked in the cupboard for years.

Ms Milburn said the project celebrated the creative wellbeing and sustainable benefits of sewing, and encouraged people to think about what they wore, and where it came from.

“When you have sewing skills, you can tweak hemlines, sleeves and necklines to give garments a fresh life,” she said. “It’s only when you understand the skill involved in making something that you really appreciate a garment.”

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Fiona Saunders gets ready to make something for the Slow Clothing Project.

In order to practise real ethical, sustainable fashion — and not waste money — Ms Milburn said we should aim to buy clothing that we could wear at least 30 times.

“This keeps cost-per-wear down,” she said. With cheap, imported clothing readily available in shops these days, Ms Milburn said a lot of skills had been lost. “There’s a whole generation who missed out on learning to sew,” she said. “We’ve recognised that kids weren’t learning to cook and now there’s a focus on cooking programs. “I see sewing as a similar life skill to cooking.”

Fast fashion a ‘race to the bottom on price’

Particularly with the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, Ms Milburn said the tide was turning against cheap, disposable fashion.

“That was a real window into the world of what fast fashion’s about, which is the race to the bottom on price,” she said. “People are being exploited, and you have to be sure that what you’re buying doesn’t have somebody’s blood on it. “People are on a search for meaning now, and the big word is ‘quality’ and a lot of fast fashion isn’t quality because it’s not really made to last — it’s ephemeral.”

Ms Milburn’s background is in agricultural science and her interest in natural fibres stemmed from that work.

“Two-thirds of all new clothing is now made from synthetic fibres, which is a huge change that’s happened in a decade — and that’s in the decade of fast fashion,” she said. “Research shows synthetic fibres absorb bacteria more, they’re hotter, and they feel awful.”

With a mother who taught home economics and wrote a textbook on the subject, it is no surprise that Ms Milburn grew up making her own clothes.

But she also sees the value in up-cycling — altering clothing to give it a new lease on life — and not wasting money on fashion that does not last beyond a season. “The whole thing [fast fashion] is about trading on our insecurities, and planned obsolescence,” she said.

“There are more sustainable ways of dressing and also ways that give you connection to your garments, and gives you something that’s individual.”

70 million kilograms of cast-off clothing

While some people love a good trawl through op shops, Ms Milburn said a lot of people once considered op shopping for “poor people” but now it was for people who wanted to dress sustainably and thriftily.

But she said there was a down-side to giving clothes away. “Every year Australia exports 70 million kilograms of cast-off clothing to the world, and we’re just one of a number of developed nations who are doing that,” she said.

“People send it off to the op shop and think ‘Oh, that saves my conscience, I’m giving’ but in a way, they’d be better off not buying the clothes in the first place and giving money [to charities].”

Ms Milburn said about 20 per cent of clothing donated to op shops would find a new owner locally, but the rest was used for rags, a lot of it was sent to landfill, and the rest was sold to developing nations for $1 a kilogram.

“The problem is a lot of poor-quality clothing is going to developing countries, which needs to be buried or disposed of in their country, and it’s impacting on traditional textile industries and traditional dress with all the western clothing taking over,” she said.

Slow clothing gathers speed

Ms Milburn has started the ball rolling with the project’s first garment, while Julie Hillier is making the second piece.

“Julie’s making a garment from her own pattern, which she uses a lot to teach people how to sew,” Ms Milburn said. “Then there’s Annabelle Brayley, who’s a writer and former nurse from Morven in south-west Queensland, who used to make wedding dresses. “She lives on a property, so she’s used to being resourceful.”

 

Former ABC journalist and QCWA member Neroli Roocke is going to reclaim fabric from a vintage piece of clothing.

Sheep producer Cath Jarvis from Tottenham, near Dubbo in central-west NSW, is going to make something from her husband’s King Gee trousers, that wear out at the knees.

She patches most of them but, for the Slow Clothing Project, she’s going to turn one pair of trousers into a skirt. “That’s a real reclaim, re-salvage, re-fashion job,” Ms Milburn said.

The idea for the Slow Clothing Project came about while Ms Milburn was working on another project two years ago. “I wanted something that could involve a lot of people — part of it is re-fashion, also natural fibres, hand-made, and I’m hoping that by the range of people I’ve got involved we can see sewing as accessible,” she said.

“It’s not all that hard; the place to start is in the op shop and reclaiming clothes, change the sleeves, and you haven’t lost a great deal. “There will be someone around who would probably be prepared to teach you — you’ve just got to ask. “If we don’t capture the skills of the older generation, it’s something that’s going to be completely lost — except for the diehards.”

The Slow Clothing Project will culminate in a fashion parade of the 40 garments in November, and Ms Milburn hoped to take the collection on a travelling exhibition around regional Australia.

“Each of the garments will have a story. I just hope it starts a conversation about alternative ways of dressing that aren’t just racing out and buying the next thing,” she said.

Ms Milburn wants makers from all around Australia to get involved by registering for the project.

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