2005

2005 PROJECT OUTCOMES

MULTICULTURAL ARTS

ART BY ADAM JANALI – SOLO ART EXHIBITION

Afghan refugee & artist Adam Janali to exhibit his work in a solo exhibition to be held in Perth

After receiving the grant from The Seed, Adam purchased the art materials needed to commence preparations for his exhibition. Materials purchased included canvas, oil paints, paintbrushes and chemicals necessary for painting with oil. Shortly after purchasing materials Adam set to work. 

The opening night of ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ was held on Friday 9th June 2006. The night was a great success thanks to extensive publicity and support from community organisations and individuals. It was estimated that over three hundred people attended the opening. The gallery was full from 7pm until 11pm. Kidogo Arthouse curator, Joannah Robertson was delighted at the turnout, stating that this was one of the biggest openings she had held at Kidogo. She also said that the crowd was one of the most diverse and multicultural the gallery had been host to. 

The exhibition was scheduled to run for two weeks but was extended by the gallery curator for an extra week (this was at no charge to the artist). The exhibition featured works that were completed by Adam whilst he was in detention as well as paintings that were completed with the help of funding from The Seed.

WORKSHOP & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

MIHIRANGI – Contemporary Maori singer/songwriter Mihirangi to be tutored by Mal Webb

- Learning from Mal Webb was an awesome experience, besides being a lot of fun, he soooo knows his stuff!! He not only showed me different styles and techniques of beat boxing and vocal percussion and looping and we also got to perform together. As a result my show has improved immensely, this has been seen by the reaction of the crowds whilst on tour and has also increased bookings. 

I hoped to increase my loop pedal and beat boxing abilities, to learn new techniques, rhythms and sounds. To also better my loop pedal tonal sound and create my own style. THANK YOU so much for the funding and support it has not only improved my skills but has given me confidence and has also opened up other areas for me that I never thought of. 

SUBURBAN SISTA SOUNDZ TOUR – 15 young ‘at risk’ women interested in Urban music to train and then tour with local well known hip hop artists

The Suburban Sista Soundz Tour rang from 18 September – 30 November 2005 in 14 venues. The tour involved all 13 young female graduates of the Suburban Sista Soundz program. 

There were two performances prior to the official tour dates, one at the 2005 Sydney Writers Festival; Hip Hop Projections event at Bangarra Theatre, and the other at the 205 Community Relations Commission NSW Symposium, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Parramatta. The Suburban Sista Soundz supported well known Australian hip hop group he Herd, on their regional NSW leg of the tour, from 27 – 30 October. One of the participants of the program was also employed as an assistant on the tour. 

RETURN TO RHYTHM – 2 week intensive of rhythm & percussion workshops for Indigenous young people in Tennant Creek region

Over 50 young people performed on stage, to an audience of approximately 600 both indigenous and non-indigenous people from the Barkly Region as well as numerous tourists to the area, on the evening of 11th November 2005. 

This workshop/performance has not only enabled young people to develop some percussion skills, it has also created an interest in further learning of percussion instruments. The nurturing of confidence in those youth lacking self esteem was also evident during the workshop process and the effects of community pride in the local youth at the performance are immeasurable. 

INSPIRATION – Violin lessons for Lachlan McCarthy

- To have received this grant was an honour and privilege. The grant was allocated for violin tuition, once a week. I was able to have a small issue published about me in the local paper for receiving the grant. This was a real buzz for me! This was an amazing experience for me on a very personal basis. I felt very overwhelmed that John Butler could recognise my developing ability. He has inspired me to want to follow my dreams. I know anything is possible as long as I work hard and believe in myself. 

HIP HOP HUB – Music production Studio to be set up in Nimbin Youth Club for local youth to utilize

The Seed funding was used to purchase equipment to allow the development and production of hip hop tracks. A high capacity laptop was purchased to enable beat production and recording with a set of headphones. A portable stereo was purchased that allows young people to practice their music and also to listen back on effective speakers. 

The ongoing use of these facilities acquired through The Seed demonstrate the long term benefits of this funding to the Nimbin youth community, illustrating how it has created opportunities that are a catalyst for continued creative and skills development for the youth community. 

BAXTER WORKSHOP PROJECT – Musical workshops to be held inside Baxter Detention Centre with detainees

- From January to March 2006 I held six music sessions with detainees from Baxter Detention Centre, near Port Augusta in South Australia. The weekly sessions took place within the centre, in a classroom in the educational wing. Each session lasted several hours, and was open to any detainees within the centre. The way the classroom’s physical space changed for the detainees, from being potentially threatening and ‘the centre’s space’ to a space with the memory and possibility of good things happening, a neutral space or even ‘the detainees’ space’ was very important, and I hope vestiges of that will remain now the sessions are over. 

Meeting the detainees was a life-changing experience. I learnt so much from the project, and continually felt challenged, and out of my ‘comfort zone’. I would like to sincerely thank Ian Moorhead for organising the project, The Seed for supporting it, and the Baxter Detention Centre staff for being so supportive and helpful.

SOCIAL ACTIVISM

SMALL BUSINESS – Provocative visual artist, Deborah Kelly to create pro-choice artwork to be displayed on billboard in Sydney

- I first received The Seed grant in 2005, to mount a billboard about coming threats to womens’ reproductive choices promised by conservative forces in the then coalition federal government. However, women from across the political spectrum worked together to derail Tony Abbott’s ambitions, which was a great boon for women. But- it rendered my billboard proposal absolutely obsolete. So I suggested a number of different options to The Seed for billboards addressing various important issues. The fund chose the work I made connecting nuclear power with the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and ironically satirising the coalition’s recent ‘discovery’ of global warming. 
Finally, thank you very much for this opportunity, both to simply participate in the important conversations of my culture and society, but also, to learn the painful lessons about power and how it works. 

CHOICE STORIES – Collection of Pro Choice stories to be printed and sold at live story performances

- Originally an idea by Tanya Mammone sitting with my girlfriends one Sunday afternoon a few weeks after the 2004 Federal election, the Coalition holding control of the Senate and the ALP in Victoria putting Steven Fielding, Families First’s, religious senator into Canberra. Tony Abbott our Federal Health minister, had been on a crusade during the year against abortion and IVF I knew I wanted to do something a bit different than what I had in previous reproductive campaigns. The group decided on the format of reflective pieces as we thought it best reflected feminism. 

HILLS PEACE FESTIVAL – Advertising for The August Peace Festival to be held in WA

The August Peace Festival 2005 was held over the weekend of August 6th and 7th, 2005 at Darlington Hall, Owen Road, Darlington WA. Some 400 members of the public, young and old, from all across metropolitan Perth, and from all different ethnicities and backgrounds, as well as more than 150 artists and social advocacy proponents attended. 

TOILET DOORS PROJECT - 6 emerging artists to create posters to be displayed in public toilets throughout Greater Union Cinemas and Qantas terminals around the country

- To support the project’s ‘Social Activism through the Arts’ components, which focused on replacing advertising with poetry, in our selected project spaces – the back of toilet doors. We selected poems that tried to positively transform the public space with challenging and thoughtful ideas, by young Australian poets. The two poems ‘Subtle Plague’ by Keri Glastonbury and ‘Occupation’ by Lisa Gorton had strong political and socially pertinent themes. The money was used to pay these new and emerging artists and poets professional rates, and so foster their development and the vitality of Australian arts and culture into the future.

MUSIC MARKETING

RED EYES DEBUT ALBUM – Dub/Reggae band Red Eyes to record debut album ‘Rude World’ 

- We feel that we have achieved everything that we wanted from the project. The only goal we really had was to release the best album we could. The release of the single was extremely positive with some amazing reviews of the CD and gigs alike, and much airplay on community radio and Triple J has broadened our demographic and increased awareness of the band and it’s potential. 

LABJACD DEBUT ALBUM – Latin/Hip Hop band Labjacd to record debut album

- The Seed gave us a fantastic opportunity to record our album in a professional environment with decent equipment. We are a 9-piece band whose sound is based on our live performance, and that energy is not easy to capture in a small studio. The Seed enabled us to get into a big studio with several isolated recording booths, meaning that much more of the recording was done live, but with no compromise to production, or recording quality. 

AURORA JANE EAST COAST TOUR – Folk/Funk/Blues band Aurora Jane to tour East Coast

- The Winter East coast tour was a great success on a number of levels. Achieving a second East Coast tour only a matter of months following the album launch tour was a fantastic way to solidify and broaden existing audiences. The opportunity to tour in a more relaxed (and therefore focused) way to the previous tour, paves the way for better sustainability and creativity on the road. The funding made this possible, as this particular tour would not have been financially viable without the support. 

LOU BRADLEY – EP promo tour, country singer/songwriter Lou Bradley to tour QLD to NT

- As you can imagine we had a brilliant time, it was a huge adventure…. we met and made friends with as many Indigenous folk as we could. It was unreal to be able to go to a town where there are more black fellas that whities. At the same time it was very sad to see that there are still such strict racist areas in NT, especially Tennant Creek. The primary schools there are still segregated and the black fellas aren’t allowed to go to places after a certain time at night. We stayed with the Mutidjulu community for 3 days. Muti are custodians of Uluru and are based less than a kilometre from the rock. We played for them on both nights. 

KOOII: BEADS ON A STRING TOUR – 6 piece urban collective, Kooii to launch debut album on tour through QLD, NSW & VIC

- At all our shows in Sydney and Melbourne we impressed a lot of people who were new to our sounds. In Melbourne we played four shows at the Esplanade Hotel, Bar Open (on two nights) and at Ruby’s Lounge. 

TOMMEE & NEIGHBORHOOD TOUR – Tommee and the Neighborhood to tour NSW, QLD, NT & WA

- At the start of August 2005 we were yet to headline a major tour and were largely unknown outside Bondi, Manly and parts of regional Victoria and NSW. Since the tour we have played at several festivals including performing at the Amphitheatre on New Year’s Eve in front of 20 – 25,000 at the Woodford Folk Festival and as part of another successful three week tour. We’re looking forward to releasing another album as well as playing at the prestigious WOMADelaide Festival in March. 

LANCH OF ZUDIO BAND MANAGER – Zudio to market their online band manager

- The team at Zudio Music, who work on the Electronic Band Manager, would like to thank The Seed or their support during the launch of the Band Manager. Apart from assistance provided through funding, the goodwill associated with The Seed program certainly helped others to see merit in the project which helped accelerate the promotional process and sparked additional interest. 

TOM VINCENT TRIO – Tasmanian Jazz trio The Tom Vincent Trio to attend AIMM

- One of the main things that we have achieved from this week at AIMM is the start of intelligently directed, active networking and promotion of the Tom Vincent Trio on a national and international scale. Delegates at AIMM gave us names, phone numbers and contact details of other music festival directors and producers they recommended we get in touch with. I feel that over time our continual efforts will establish regular work for the TVT. 

AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC MARKET – Drum Drum to attend AIMM

- The positives from this conference were the ability to present Drum Drum as a live act to the delegates and to also meet and discuss possible opportunities with presenters in person. Being from Darwin and relatively isolated from the national scene it also allowed us to be presented to Australian presenters as well. 

KURANDA REGGAE FESTIVAL – Marketing for Reggae festival held in Cairns

- People from all over the world attended the event. We learnt that for something like this to exist we need a lot more support, as the costs keep going up and Reggae is not really a self sustainable industry! The other big thing I learnt (again) was to deal with professionals wherever possible, and also the power of the right advertising is immense, but money and no brain is much worse than a brain and no money. And… don’t compromise ideals!

INDIGENOUS

AZZKAT - to record debut 6 track EP

AZZKAT were able to record a 6 Track EP with full band, fully demonstrating the bands true potential and helping them take an important step in their career. 

JAM IN THE DESERT - a program to provide equipment & PA training to musicians from the Barkly region

- With improvements to our equipment, in particular, a trailer and the cases for instruments, musicians have been able to access these communities without as much damage to the equipment from abrasion and dust. Drum cases and a carry bag purchased for stands etc have made major improvement to our situation. This is has helped for weekly gigs but also for the long distances to Borooloola and Epenarra. 

Barkly regional arts has since been successful in initiating an agreement between Barkly aboriginal musicians and several stakeholders to provide funds for the establishment of a music centre. The Seed’s support at a crucial time assisted this process. 

DAN SULTAN POST PRODUCTION AND MARKETING – Dan Sultan to mix and master debut album

The Seed Fund’s assistance enabled Dan and his band to dub/mix our changes, secure professional artwork master their debut album Homemade Biscuits. 

- I write to express my gratitude of The Seed Fund’s support of finishing my recording, I’m glad that they much believe my music has potential as it is a rather lonely road. In some ways I knew it was relevant and attractive from the audience response, however I can now measure it on different scales, that include development of new audiences and the sales of my first CD

AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC MARKET – Narbarlek and Yilila to attend AIMM

YILILA Contacts were made with delegates from arts/education organisation from New Zealand, Mexico, Indonesia and Australia. These contacts were very positive but had limited ways in which to assist or book us for anything in the future. The strongest opportunity that arose for Yilila was from the Mexican Music Market. There is, with a lot of funding an opportunity to perform in 2006 at their music market. 

NABARLEK Nabarlek achieved greater exposure due to their showcase performance which was described by a number of delegates as faultless. The profile of the band was raised and we have been contacted by a number of Australian delegates about possible future performances. The Opportunity to perform at AIMM has been a great step in the bands career. 

UPGRADE DRUM KIT – Aden Brim to purchase drum kit components

Aden was able to buy a set of Roto Toms, a splash and two crashes. 

- Now that my kit is upgraded it’s hard to get me off it. I hope to get into music a bit more next year because school is my main focus for the next 4 weeks as it’s my last year. The bands I’m in are still rocking up here. I had a gig about two weeks ago and I took my kit in. It was a deadly jam. That was the Kuranda Spring fair and my next jam is with Zenith next weekend at the Yungabura Festival.

Stacia Goninon