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The Art Gallery of New South Wales is pleased to present Family: Visions of a Shared Humanity, an important exhibition of unmissable video works for unsettled times, by some of today’s most internationally renowned artists.

Isaac Julien Western Union: small boats (The leopard) 2007 (video still) 16mm film transferred to digital video, colour, 5.1 surround sound Art Gallery of New South Wales, Lawrence Hinchliffe Bequest Fund 2018 © Isaac Julien Image courtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

Created in partnership with Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), USA, and guest curated by Franklin Sirmans, director of PAMM, Family presents an urgent and powerful exploration of the interconnectedness of global humanity at a moment of division, from Sirmans’ own African American perspective.
The free exhibition features nine works by leading American, British and Canadian artists, including John Akomfrah (Ghana/UK, 1957), Garrett Bradley (USA, 1986), Stan Douglas (Canada, 1960), Theaster Gates (USA, 1973), Arthur Jafa (USA, 1960), Kahlil Joseph (USA, 1981), Isaac Julien (UK, 1969), Steve McQueen (UK, 1969) and Carrie Mae Weems (USA, 1953). Together these pieces open a conversation by asking ‘how do we see each other?’
This moment, marked in the United States and beyond by a litany of recent killings of black people, has also seen courageous activism and coalition building through recognition of the intersectionality of race, gender and disadvantage.
Art Gallery of NSW director, Michael Brand said Family is the first collaboration between the Art Gallery and PAMM, and part of our goal to represent diverse, multicultural communities within a local and global context.
‘I want to thank my colleague Franklin Sirmans for working with us so creatively within the confines of various pandemic lockdowns. We are proud to partner with our colleagues at the Pérez Art Museum Miami to present this moving and timely exhibition after the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and explore this global moment of alertness to social and racial injustice,’ said Brand.
‘Family features nine extraordinary works that seek to create understanding through the power of art and open conversation about the deeper meaning of the term ‘family’, as it pertains to humanity.’
Garrett Bradley America 2019 (video still) multi-channel video installation; 35mm film transferred to HD video, black and white, 5.1 sound, fabric © Garrett Bradley Image courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery
Garrett Bradley America 2019 (video still) multi-channel video installation; 35mm film transferred to HD video, black and white, 5.1 sound, fabric © Garrett Bradley Image courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery
Pérez Art Museum Miami director, Franklin Sirmans said: ‘This exhibition is both personal and institutional in nature. I was delighted to accept the invitation to curate it for Sydney and Australia in the hope that there is indeed a shared humanity, and that the space of the museum is the place to come together to explore that idea. I truly believe the artwork is the only thing that allows us to get to a sense of shared humanity; the mission critical of museums.’
Family features a range of works that explore history, including John Akomfrah’s large-scale video installation Tropikos 2016, a fictional narrative of the first British encounters with peoples of Africa in the 16th century; Garrett Bradley’s America 2019, which imagines black figures from the early decades of the 20th century whose lives have been lost to history by re-imagining missing scenes from silent-era films; Kahlil Joseph’s BLKNWS® 2018-ongoing, which combines current and historical footage about black culture to investigate the way in which black lives are perceived and represented in media and art; Isaac Julien’s Western Union: small boats (The leopard) 2007, which relates to the waves of migration that reshaped the globe in the first decades of the 21st century; and Steve McQueen’s End credits 2012–ongoing, which pays homage to the African American singer, actor, and Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson (1898–1976).
Music is central to many of the works, such as Stan Douglas’ epic six-hour film Luanda-Kinshasa 2013, which depicts a fictitious band of professional musicians at the famed CBS 30th Street Studio in 1970s New York City, alluding to the emergence of a globally minded black consciousness and the unifying power of music. Theaster Gates explores his keen interest in Eastern Buddhism as well as his lifelong personal relationship with traditional gospel music in Breathing 2010, while Arthur Jafa’s celebrated video Love is the Message, the Message is Death 2016 features the soaring, gospel-inspired 2016 song ‘Ultralight Beam’ by Kanye West and captures the powerful emotions that underlie the African American experience, past and present. In Carrie Mae Weems’ work May Days Long Forgotten 2002, young African American girls dance around a maypole, subtly suggesting the struggle for social and economic justice while exalting youth, innocence, and renewal.
The exhibition is accompanied by a range of public programs with diverse creative practitioners that draw attention to local perspectives, including workshops, talks and music.
Visitors can reflect on the exhibition in The Family Lounge, where they can listen to a series of curated playlists by local musicians Amby Downs, BARKAA, Divide and Dissolve and Emily Wurramara. Responding to the current times, these artists invite conversation through their personal experiences, and position music in relation to the artworks in this exhibition. Also, in The Family Lounge, Aboriginal and Māori poet activist Latoya Rule presents a video reflection of their lived experience of black deaths in custody and their ongoing activism.
Early next year, 2 Sydney Stylists founders Niwa Mburuja and Wanyika Mshila in partnership with STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) and Story Factory, will facilitate discursive online and live programs that explore the themes of the exhibition.
Family: Visions of a Shared Humanity will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW from 6 November 2021 until 13 February 2022. Exhibitions may be adjusted or cancelled subject to changes to public health advice and guidelines.
The health and safety of visitors is the top priority of the Art Gallery, which is closely following NSW Public Health Orders. Visitors are required to comply with Public Health Orders and are encouraged to plan their visit by reviewing the COVID-safe guidelines on our website.

Opera Australia has added another outdoor spectacular to its program, today announcing the inaugural New Year’s Eve Opera Gala on Cockatoo Island.
The Cockatoo Island event is in addition to OA’s annual NYE opera performance in the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney Opera House.
The new outdoor event is giving visitors and Sydneysiders even more reason to come out and kick-up their heels after months of lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions.
“We’ve all been starved of live entertainment so we’re inviting everyone to come and celebrate New Year’s Eve with us, to say farewell to 2021 and its lockdowns, and embrace the beginning of a fresh and invigorating new year,” said OA’s Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini.
Guests are spoilt for choice with two of the best vantage points in the city to see Sydney’s internationally famous NYE fireworks display on offer, along with world-class performances, five-star hospitality and glamorous parties.

NYE Opera Gala on Cockatoo Island will present some of the country’s finest performers for a two-hour concert of opera classics under the stars, hosted by the irreverent Jonathan Biggins. Tahu Matheson will conduct a full orchestra and an all-star cast of singers including Stacey Alleaume, Natalie Aroyan, Chanyang Choi, Diego Torre and Luke Gabbedy.
Tickets include pre-booked f

erry transfers and a ticket to the performance with the option of adding a 3-course pre-performance dinner, interval drinks and the post-show midnight party to their booking. Alternatively more casual food and beverage options will also be available.
NYE Opera Gala on Cockatoo Island is presented in collaboration with the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust.
For those looking for a more trad

itional experience, Opera Australia’s annual NYE festivities at the Sydney Opera House will include a

lavish production of Puccini’s La Bohème in the Joan Sutherland Theatre. Italian maestro Lorenzo Passerini conducts the Opera Australia Orchestra and a cast of exceptional singers as they perform the much-loved bohemian tale of four friends navigating their way through their shared experiences of ecstasy, jealousy and loss.

With interval timed to coincide with the 9pm fireworks and the opera finishing in time for the midnight show, there is no better front row seat than the Sydney Opera House’s northern foyer to watch the world-famous fireworks as they light up the night sky and the iconic Harbour Bridge.
Guests can make their NYE extra memorable by adding a pre-performance dinner and midnight party to their opera ticket. The pre-

performance dinner features champagne on arrival and a gourmet three-course meal matched with premium wines. The midnight party kicks off after the performance, offering live music, canapès an

d beverages that will see partygoers well into 2022.

No other city celebrates New Year’s Eve like Sydney and there’s nowhere else to be this year than on Sydney Harbour with Opera Australia.

From SOH website 14 October 21

PUBLISHED ON 29 SEPTEMBER 2021 from MTC Website

She will be taking on a new adventure at Unless Pictures, a Brisbane-based production company best known for their local short films, including No Ordinary Black Shorts, Retrograde and upcoming RIDE shorts featuring diverse Queensland creatives, set to premiere at Brisbane International Film Festival in 2021.

During her time at La Boite Theatre, Simić has produced more than 30 mainstage productions for La Boite across the country, commissioned 25 new Australian works, and led five HWY Festivals; the company’s annual series of showings, workshops and conversations, which invites audiences to play an active role in the process of developing new work for Australian stages.

Alongside her producing accolades, Simić was appointed as one of three Directors In Residence within La Boite’s Artist Company. She made her directorial debut at La Boite in 2018 with Lysa and the Freeborn Dames and successfully opened La Boite’s 2021 season with Naked & Screaming; a new Australian drama that made its world premiere in the Roundhouse Theatre. More recently, she produced and directed La Boite’s contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare’s political thriller CAESAR, which made history as the company’s first ever mainstage show to enlist five playwrights to respond to one classic text.

Sanja’s legacy on La Boite will be a longstanding one, her passionate commitment of representation and access is to be admired. Her skills as a director, collaborator and producer have led to powerful programs and a pipeline of work that La Boite is excited to deliver.

8 Oct 2021

Source: La Boite media web page

Sydney – Tuesday 26 October, 2021.

The Sydney Opera House today revealed a summer holiday line-up of treasured Australian classics: Alison Lester’s Magic Beach and Ted Prior’s beloved Grug; the world premiere of feisty feline fantasia Scaredy Cat; and the return of onsite tours for children and their families.

Families can make this summer count with Magic Beach (4 – 21 January), produced by kids theatre experts CDP (The Gruffalo and Treehouse series). Offering a quintessential Aussie summer experience for kids aged 3+, this wholesome adaptation by multi-award winning playwrigh

t Finegan Kruckemeyer is a feel-good celebration of the power of the imagination, bringing the book to life with text, song, light, shadow and movement.

Kids aged 5+ will love Scaredy Cat (6 – 22 January), a lionhearted tale about being brave together. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Helpmann Award-winning Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s latest offering follows a courageous little cat facing big responsibilities, tasked with hunting down three cunning rodents and doing her family proud – all while terrified of mice.

Kicking off the holiday season in December is Grug (8 – 21 December), a stunningly crafted production based on the much-loved book character. This internationally-acclaimed Australian stage adaptation by Windmill Theatre Company (Bluey’s Big Play) sees the loveable Grug creatively solving everyday problems, demonstrating the benefits of sharing and environmental care.

Sydney Opera House Head of Children, Families and Creative Learning, Tamara Harrison says: “After an immense lockdown, we can’t wait to welcome families back and fill the foyers again with the familiar cheers of children. From the enduring imaginative charm of Magic Beach, to Scaredy Cat learning to solve things her own way, to the beautifully simple lessons of Grug, let’s enjoy these heartwarming shows from Australia’s leading storytellers together again this summer.”

Budding thespians and curious adventure-seekers will be able to enjoy a sneak peek of what happens behind the scenes on the Junior Adventure Tour (4 – 30 January), with interactive games and dress-ups. For a full day out, the Junior Day Pack bundles the tour with a discounted ticket to Magic Beach or Scaredy Cat, followed by lunch at Opera Kitchen. The option to take meal planning out of the equation is also available when pre-ordering a Kid’s Lunch Pack with ticket purchase, which comes with a specially-themed cupcake. Families can also redeem their Creative Kids voucher on the Junior Day Pack.

The health, safety and wellbeing of everyone at the Opera House is our top priority. In line with the NSW Public Health Order, a number of COVID safe measures are in place for the safety and wellbeing of everyone on site. Opera House ticketholders are encouraged to check the plan your visit page prior to their performance for the most up-to-date information in place at the time of their attendance.
Source: Sydney Opera House Media Web Page

25 November – 11 December

Carriageworks

“The programs ends on a buzzing high; the world is on fire, but we still make art, and maybe that makes the art even more urgent, even more beautiful.” – Time Out (New Breed, 2019)

Sydney Dance Company, in partnership with Carriageworks and New Breed Principal Partner The Balnaves Foundation, is proud to announce a return to the stage with the eighth edition of New Breed, continuing a collective commitment to emerging choreographers.

New Breed will mark Sydney Dance Company’s first live, on-stage performance since Sydney’s 2021 lockdown commenced in June. Four talented choreographers will create new works featuring a rich diversity of choreographic ideas to be performed by Sydney Dance Company’s dancers in an extended season of 15 performances.

New Breed is well established as Australia’s most exciting showcase of raw talent and fresh ideas from some of the country’s most gifted emerging choreographers. The New Breed 2021 choreographers are: Jasmin Sheppard (Sydney), Jacopo Grabar (Sydney), Lilian Steiner (Melbourne) and Rhiannon Newton (Sydney).

Sydney Dance Company’s Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela said, “This year’s New Breed is very special for Sydney Dance Company, as after a long six months of disruption, we are returning to live performance. New Breed is such an important program supporting the development of new work and emerging artists, and I’m thrilled that after such a difficult year for the arts in Australia, we will be able to share the work of four talented artists, who represent the next generation of Australian choreographers, with audiences this year.”

Carriageworks CEO Blair French said, “For the eighth year, Carriageworks is proud to collaborate with Sydney Dance Company and The Balnaves Foundation to support the development of new choreography by Australia’s best emerging talent. New Breed reflects Carriageworks’ commitment to present artist-led programs that are innovative, ambitious, and risk-taking contemporary work. To be able to present such impressive and boundary-pushing live work to on-site audiences after such a challenging year is especially thrilling.” Victoria Balnaves of The Balnaves Foundation said, “The Balnaves Foundation is excited to be supporting Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed in its eighth year with an extended season of 15 performances. After what has been a difficult year for all we cannot wait to get back to the live performance space and see what these young, dynamic choreographers will bring to the stage. The Balnaves Foundation remains committed to fostering the future of the

Arts in Australia, and we believe New Breed is the perfect platform to showcase our next generation of choreographic talent.”

“The annual Sydney Dance Company showcase of freshly minted choreography is always intriguing for its revelation of ideas that a new generation of choreographers wants to explore – physical and intellectual.” - Sydney Morning Herald

CHOREOGRAPHER BIOGRAPHIES

Jasmin Sheppard

Jasmin is a contemporary dancer, choreographer and director, a Tagalaka Aboriginal woman with Irish, Chinese and Hungarian ancestry. Jasmin spent 12 years with Bangarra Dance Theatre performing numerous lead roles such as ‘Patyegarang’, in which critics described her performance as “powerfully engaging, fluent dexterity” (Sydney Morning Herald).

She choreographed a major work for the company, MACQ, on the 1816 Appin Massacres under Governor Macquarie which toured Australian capital cities, regional Australia and Germany.

In 2012 Jasmin was nominated for an Australian Dance award for ‘Best Female Contemporary Dancer’. Her work MACQ was nominated for a Helpmann Award for best dance work as a part of OUR Land People Stories in 2017, and in 2018 received a Helpmann for best regional touring program.

Other works include: No Remittance for Legs on the Wall and Choice Cut for Yirramboi festival, which was presented at Toronto’s ‘Fall For Dance North’ Festival, 2019.

Jasmin premiered her first full-length work The Complication of Lyrebirds in 2020 at Campbelltown Arts Centre. The work Premiered at Sydney Festival, 2021.

Jacopo Grabar

Italian born Jacopo trained at Ateneo della Danza in Siena. In 2012 he joined Balletto di Siena as an apprentice, graduated to full time dancer in season 2013/14. Jacopo received his American Ballet Theatre NTC diploma in 2013, before joining Baltic Dance Theatre (Gdańsk, Poland) the following year where he worked with choreographers including Jiri Kylian, Patrick Delcroix and the director, Izadora Weiss.

In 2015 he joined ImPerfect Dancers Company (Pisa, Italy), directed by Walter Matteini and Ina Broeckx and in August 2016 he joined Ballet des Stadttheater Bremerhaven, under the direction of Sergei Vanaev, where he worked with Itzik Galili and Ed Wubbe. Jacopo joined Sydney Dance Company in August 2018. This is his first choreographic engagement with Sydney Dance Company.

Lilian Steiner

Lilian Steiner is a Narrm/Melbourne-based choreographer, dancer and performer. Her practice champions the deep intelligence of the body in movement and its unique ability to reveal and comment on the complexities of contemporary humanity. Her interests extend into visual arts and experimental sound practices where the body is the base for questioning and expression.

Lilian’s work has been presented both within Australia and internationally. Local presentations include Dance Massive, the Keir Choreographic Award, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne Now (National Gallery of Victoria) & Lucy Guerin Inc.’s Pieces for Small Spaces.

International presentations include B.Motion Festival (Bassano del Grappa), Deltebre Dansa (Spain), Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint-Denis (Paris), Fête de la Musique (Geneva), Les Plateaux de la Briqueterie (Paris), Constellations Festival (Toulon) & Hong Kong International Choreography Festival. Her first full-length work Noise Quartet Meditation (2014) received a Green Room Award for ‘Concept and Realisation’.

Lilian is a long-term performer-collaborator with Melbourne-based company Lucy Guerin Inc. and has worked on numerous projects with choreographers Phillip Adams, Shelley Lasica and Melanie Lane amongst others, as well as with visual artists working with performance and sculpture/film (Sally Smart, Bridie Lunney, Brook Andrew, Matthew Bird, Ash Keating, Mikala Dwyer & Arini Byng) and experimental sound performance

(Anna Homler, Richie Cyngler & JLin). Lilian received the Green Room Award for Best Female Dancer in both 2017 and 2018, as well as the Helpmann Award in 2017.

Rhiannon Newton

Rhiannon is an Australian dancer and choreographer who grew up on Dunghutti Land on the Mid-North Coast of NSW.

Her creative work draws attention to ways of understanding interdependence between bodies and the world. Currently working from Gadigal Land (Sydney), Rhiannon makes contributions to community and culture through creation, performance, collaboration, teaching, research and curation.

Her recent projects include Explicit Contents (Sydney Festival, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2021); A Strange Place (Dance Nucleus, Singapore; Performance Space, Sydney, 2021); Long Sentences (Performance Space, Sydney, 2020; Sydney; Baltic Circle Festival, Helsinki, 2019 ); We Make Each Other Up (Dancehouse, Melbourne, 2018; Dance Massive, Melbourne, 2019) and Doing Dancing (Powerhouse, Brisbane 2018; Firstdraft, Sydney, 2017).

Rhiannon has developed her practice through residencies, commissions and research platforms throughout Australia, Europe and North America, including The Unconformity (Tasmania, 2021); Australia Council HIAP International Residency (Helsinki, 2019); Trois C-L (Luxembourg, 2019), Dancehouse Housemate (Melbourne, 2018); Critical Path’s Responsive Residency (Sydney, 2016, 2018, 2020) and Movement Research (New York, 2013).

Rhiannon also works as a collaborator and performer with artists such as Mette Edvardsen (BE), Martin del Amo, Lee Serle, Rebecca Jensen, Amrita Hepi, Rosalind Crisp, Paea Leach, Angela Goh and Brooke Stamp.

Source SDC Media Website

19 October  2021

Wednesday 20 October 2021
This joint statement by theatres in Sydney acknowledges the significant and specific impacts that COVID-19 pandemic has had on the performing arts industry around the world, and specifically in Sydney during extended periods of lockdown. This impact extends to our artists, audiences, employees, partners, donors, funders and other stakeholders.
We are committed to re-opening and operating to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all our stakeholders.
We are committed to the development and implementation of COVID-Safe policies that meet or exceed the conditions set out in Public Health Orders (PHOs) as released from time to time by the NSW Government Health Department.
We believe as a collective of theatres operating in Sydney that consistency across theatre venues provides certainty and security to our artists, audiences, employees, partners, donors, funders and other stakeholders that is beneficial for the sector as a whole as well as individual theatre companies and producers, both large and small.
With this in mind, we will require all visitors to our venues to be fully vaccinated while on-site through to 31 December 2021. Please note that individuals under the age of 16 are excluded from this requirement.
We will further require that masks are mandatory while in theatre auditoriums and indoor spaces (except when you are eating and drinking). This is regardless of further movements in the PHO (including a possible relaxation of double dose requirements for those attending public gatherings).
Individuals aged between 12 and 15 are required to wear a fitted mask at all times in our theatres and indoor spaces. Masks are strongly recommended for individuals aged under 12.
These settings will be reviewed and relevant changes made to our 2022 policies as required.
We are looking forward to welcoming artists and audiences back to our venues and to being able to once again produce and present exceptional and memorable live theatre on our stages.

Names of signatories to the joint statement:
Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, Griffin Theatre,
Hayes Theatre Co, Sydney Theatre Company, Seymour Centre

Source: STC Website

For help with your Covid-19 marketing recovery contact Arts Marketing Australia

Arts Marketing Australia
The arts industry already produces great content, but a new breed of marketing specialist is needed to ensure our arts get to their audience.
The arts landscape is changing, and the outlook is distinctly business-like. With that in mind organisations dedicated to arts are looking to specialist marketers to help get their work in front of audiences. Handling everything from press enquiries to ticketing, marketing specialists are helping shape the evolution of the arts industry, and the motive is surprisingly simple.
‘It’s the heart and passion of increased engagement,’ said Michael McCallum from Arts Marketing Australia. ‘We have an incredibly vibrant cultural life here in Australia, and it deserves to be celebrated.’
According to McCallum, practitioners are often loathe to engage with the marketing process, believing their work should speak for itself – ‘and it does! But not if nobody is around to hear it. Think about the average audience member. How will they find out about your show? Talk to them, feel for their needs.’
‘There are so many disengaged potential attendees: they don’t know what’s out there and how it might benefit them. We’re essentially trying to develop new markets for the arts industry by getting these people in venues and experiencing art.’
With revenue concerns always pressing, Arts Marketing Australia focuses on finding cost-effective solutions. By creating a forward-thinking marketing plan, they help arts organisations looks beyond the next season and formulate a long-term plan. Often the solutions are surprisingly simple, such as ensuring websites are mobile friendly. ‘We have the digital marketing tools that arts organisations are unlikely to have readily at their disposal: in the end, it’s all about telling the right people about great art when they want to listen.’
Arts Marketing Australia is a proud sponsor of the ArtsHub Conference 2015.

2 One Another

5 – 14 Oct

Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay, Sydney

One hundred international performances 2 one another returns to Sydney in October for another explosive performance series.

#SDC #sydneydancecompany

Link to the video and bookings here