A project is born

Earlier this year a group of artists identified a need for professional studio space in Orange - we identified a possible building and have been in negotiations to secure a lease for the building.

Yesterday I heard that we have successfuly negotiated ourselves an artspace at a community rent for the next two years at least! There are 15 rooms and a boardroom/gallery plus bathrooms and a kitchen

Part of the conditions include public liability insurance and building insurance for $100,000

The lease will commence on the 1st of May 2010

 

The next meeting for artists interested in joining this project is on 6 February 2010 at the Art Gallery 10 - 12. at this meeting we will nominate and elect officials for the CCC's

 If anyone has any contacts or suggestions for Public Liability Insurance for the group and insurance for the building can you please contact me asap

Moving Along

Wow now things are moving along!!!!!!!!  Thank you everybody for your great feedback and encouragement.

On Saturday 14th November  Colour City Creatives met at the art gallery with the objective of forming an incorporated body to better pursue options of organizational  funding and sponsorship for local professional and emerging artists to have access to studio space and  gallery facilities to practice their own specialities. 14 people were in attendance and the group elected to become an incorporated body unanimously.

Also of note Orange Regional Gallery Director Alan Sisley  who was unable to attend requested that 3 people from the meeting be chosen to attend a meeting with Council regarding the artspace proposal this is pencilled in for the end of the month

 Again the difficulty of deciding who should be the representatives - in the end I  had to decide Christine Wade, Ken Mattock and myself will be attending this as yet to be arranged meeting. Backups in case of one of us not being able to attend Cheryl Trudgen and Nick Prusiak - I wish I could take you all but at the moment I'm using the strategy of spreading the butter evenly across the toast! (strange metaphor I know  - some of you are jam some butter and others toast - together we will all be just what is needed to fill that yawning hole!)

Max was here! Aida Pottinger

The meeting brought up many aspects of the artspace's  obvious and as yet not dreamed of uses

Collabaration

with regard to - in the main the strength of collabaration and the way it feeds and nourishes the creative spark

Visual arts

Gallery Space for local practicing artists

Sculpture - request for casting equipment also welding equipment, woodworking and stonecarving as well as some of the softer mediums - special access to scavenge at the tip in order to show one man's rubbish is another man's treasure and that recycling doesn't just mean putting cans bottles and paper in the bin with the yellow lid.

Bronze casting with Nick Prusiac

Photography - request for studio by Derek Wilson

Printmaking - press and associated paraphanalia

Multimedia - video equipment, computers, wireless hotspot

Musicians

Practice room

Writers

Quiet room with computer, printer and a reason to get out of bed and go to work

Creative Businesses Incubator?

Architecture and Design require at the very least computer and internet access as well as a telephone line with which to do business.

Community Facilities

Community Garden - waste land into useful space.

Opportunity for Councils and energy providers to showcase and demonstrate new green technologies in retrofitting existing buildings with new, experimental and proven technologies designed to utilise finite resources for maximum effect.

And now for the big news!

ABC Local Radio's Angela Owens rang me and will interview me about this meeting just before the 9 o'clock news on Tuesday 17th November. Woo hoo it's happening!!!!!! Thank you Maryanne!.

Lots of things are happening!

Orange City Council has adopted a resolution to back (no money as yet) artists wanting to aquire studio space at East Fork ( The Barracks) Alan Sisley tells me he is organising a meeting with council and interested parties - Tim Winters has offered his suport for the project so we have another well know award winning artist to add on our list of  interested parties.Tim Winters has lived and worked in Australia for many years. He recently won the Country Energy Art Prize for Landscape Painting and is Director of the Ironbarks Printmaking Summer School in Australia.

 

There is a meeting this Saturday the 14th November at the Orange Regional Art Gallery at 10 am - It is intended to form a comittee of Colour City Creative's to enable us to become an incorporated body in order to pursue funding and sponsorship.The cost of incorporation I believe is $175 which I will ask attendees/future members to contribute towards - I will pay this up front and then ask for subsciptions (the more people the lower the subscription)

 

Marcus Westbury Workshop is on 18th November at Bathurst with a public lecture in evening (I still need to nail down the attendees for the workshop before 13th so I can give numbers to Arts out West) So far I think myself, Aileen, Ken and Joy are attending on behalf of CCCA. 

 

On the 3rd December I am meeting with the CEO of the Australia Council Kathy Keele along with Elizabeth Rogers (CEO of Regional Arts Australia) and possibly Louise Walsh from ArtSupport at The Barracks to discuss "The Vision"

 

Tracy Callinan from Arts Out West  has also emailed myself and Alan Sisly details of major funding available through the Jobsfund

The Vision - The Inspiration

We would like to have a similar Organsation in the Central West to Peacock Visual Arts which is the main contemporary visual arts organisation in Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland and is supported by Aberdeen City Council, the Scottish Arts Council and

Scottish Screen.

Our aim is to play a leading role in nurturing a culture of creativity in

Orange and the Central West. To be renowned internationally as a centre of excellence and innovation where artists and public engage to share and explore ideas and to make and present art in exciting, stimulating and challenging ways.

We passionately believe that art offers empowerment, increases understanding and improves communication. All our collaborative projects, residencies and learning opportunities will be about increasing participation of all members of the community in a rich artistic culture

We want to organise an annual programme of national and international contemporary art exhibitions, as well as talks, critical debates and workshops. We want to provide the widest range of media openly available anywhere in regional NSW. These facilities could include the hire of video and photography equipment and the use of printmaking workshops and could include facilities like a photography darkroom and studio, painting and sculpture studios as well as a dedicated area where visiting artists could have access to facilities for creative projects for community events



A wide range of artworks will be offered for sale by local, regional and international artists, many of which will be as a result of Artist In Residence programmes.
Commercial creative industries can have a jump start. as well as the artists themselves - framing, photography, graphic design, architecture services could also operate from the premises giving a boost to the Central West Region's Creative Industries Strategy



Just some of the jobs on offer could be:

Director:
Curator:,
Assistant curator:,
Gallery assistant:,
Campaign Director (new development):,
Communications manager:,
Finance and Admin manager:,
Accounts assistant:
Printmakers: ,
Digital coordinator:,
TV & Video coordinator:
Digital assistant:
Darkroom technician:
Picture framers: ,
Other: General assistants

Some of these positions may be voluntary and others may be funded from Government grants and industry sponsorship.


To be able to realise the vision - a lot of things have to happen.
The chosen building must be adapted for use


Ideally we would prefer the building to be totally sustainable and solar passive


This could be achieved by using the building as a showcase and for trial and research retrofitting renewable/green energy technologies - solar hot water systems, heat pumps, geothermal pumps. Solar / Alternative heating and cooling systems. A  truly creative powerhouse for the Rural West!


Other opportunities which may be on offer - community commercial kitchen where charity fund-raisers can prepare wares for sale to public in a clean controlled workspace.




Community Gardens / allotments  for food production/permaculture available on land surrounding the building
these extra activities have the potential to give rise for further opportunities in employment and training in Horticulture, Hospitality, Administration.




Music recording studios




There is no reason why we cannot specify that all materials used on site must be sourced locally as far as possible and preference will be given to recycling materials from local businesses and waste facilities.

The centre will be home to the very best in contemporary arts practice. A vibrant addition to the central West’s cultural landscape, the new centre will welcome world-class talent to the city, give a focus for local creativity and provide the region with an international centre for excellence.

We want to put Orange on the map ! Our exceptional cultural heritage for which we should be truly proud is ready for the next step.

If you would like to be part of this exciting project either as a  co -partner, sponsor a philanthopist or an artist or volunteer please contact me