South East Arts and Grow the Music are joining forces again this month in the Wallaga Lake Koori community.
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The month of intensive music and film workshops, for adults and children, culminates in a huge community concert on Friday, November 18.
People in the region are still talking about the concert that was held at Wallaga Lake Koori Village in March 2015, when South East Arts first brought Grow the Music to the area.
More than 300 people packed into the village hall and enjoyed an amazing showcase of dance, music and film by the residents of the Koori Village.
South East Arts is determined to keep supporting the talent of the participants, said Aboriginal arts officer Jazz Williams.
“The people who took part last year were so brilliant, and the concert was so well received, I knew it was crucial to keep opportunities rolling,” Ms Williams said.
“We’ve been running music lessons for the kids alongside the weekly study centre at Wallaga and also in the school holidays. Thanks to a grant from Ministry of the Arts, we can bring the Grow the Music team back to offer more skills development in music and film, and another concert that the wider community is hungry for.”
Grow the Music is based in Northern NSW and has been taking music, film and performance experts into remote Indigenous communities around Australia for many years.
Program director Lizzy Rutten has seen how transformational music can be in communities.
“I hit the ground running each time, and there are always so many musicians, artists and young people eager to learn more about recording music, playing music and looking for opportunities to perform with their band,” she said.
“We can’t wait to get back to Wallaga, we’ve kept in touch with the kids and we’re so excited to see what they will come up with this time.”
Part of the reason Grow the Music achieves such wonderful outcomes in communities is its grassroots and inclusive approach, and its lack of agenda.
“Our only goal is to put on an awesome concert. The participants have full input into the content – whatever they want to learn, play, or film is what we will do,” Ms Rutten said.
“As we saw last year, the Wallaga Lake community had full ownership of the concert, and that’s why it was so powerful.”
Some of the activities on offer are making a film clip with a professional film-maker, learning the process of editing and uploading content, recycled instrument making, programming hip hop beats, hip hop dance sessions, drum circles, singing and much more.
South East Arts is the regional Arts and Culture Development organisation, providing assistance to artists, musicians, writers, dancers, filmmakers and creative producers throughout Bega Valley, Eurobodalla and Snowy Monaro.
South East Arts is deeply committed to enhancing the Aboriginal Arts landscape in our region by continuing to provide skills development opportunities for Aboriginal artists, and generating performance and exhibition opportunities.
South East Arts currently has a range of significant Aboriginal arts projects underway in collaboration with communities across the region. This project is support by the Australian Government through the Indigenous Languages and the Arts program, and locally is supported by Woolworths Bermagui, Red Cross Narooma and Merrimans Local Aboriginal Lands Council.
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