A series of Bega Valley artists and arts organisations have been successful in receiving funding support from South East Arts as parts of their 2022 Country Arts Support Program.
The successful Bega Valley arts organisations applicants included FLING Physical Theatre, Stonewave Taiko, Theatre Onset and Candelo Arts Society.
South East Arts executive director, Andrew Gray said the CASP funding of $17,000 was annually provided by Create NSW so that Regional Art Organisations like South East Arts would be able to run small grant rounds to support artists in their community.
"This year, we decided to draw on our public fund to match this amount and increase the number of artists and arts organisations who would benefit from a financial boost," he said.
Mr Gray said they were able to draw on their public fund "purely through generous tax deductible donations to our fund by members of the public."
FLING Physical Theatre's Game Face project
Bega Valley based youth dance organisation, FLING, said they'd use their CASP funding to support one of their latest projects dubbed 'Game Face'.
The Game Face project will feature an original performance created by the young companies of physical theatre, which will not only entertain young audiences but encourage them to interact with the performers.
FLING dance development officer, Beth Lane said she was grateful they had been successful in obtaining the CASP funding so that they could creatively expand how they were working with their young companies YFLING and FLUX.
"Over the last few years our YFLING and FLUX productions have been growing and it made sense for us to target some new funding into those programs," Ms Lane said.
"They're our next generation of senior company performers so this support really helps us bring an authentic experience that connects our young performers to how they see themselves."
Ms Lane said Game Face was going to be more of an interactive family friendly performance event, rather than just a show.
"We'll be using game and un-conventional performative structures to interact and bring our audiences with us into movement," she said.
Game Face will be performed at the Bega Indoor Stadium during the Art Month activities, hosted on the Sapphire Coast in August.
Tickets to the performance have already gone up online and can be accessed here.
Stonewave Taiko to host a Japanese Drumming Master
Based out of the Bega Valley Stonewave Taiko is a group of community drummers who get together to practice and perform a traditional Japanese drumming art dubbed Wadaiko.
Recent CASP funding from South East Arts has supported Stonewave Taiko in their project of hosting a 'Taiko Master Visit' from renowned Taiko master Eiichi Saito.
Stonewave administration officer, Mahamati said she was grateful for the CASP funding because it meant they'd be able to financially support master Saito during his visit.
Mahamati said the Bega Valley was one of the privileged few in Australia to receive a visit from the Japanese Taiko master, in his visit to the country.
"After the Melbourne conference he said he would visit three other places in Australia, one of them is us and the other two is Byron Bay and Cairns," she said.
Taiko master Eiichi Sato will be coming to the Bega Valley in November 2022, delivering a series of workshops at Cobargo for Stonewave members and the public over three days.
Theatre Onset and the Goldilocks pantomime
Theatre Onset a local theatre group based out of the Bega Valley, were able to use the CASP funding to financially support the creative volunteers involved in their latest pantomime Goldilocks and the Three Bros.
"One of the things community theatre groups like us are rarely able to do is pay our creatives a proper remuneration for their time and creative energy and this time we've been able to do so," Theatre Onset secretary, Mahamati said.
"The grant was a fantastic help and it's a really great initiative to help community groups like us get the support we need to develop our projects a little more," she added.
Numerous individual artists were also successful in gaining CASP funding, to find out which ones or how to apply for next year's round of CASP grants, visit the South East Arts website here.
Amandine Ahrens
I've grown up in the Bega Valley and I'm a regional daily news reporter on the Far South Coast of NSW. Got a story? Get in touch: 0436 426 843 or email amandine.ahrens@austcommunitymedia.com.au
I've grown up in the Bega Valley and I'm a regional daily news reporter on the Far South Coast of NSW. Got a story? Get in touch: 0436 426 843 or email amandine.ahrens@austcommunitymedia.com.au
