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The Regional Centre for Culture celebrates the creativity and culture of Central Victoria with a  year long program of over 1000 events. For more information about the program and events see their website:

http://rcc2018.com

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www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au/event-details/!/488/event/soft-core

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Brendan later reviews Absolutely Fabulous–the movie. He actually got to interview the leads on ‘the gold carpet’ in his other job!!! Both were very lovely and approachable and Brendan talks briefly about the topics they discussed. Unfortunately the film didn’t live up to the ‘lofty expectations’ 2.5 stars.  David also talks about Morrissey from The Smiths fame because he’s touring in October.

Special guests this week are:

11:53 to 27:57 mins–Neil Armfield is, at present, the co artistic-director of the Adelaide Festival for 2017 (amongst his many hats). Neil has been in the theatre world since 1980 and had come to Adelaide from Nimrod NSW to join Jim Sharman at the influential Lighthouse Theatre. Neil directed Twelfth Night which they then filmed with a great ensemble of actors that Jim collected- including Geoffrey Rush. He returned to Sydney and helped in the purchase of the Belvoir Theatre which ran without an artistic director for 9 years.  He’d developed a personal style & connection with a great group of actors and became artistic director in 1994–staying for 17 years.  He then directed another film– Candy (2006) with Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish and years later, Holding The Man (2015). Neil is now working with an old colleague from Belvoir (Rachel Healy)as co-artistic directors of the Adelaide Festival 2017 and are ‘cooking up a really interesting festival’. He talks about the experience of putting a fest together and also the Centrepiece Opera–Barrie Kosky’s production for Glyndebourne Opera of Handel’s Saul. Neil details Kosky’s stellar career, here and overseas, including his direction of the very memorable 1996 Adelaide Fest and the award winning series of operas in Berlin. Barrie has made opera ‘alive’ and exciting, with Saul getting responses akin to a rock concert. The look of this opera is spectacular –‘like an extraordinary Baroque dream’and it has a ‘twist’.   There are four performances commencing on 3 March 2017 which is quite ambitious for an opera in a fest.

32:59 to 48:22 mins–Director Emil Wolk and performer Kate Fryer are here to talk about Laughter and Tears–a mixture of circus and singing via a collaboration between Victorian Opera and Circus Oz–on at the Palais Theatre on 13, 16 and 18 August.   It involves 2 episodes 1) Laughter which is ‘a unique prologue to the tragic events of Pagliacci’ where entertainers ‘prepare to perform a comedy of forbidden love for the local townspeople…’ and 2)Tears which is the well known opera Pagliacci . Kate was an actor and did children’s theatre until she got an epiphany regarding circus & physical theatre at two very physical shows in the 1996 Adelaide Festival. She trained at Circus Oz in Melbourne and got cast in The Tempest in a company which created very physical Shakespeare works. She and a colleague then moved onto to Circus Oz and Rock n’ Roll Circus etc. Emil was exposed to opera, famous performers and wonderful experiences through his father, who was a principle baritone at Covent Garden. After school he studied mime and ‘tumbling’ with teachers that were ‘incredible characters. He semi-retired from the more physical work and moved to Port Macquarie with his Aussie wife but was invited to do work overseas and for The Victorian Opera. Laughter was devised & created by [themselves]. Emil sees Laughter as a homage to all theatres like the Palais and Tears as a political commedia piece based on Fascism with the clown being Mussolini.

50:31 to 1:18:39 mins–Photographer Matt Irwin is here to talks about his coffee-table book  Melbourne – a love affair. Matt has been a photographer for 25 years. As a teenager he wanted to be a film-maker and had an appreciation of beautiful images.  He started travelling Melbourne’s streets with a camera-seeing them as beautiful -and learnt some camera and video techniques via a TAFE course. He felt no-one else saw the streets as he did and he did it for himself initially. Friends showed interest so he did some markets and got positive feedback and started making money. He likes taking misty shots and his subjects tend to be buildings and laneways.  He explains why and likens it to the paintings of Jeffrey Smart who is his favourite artist. He has travelled all over the world and explains how he views things, including seeing beauty in things that others don’t. He definitely has ‘an eye’ and describes what he does when looking around for a subject; and also the role of  instinct, patience and technical combinations when deciding on and taking a shot.  He and our hosts discuss the inadequacy of mobile phone cameras to take a high quality photo and reproduce what you ‘see’, and how the digital camera allows people to experiment as opposed to analogue. Then they all chat about the changes in Melbourne over the years, Matt’s video-making experience, his web series, cards, prints and colouring book. For people who want to see his products in the flesh there are Stockists and his original work at his Art Space.

1:19:18 to 1:31:38 mins–Edwina Bolger is Curator at Linden New Art in St Kilda and is here to talk about 2 ongoing exhibitions– Lagangu by Alick Tipoti and Duplikator by Samuel Tupou –both on until 9 October. Edwina has been working in the arts for 27 years–in commercial galleries, not-for-profit organisations, Craft Victoria and the Arts Centre.  She’s been at Linden for 4 years and has been involved with the name change and the change of strategic direction to show more mid-career artists and give them opportunities.  Edwina has always been a ‘maker’; doing stuff with her hands. She studied Fine Arts at uni, did a postgrad in Museum studies and Conservation and then a DipEd. Mentoring artists is a priority at Linden and those who win first prize in the Linden Art Prize get a mentoring program which gives them an idea of a broader picture than just their studio practice. They also run Speakeasys which are professional development workshops.  As for their latest exhibitions–each year Linden puts on an indigenous show with some help from Port Phillip Council. This year Edwina has worked with 2 mid-career artists– Torres Strait Islander Alick Tipoti and Brisbane-based Tongan/NZ artist Samuel Tupou. Aleck is known for his lino-print work and mask-making.  He also paints and sculpts. Samuel does streetart, popart, screenprinting with designs inspired by a traditional woven Tongan cloth. Both artists draw from their heritage to bring the images to life.  Next exhibition is the Linden Postcard Show on from 21 October 2016 to 29 January 2017. Entries close on 12 Sept.

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David and Brendan then discuss Open House Melbourne from this weekend (which has just finished).  It is a popular event where many normally inaccessible buildings, are open to the public.  This includes the classic historical buildings as well as more modern ones (some with built in sustainability). They specifically mention– 41X, Limelight Studios and Salvation Army Heritage Centre, Myer Mural Hall and The Victorian Artists’ Society.

Special guests today are:

31:12 to 47:30 mins–Paul Newcombe is a painter and is here to talks about his Exhibition– Conversations/Construction— on from 4 to 20 August at Bright Space gallery at 8 Martin St, St Kilda. Paul’s family emigrated from England to Devonport in Tasmania in1962. His mother used to go to galleries and theatre and passed on this interest to her children.  Also, Devonport had many European educated professionals who over time set up theatre companies, theatres and a gallery. Paul studied art at nightschool and later at the Tasmanian School of Art and also became involved in performance art when there. He met experimental- theatre people and went to Adelaide with them and later to Melbourne and got paid for doing stage dressing and other work. All this time he continued painting and also had exhibitions every 2 years.  He’s always been an abstract painter and always presents new work at his exhibitions. His work process is ‘old-school’ in that he starts with small drawings and small coloured pieces and builds up to a large piece and then he’ll  ‘run it’–i.e. he’ll run the formula or idea, painting a large number of pieces for a show. Paul then discusses a one-night pop-up exhibition he did with another artist; both selling ‘affordable art’ and also why his present exhibition is called Conversations/Construction.  Essentially – in conversation with the gallery staff he came up with a layout of how the exhibition would be hung before he started the paintings; hence he had to start construction. He also explains the ‘grid’ style of the paintings consisting of many small squares, do the painting looks different up close to how it does from a distance.

49:32 to 1:06:36 mins–Gabby Haynes is the Acting Programs Officer for Yarra Ranges Regional Museum (YRRM) in Lilydale, which is a ‘social history museum’.   She’s here to talks about their exhibition Emporium (The rise of the 1950s department store) on from 27 July to 23 October along with a series of events over that time. Once Gabby got her PhD in History she started working in museums as she wanted to tell the general population about history. YRRM has an extensive collection and uses this for exhibitions on local history. They also have touring exhibitions such as Emporium–which comes from Albury and is based upon an iconic shop there. They occasionally have art exhibitions too.  YRRM is open 7 days and exhibitions are free. Department stores are an extension of what an Emporium was. Abikhair’s Emporium in Albury was started by immigrants; much like Myer’s but didn’t expand much past the local area. The department store that Emporium is based on was one started in 1928 and didn’t close till 1996. One of the sons kept old merchandise that hadn’t been sold. This included clothing, haberdashery and lingerie as well as 1950s advertising which are all in the exhibition; along with videos interviews of historians, former employees etc. Gabby and our hosts talk more about the 1950s store experience and products, including– changes that were happening, the start of mass production, standardised sizing , personalised service, products made to last and opportunities for women. Gabby suggests to come out and do a workshop or see a talk as well as see the exhibition.

1:07:04 to 1:25:26 mins–Director Gorkem Acaroglu is here to talk about Milk Bars–‘a cross between an Exhibition and a Live Event’– July 27 to August 6 at the Mechanics Institute, Brunswick. Gorkem firstly talks about about her involvement in the Melbourne and Ballarat 24 hour Experience.  For Milk Bars, Gorkem and team worked with 10 artists from different backgrounds for this, which she elaborates on later. David and Gorkem talk about the wonderful Milk Bar experience when it was the hub of the community and where proprietors knew you by name. The Exhibition replicates some experiences from that.  Gorkem also explains the origins of Milk Bars in 1913, why they were called that as well as how they’d make things on site and had soda fountains.    Milk bars were also a way for migrants to move up the social ladder, working very hard, and living at the back of the shop. This isn’t possible any more as people don’t shop at the corner shop anymore. Gorkem and 2 others are from the company Metanoia. Her colleagues had significant Milk Bar experiences and wanted to explore that. Gorkem was particularly interested in loss of community and the migrants who helped spread Milk Bars far and wide. They wanted people to be moved and reflect and chat about their own experiences.  Milk Bars is a 1hr 20mins experience.  It is set up with a regular exhibition with photography, sculptures, lots of 80s ads& a whole range of memorabilia, (a lot came from Eamon Donnelly).  There’s a Milk Bar replica in the middle with all the favourite foodstuffs (which you can buy) and performance art including dance, puppetry, spoken word–all related to the Milk Bar.  People have found it touching, nostalgic; a beautiful experience.

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Special guests today are:

13:48 to 33:02 mins–Artistic Director Evan Lawson and Soprano Rosemary Ball are from Forest Collective here to talk about their show Sensuality in the City on at The Recital Centre on 18 May at 6pm. It is part of the Metropolis New Music Festival.  Both guests graduated from the VCA in 2009. Since graduating Rosemary has been studying and performing and in 2013 Evan invited her to collaborate with Forest Collective. This experience has widened her artistry and pushed her to test her boundaries.  Evan studied composition at VCA and conducting at the Conservatorium.  He has conducted here and overseas doing both old and new work. Forest Collective had its roots at VCA with Evan collaborating with musicians and visual artists and putting on avante garde experimental events which later became more structured.  His passion is to work in small groups, with chamber music and living composers and collaborating with other artforms which Forest is about.  Evan describes the layout of their one-off concert which has musicians, 2 singers and a visual art element. It involves pieces from 2 UK composers and one of Evans’s, as well as short leader songs from Schubert and Schumann –all focusing on sexuality along with some melancholia/sadness.  Rosemary describes the pieces she’ll be singing and visually there is a take on a 1950s muscleman poster with a twist and a surprise which Evan’s not giving away.

33:58 to 45:08 mins–Sharron O’Kines is a visual artist, predominantly a Linocut Printmaker whose exhibition is called–  Kitchenalia: an ongoing series of linocut prints exploring memory, love, loss–on at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre 210 Lonsdale St,  from 1 to 31 May. Sharon came late to art via a ‘mid-life crisis’ and went to fulltime arts school (Chisholm) for 2 years covering print-making, sculpture and painting. And she gravitated toward Linocut prints an artform requiring great precision which she enjoys. It takes 30 to 40 hours to carve each lino before the printing but Sharon and others call it ‘therapy’.  David saw her previous exhibition depicting burlesque performers which is totally different to her present one. Inspiration came from her fascination with cut glass pieces when op-shopping. It occurred to her these pieces may have come from her nan’s, aunt’s and great-aunts’s kitchens back in England and she was creating an imagined history for herself (with jelly molds and crystal bowls & vases etc) which has also resonated with many others. This exhibition is comprised of her newer works which she created in the last 6 months and she has used newly available fluoro colours which she thinks was inspired by her growing up in the 1970s–so a combo of old and new.

52:37 to 1:14:07 mins–Elizabeth Welch is the Arts and Cultural Development Officer from the Museum of Me. Before this role, Elizabeth was an actor (mainly theatre) for many years but alongside this she taught young actors and did other community-based projects which became more prominent as her acting fell away. She came up with the Museum of Me when she started working as an arts and cultural development officer at the City of Darebin 3 years ago. It came from looking at the demographical spikes in Darebin with the highest being primary schoolkids and the over 70s and wondering how she could bring these groups together. Her first project started in 2014 and had a huge amount of scope. There is a 7 minute doco about it on the website which explains what they were trying to achieve.  They improved on it and in 2016 they have 2 artists in residence at 2 aged-care facilities.  At one of them a choreographer is working with a composer on a partner-dancing project. It involves elderly people with dementia and 8 year old kids dancing together and is about a way of getting together physically and communing, and being in the now which kids are very good at.  This is key in helping the elderly feel like they’re listened to and who they are now is as important who they were 40 years ago. And it’s fun! Elizabeth gives another example and its effects.  She also talks about the power of music, the artists’ experience and ongoing interaction with the kids and elderly beyond the project.

1:14:28 to 1:28:52 mins–Sarah Curro is First Violinist in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is here to talk about the 3 MSO concerts on 14, 18 and 21 May within the Metropolis New Music Festival  9 to 21 May at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Sarah’s dad started the Queensland Youth Orchestra in 1967 and Sarah went to many performances as a child so she always wanted to play in the Symphony. As a child he copied her older sister with learning violin, involving herself with the Youth orchestra, studying music at the conservatorium. But their path diverged with overseas study when Sarah went to Hong Kong and her sister to Michigan. The Hong Kong experience was mind-blowing for Sarah with electric violins and modern music and she has now got her own solo contemporary classical music show called Volume. She plays pieces she commissions from composers, on her husband’s electric and semi-acoustic instruments. She later details her experience with an unusual composer! She plays at The Toff in Town in the city. She started at the MSO in 2002 after playing for the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She came to Melbourne because her sister was here. Sarah will play in 2 of the 3 MSO concerts in the Metropolis New Music Festival and finds these more modern composers more challenging to practice and play than more traditional composers.

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Special guests today are:

22.45 to 48:57 mins—Eureka is a visual artist, here to talk about his background and his Midsumma Art Exhibition called Decoupages d’hommes on at Fortyfivedownstairs from 19 January to 4 February 2016. In the past, Eureka was married with children, had a job as a social worker and a mortgage in the suburbs. Then he read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, wrote a journal, realised that he was infatuated with a man at work and everything unravelled. His new life began, with art as a crucial part of his reinvention. He did an arts course at the queer friendly Footscray Community Centre which helped him to understand contemporary art and he also developed a queer network. He is now a Community Development Consultant (paid work) as well as a queer activist (unpaid) and an artist. Eureka discusses his artistic journey, what drives him, the importance of spirituality in art and why the core of his art is the male nude. He gets models via ads in Craig’s List, and other model sites, and uses architectural backgrounds (mostly classical, that he found in Europe) and puts a contemporary ‘cutout’ of a male nude in. This he sees as a clash of opposites.

50:09 to 1:20:47 mins—Rose Godde is the executive producer of Platform Youth Theatre (PYT) and is also heavily involved with the #SaveYouthArts campaign. Originally from Albury she came to Melbourne and did a …Creative Facilitator course at the VCA which gave her skills to work with opera, music, theatre and dance in a community setting. She’s always had a passion for telling stories that need to be told and she has worked in an enormous number of diverse jobs and settings with this as her focus including doing short films with homeless people and directing the St Kilda Film Festival. She has been with PYT since 2007 and loves working with the mostly young, socially engaged staff there that are also committed to Youth Arts and making a difference. PYT is there to create a space for young people to tell their stories which is very important. Unfortunately, Youth Arts is at risk in Australia due to drastic funding cuts and Rose details the possible consequences. The 2 week old #Save Youth Arts campaign was formed to work with partnerships to deal with this dire situation. Rose details what they’re doing and adds that individuals can help through donating money to Theatre orgs which get a tax deduction and also tell their local MP how important Youth Arts are.

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Special Guests today are:

Melinda Martin is a Director at Linden New Art—an art gallery at 26 Acland St, St Kilda. She tells us about the history of the beautiful building, funding, branding, her own background, and the current exhibition at the Gallery. This is the Linden Art Prize showing artwork from 8 contenders of which 4 win prizes (showing till 3 May). Melinda also previews upcoming exhibitions– Linden Projects.

Anna Kennedy is an actor and theatre-maker who is a recent graduate from VCA and the RMIT NEIS Program (Small business) putting together new works from VCA graduates for the FRISK Festival. She describes her background and present role with FRISK and the affiliation with Darebin Arts for the 4 shows she is producing for the True North Festival. These shows are– I Still Call Australia Homo, Godlike Status, The Adventures Of Ophelia Sol and Notes From Zombieland—17-19 April at the Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre.

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Today’s special guest Daniel Witthaus— Author, Performer and a ‘Challenging homophobia Educator’– tells us how he started challenging homophobia within schools and later by driving around rural Australia for 266 days. He has 2 books which cover these experiences and now a one man show– Who the bleep is Daniel Witthaus? at Chapel off Chapel on 28-29th Jan covering the behind the scenes stories on the rural trip.

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