The Australia Council for the Arts has announced more than $1.7 million in Playing Australia touring grants to support emerging and established performing arts organisations.
As well as regional tours by the Australian Dance Theatre and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the program will support tours of performances across dance, contemporary music and physical theatre, enabling nine performing arts organisations to reach audiences at 74 locations across Australia.
Australia Council CEO Tony Grybowski said the Council was committed to greater access to the arts for Australians living outside the major cities, as well as supporting artists to build their audiences and networks across Australia.
“This investment will bring some of Australia’s leading performers from theatre, dance and contemporary music to audiences in regional and remote communities across Australia,” Mr Grybowski said.
Highlights include:
- The Australian Ballet’s tour of the classic Coppélia across Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
- Regional Arts Victoria’s national tour of ‘Which Way Home” by Ilbijerri Theatre Company, which describes the experiences of contemporary Aboriginal Australia, to 32 venues across Australia.
- A national tour of “Songlines” produced by ArtBack NT and featuring Bathurst to Melville (B2M) a seven-piece R&B Indigenous band from the Tiwi Islands.
- A 10-venue tour of “The Season”, a play by Tasmanian Aboriginal writer and performer Nathan Maynard, featuring a cast of seven leading Aboriginal actors.
- A nine-week national tour of “The Beginning of Nature” by the internationally acclaimed Australian Dance Theatre.
- A tour of regional Australia by ARIA award nominated country music singer/songwriter Fanny Lumsden.
- A 10-venue tour by Performing Lines of “Jump First Ask Later” by Force Majeure and Powerhouse Youth Theatre, which paints an urban choreographic portrait of the streets of Fairfield, Western Sydney.
- A cross-cultural music tour by Tura New Music of leading Aboriginal artists to venues across regional and remote northern Australia.
A full list of the grants outcomes can be found on the Australia Council grants register.
The closing date for the next grants round is 3 October 2017.