Arts & Cultural Grant Program recipients

Hsin Lin, detail from “A Lifetime Grit - Eucalyptus Macrocarpa”, 2021. 

• Chelle Destefano and Claire Bridge ($5000)
  What I Wish I'd Told You. An exhibition and public program that centres Deaf voices, bringing visitors into a Deaf Cultural experience through Auslan stories by a diverse group of Deaf people. Workshops, performances and social events will accompany the exhibition at Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery.
• Fresh Theatre for Social Change ($5000)
  The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. A site-specific, outdoor performance of Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui to be performed in the Ringwood arts precinct. This will be a local, organic performance of a thought provoking play by a leading local socially-engaged theatre company.
• Jazz Notes ($4994)
  Jazz at the Lake. This outdoor music event will bring the community together for a full day of music at Ringwood Lake. This inclusive community event will have wide appeal and will showcase local musicians including a local high school stage band, a big band and well-known singers.
• Maroondah Symphony Orchestra ($1000)
  Purchase of chimes. The purchase of chimes will enable the Orchestra to increase its capacity to perform a wide range of musical repertoire.
• Your DNA Creative Arts ($5000)
  An accessible spectacle performance piece which will amplify lesser-heard voices of Maroondah to the broader community. PORTAL will present a rare and beautiful story in a high exposure public space, tenderly told and utilising sophisticated sensory and aerial engineering.
• 3D Arts Company ($2300)
  Playback performances. Young people in Maroondah will create a public performance in partnership with Melbourne Playback Theatre company. Culminating in a Bringing Back Theatre festival, young actors will once again experience the value of live theatre in the community.

• Fresh Theatre for Social Change – ‘The Unsaid’ ($5000)
  An original play which will be promoted to local schools along with an education pack. This play will be unique in its development and structure, improvisational and collaborative approach.
• Maroondah Singers – Inclusion Program ($2500)
  The program will promote inclusion through musical performance. The capacity of the choir will be built through new technology to facilitate learning of new repertoire. The community will benefit through improved sound enhancement in diverse performance settings.
• Ringwood and District Historical Society (Heathmont History Group) – Orchard tribute bollards ($3000)
  Bollards will be decorated with artworks as a tribute to the orchardists who pioneered Heathmont. The project will be undertaken in partnership with community and schools and will celebrate this aspect of local heritage within the local shopping strip.
• Ringwood East Traders Association Inc. – Ringwood East Art Installation ($5380)
  A significant piece or pieces of art within the Ringwood East shopping precinct to raise the quality, enjoyment and appreciation of the arts experience and encourage visitation and participation by the local community and Maroondah in general.
• Yarrunga Community Centre – ISO Art ($3000)
  ISO Art, images of experiences in isolation during COVID-19, will support the community to share their experiences and emotions of Coronavirus lockdown through art, assisting with mental health self-care.
• Zomi Association Australia Inc. – Zomi Traditional Music ($3500)
  Traditional Zomi musicians will lead a Daaktum workshop for young people. The project will benefit Zomi young people by bringing them together to enhance social wellbeing and encourage them to participate in the wider community by showing their Daaktum music skills.

Recipients of the 2019/20 Arts and Cultural Grants Program were: 

• Croydon Main Street Traders - $3,500
  The Chemist
  A stencil art portrait of Croydon pharmacist Jim Burns by artist Andy Drewitt. The band-aid design concept represents Jim’s role as a chemist - a healer in the community - and particularly his care for people suffering addiction.
• Fresh Theatre for Social Change - $5,000
  Bard in the Backyard
  A site-specific performance of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the Backyard.  The performance will stay true to the Shakespearian text whilst interweaving local stories of family conflict, intergenerational divide and tolerance to deliver a world that is relatable and real.
• Maroondah - Ringwood Branch of Seniors Australia - $3,000
  Carnifex
  A public artwork which explores Croydon’s history from the Pleistocene period and depicts a marsupial lion which may have lived and hunted in the area.  Carnifex, an ambush predator, it would sneak up and leap upon its victim or drop down from an overhanging branch.
• Nadrasca Community Options - $2,130
  Maroondah - Connecting the lines, connecting the people
  This project brings together Nadrasca and Studio4 artists for drawing and painting workshops which focus on celebrating what they enjoy about Maroondah. The artwork which evolves form the workshops will be exhibited at Maroondah Federation Estate in September 2019.
• Ringwood Eisteddfod - $1,512
  Website project
  Assistance provided in updating their website to provide a more efficient booking system.
• Urban Life - $2,800
  Urban Chill Nights
  An opportunity for emerging artists to perform in a warm, laid back environment to develop their craft and material. Nights will include an open mic segment and be rounded out by more experience performers. 
• Yarrunga Community Centre - $4,000
  Look What I can do Art and Craft Program
  Provide participants with access to marketing materials with the aim of increasing confidence and communication skills with others and potentially pursue arts as a form of self-employment in the future.