2017-2021 Art is... a footprint.
Our sub-themes were:
2017 Art is... Moving Together
2018 Art is... Making your Mark
2019 Art is... Moulding our Future
2020 Art is... Unexpected (it certainly was). We pivoted to Art is... still happening in April of 2020
2021 ... trying again we went with Art is... unexpected - TAKE TWO
In hindsight, in many ways, 2021 has been even trickier to organise than last year. Things were looking promising though with restrictions scheduled to lift on 28th May 2021 - the day we were due to start. But on the 27th May Victoria was plunged into a statewide lockdown. We had a back up plan and shifted to new dates a month later but the announcement of the fifth lockdown just as we were rehanging the exhibition, the week before our rescheduled plans, finally forced us to cancel almost all in-person activities.
We were however lucky that we could still deliver our Winter Warner - Delguk Wanjab. Delguk Wanjab means Beautiful Fire in Wergaia and is part of a new co-naming initiative. With a move into the Maydale Pavillion due to predicted wet weather and reduced permitted numbers - we were at Covid capacity with 300 in attendance - we still managed to have a lovely evening.
2021 saw us partner with the The Weekly Advertiser and release our program in the centre-spread of the paper. You can download our program here or view on line in The Weekly Advertiser here
You can also download and view our COVID safe plan here.
We ran an extended but reduced program in 2020 due to the pandemic... certainly life for the arts, like everyone's, was unexpected!
Alistair, our curator, did the first half of the Covid year in NZ; Sarah, our Festival Director, was trapped in the UK for 5 months - so both got to experience the delights of our hotel quarantine system. But we still managed to deliver a festival.
We ran online forums and they and our our workshops were attended from around Australia and around the world (not just our staff trapped overseas)! Some of our farflung audience would return for our digital deliveries in 2021 too.
Our highlight for 2020 was staging the first Drive in Concert in Victoria, featuring Alice Skye, made possible thanks to a Strategic Investment Program grant from Creative Victoria and our partnership with the Horsham Agricultural Society.
We also launched a new annual photography competition: the Art is Bald.
This is a clip of the lighting of the Bonfire at the Winter Warmer event. Thank you to the dancers from Horsham College's VCE Dance group for their amazing performance. It gave us all goosebumps.
This link appears to have disappeared please be assured staff are working on renewing it. Apologies
The theme for 2019 - Moulding Your Future was taken quite literally by some, for example Michelle Mcfarlane, our regular photographer, exhibited microscopic photos of mould. Held at the Goat Gallery in Natimuk. As ever we wanted to get our audience to participate so had space for people to submit their own "mouldy treasures" - we weren't disappointed with the gory delights
"A selection of toenails - Artist's own" submitted by Hannah French
"Mummified Cat" submitted my Ying Ying He
"Mumified Mice" submitted by Sarah Natali
"Tasty Platter" submitted by Andrea Cross
Elizabeth Seedy from the Department of Primary Industries came to speak to us about mould and fungus and we were careful not to inhale any spores.
In 2018 Everybody Now and the Art is... festival presented the Inaugural Annual Dance Affair in the Heritage Hall. Check out the highlights reel below.
If you want to order copies of the full DVD contact: https://contentedvideo.com.au/dvd-orders/
Our major project for 2017 was "Move On" a community co-created project led by Jens Altheimer. It saw us take over the Forty Winks carpark and create a cause and effect contraption. Think of a giant domino game made up of eveything imaginable. The video will explain it all. We were joined by Daphne the dog who refused the sausage on the last performance - she was full.
2017 also saw the production and installation of the Welcome to Horsham Mural. The Art is... festival was contracted by the Horsham Rural City Council to deliver this as part of an education program on the differences between Street Art and Graffiti.
