Announcement | 2017 Creative Residency Program

Blacktown Arts Centre is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2017 Creative Residency Program. A selection of local, national and international artists from different art forms will be hosted at the Centre and the Main Street art studios throughout the year.

We will be profiling each of our residents and their projects over the next few months.

The 2017 artists in residence are:

Leanne Tobin – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Residency
Leanne Tobin’s project will explore the life, the land and times of “Nurragingy” who was a traditional Elder from the Darug Eastern Creek clan (Warrawarry).

Sandy Maestro – Performing Arts Residency
Sandy Maestro aims to produce a six-part television drama. Postcode 2770 is the story of Rose, a 40-something woman and a victim of domestic violence, who moves to Bidwill.

Susan Abau – Space Residency
Dancer and choreographer Susan Abau will develop a new dance work.

Cali Prince – Space Residency
Cali Prince will generate material for a performance and visual installation work in collaboration with Wendy McDougall and Western Sydney artists in Blacktown

Naomi Lee McCarthy and Shirley Daborn – Pat Parker Residency
Naomi Lee McCarthy will lead a gathering and sharing of secret yearnings from people living in and around the Blacktown district, that will inspire a text-based, digital artwork.

Sunnyfield – Without Borders Residency
Hatch is an innovative arts and disability-focused professional development program where Liam Benson and George Tillianakis will mentor local artists on ways to work creatively with people living with disability.

Sarah Elizabeth Dahia – Visual Arts Studio Residency
Sarah Dahia will be working on a freehand, large scale embroidery and textiles project.

Katie Masonwells – Visual Arts Studio Residency
Katie and her team will meet, photograph and document the stories of people who live in the Blacktown area.

Lorraine Simiana – Visual Arts Studio Residency
Lorraine Simiana will investigate the notion of how we see sound during her residency.

Abbas Makrab – Visual Arts Studio Residency
Abbas Makrab will explore the role of myth in constructing culture and identity through painting, focusing on ancient Arabic stories.

Rhonda Dee – Visual Arts Studio Residency
Rhonda Dee will be collecting stories, folk tales and proverbs from the Sudanese community of Blacktown, transforming fragments of these tales into a series of paintings and drawings.

Syed Faraz Ali – Visual Arts Studio Residency
Syed Faraz Ali will create new works that examines the role of power, race, gender, identity and representations of social justice.Applications for the 2018 Creative Residency Program will open on Thursday, 17 August 2017Image credit
Rhonda Dee, Vessels and Voyages (detail), photograph by ZakiP, 2016.