17 local artists and community organisations can create new artwork and develop their creative skills with funding assistance through the Blacktown City Council 2019 Creative Arts Fund.
The Fund will support the development of a range of skills including singing, music and film production, writing, ceramics, drawing and painting.
“Since 2016, Blacktown City Council has awarded $120,000 worth of grants to local individuals and organisations through the Creative Arts Fund,” said Mayor of Blacktown City, Stephen Bali MP.
“By providing opportunities such as this to local artists, Council continues to recognise the importance of creative practice in uniting and building pride within our community.”
“I am proud that Blacktown City Council invests in the development of arts and culture in our City through annual initiatives like this.”
Grants of up to $2,000 have been awarded to individuals and artist groups including:
- Helmy El-Rab (Rooty Hill) – Helmy will explore creating new textures in a large contemporary oil painting titled ‘Water and Sand’.
- LOVER (Riverstone) – LOVER, the singer, will a 5 track EP ‘SPINE Extended Play’ under artist name LOVER mixed by internationally acclaimed sound engineer Antonia Gauci.
- Edwina Brennan (Seven Hills) – Edwina will develop 10-20 new acrylic paintings for a solo exhibition titled ‘Looking West” in early 2020.
- Mehemt Mevlutoglu (Lalor Park) – Mehmet and creative collaborators will produce a videography of his debut album ‘Welcome to the Jungle’.
- Loft Bed Studios (Hassall Grove) – The collective will focus on the pre-production of a new short film to be written, produced and directed by Loft Bed Studios.
- Sticks Productions (Toongabbie) – The artist and the creative crew will produce a web series of comedy skits called ‘Mal & Arn’.
- Michael Gupta (Kellyville Ridge) – Michael will create the cinematography, lighting, sound and post-production for new documentary ‘Way of Being’.
- Tina Bangel (Kellyville Ridge) – Kelly will produce and market a new 6 week online singing course titled ‘Singing Mastery – The One Voice Method’.
- Gerard Cabellon (Woodcroft) – Gerard and crew will produce the final phase of a short film called ‘Prodigal Son’.
- Regine Caramancion (Plumpton) – Regine will develop her mix media artworks including large scale works and music for and a series of immersive video games.
- Samia A. Khan (The Ponds) – Samia will develop a series of new large scale mixed media paintings titled ‘A Chapter of Enlightenment’ for her upcoming exhibition.
- Ian Escandor (Hassall Grove) – Ian will develop a script for new short film ‘Paperboy Love Story’.
- Keoloana (Wilmot) – will develop, mix and record her second EP.
- Maryam Azam (Schofields) – Maryam will develop a suite of ten poems exploring the experiences of an Australian born young hijab-wearing Muslim woman who lives in Blacktown.
- Sahar Nabinik (Stanhope Gardens) – Sahar will develop and create ceramic pieces for a new participatory performance installation titled ‘Connect’.
- Mirko Golub (Blacktown) – Mirko will develop a new jazz piano composition inspired by the Mediterranean regions.
- Yusra Alkeswani (Quakers Hill) – Yusra will develop her professional skills in working on new handmade mosaic pieces for creating large scale works.
“The Fund acknowledges that artworks by local artists play a crucial role in creating engaged local communities committed to their own wellbeing,” said Iqbal Barkat, one of the recipients of the Fund.
Barkat also recognises the importance of the Fund for supporting artists’ professional development, stating “the Fund helps me with applying for state and national funding to take my work to different audiences, beyond Western Sydney.”
Monir Rowshan, Acting Manager Arts and Cultural Development at Blacktown City Council said, “Each year we discover new artistic talent in Blacktown community. This grant has enable many artists and community organisations in building their creative capacity independently of an arts institution”.
Photo credit
Recipients of the 2019 Creative Arts Fund by Josh Morris