art at the heart Director Kieren Sanderson [image courtesy Regional Arts Australia]  

As the months speed by until the opening of Regional Arts Australia’s sixth national conference in Alice Springs on 2 October, director Kieren Sanderson keeps her feet on the ground and her mind on art as she puts the final touches to the conference program. In this diary entry specially written for Arts Hub readers, Sanderson lists some of the artists she has engaged to help her create a national event with a unique Central Desert flavour.

art at the heart - plenty of action

There’s been plenty of action in Alice in the last four weeks. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett launched the $37 million Alice Springs Solar Cities project, an exhibition tribute to Darby Jampijinpa Ross opened at the artist-run gallery Watch this Space (www.wts.org.au ), local designer Elliat Rich launched her Yala Sofa online (www.yalasofa.com), Alice Springs based Alex Kelly received the Kirk Robson Award from the Australia Council for the Arts, cellist and singer Mei Lai Swan attended the Sydney Songwriters’ Summit, APRA S3 and the mayoral elections took place – this is to name but a few highlights.

With less than six months to go, things are really moving along here at the conference hub. Registrations are now open and we encourage you to get in early as the conference program is filling up. We’ve been frantically working to contact all the individuals with successful proposals.

I have some great news - art at the heart now has a full-time Conference Assistant, Nicky Schonkala. Nicky is a passionate textile artist who doubles as a fantastic arts administrator and event manager and we are very happy to have her on board.

As you know, art at the heart is not just a conference but includes a jam-packed artistic program and I’m happy to announce I have accepted an offer from Arts NT to take on the role of Artistic Director. With such a vibrant local arts community I have been busy recruiting a team of artists, directors, performers and producers to create what promises to be an exceptional program. Here are the people involved so far:

Tim Newth is the Co-Artistic Director of Tracks Inc, the premier performing arts company of the Northern Territory. Tracks Inc is known for its innovative, large-scale outdoor performances that bring together participants from diverse cultures and artistic disciplines.

Dan Murphy is a self taught artist who has national repute as an innovative sculptor. Dan has been living and working in Central Australia since 1994 and is currently directing a local program for art at the heart, called Imagine Alice.

Damien Armstrong is one of the establishing artists of the renowned band, NoKTuRNL. Damien also works as a cultural guide at the Aboriginal Australia Art & Cultural Centre in Alice Springs. Damien’s most recent creative collaboration was with Craig Tilmouth, Warren H Williams and David Bridie, composing music for Ingkata, a bi-cultural opera.

Dani Powell is a performance-maker and director based in Alice Springs. Dani’s independent works are location-based, interdisciplinary compositions featuring movement and dance-based performance. Dani is the Community Producer of BighART’s Pitjantjatjara language arts project Ngapartji Ngapartji and Assistant Director of the touring theatre production.

Jo Nixon was introduced to beanie making by her aunty, Adi Dunlop. Jo has been the Executive Director of the famous Alice Springs Beanie Festival for the past 8 years, overseeing the festival's phenomenal growth.

Alex Kelly is a media/arts practitioner and producer who has worked in community media as well as facilitating arts spaces and large-scale collectively run projects. Alex is currently creative producer of Ngapartji Ngapartji and chairperson of the RedHOT Arts board.

Franca Barraclough has spent the last twenty years weaving performance and visual art together in her practice and professional career. Since arriving in Alice Springs in 1998 Franca’s contributions to the local arts community have been prolific and consistent.

I am thrilled to have all these individuals on board to help develop a series of events that will be both stimulating and unique.

The team and I have spent the last week thinking about the delegates and how art at the heart can build on the conversations begun in previous conferences, continuing to keep the program fresh and relevant to the challenges of regional Australia today.

In creating art at the heart we aim to expose delegates to works that stimulate new ways of working and thinking, promote cross cultural and intercultural work models, showcase artworks that are relevant to and create interest now, and works that can link to the conference program through conversation, debate and/or interaction with the delegates.

We will be launching the conference program in June, but I can already reveal that the conference will open with a sunset ceremony on Thursday 2 October with the backdrop of the West MacDonnell Ranges.

The ceremony will feature a welcome by the local Arrernte people and members of other Indigenous nations of Central Australia and the greater Northern Territory region, which we hope will help to ignite the energies of the delegates for three days of conference, festival and art.

Registrations are now open. If you register before 15 July you can get the early bird rate, so get online and secure your spot, otherwise keep up to date with our conference news by signing up for one of our regular e-postcards. To do this and for any other enquires including travel and accommodation, visit the website www.artattheheart.com.au or contact conference assistant Nicky Schonkala on 08 8951 1152.