No matter where you find yourself on the map, you’ll be surrounded by creativity in the year ahead with a range of exciting shows and performances set to tour to regional areas thanks to the latest round of grants through the Touring Victoria program.
Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley, made the announcement today at Showcase Victoria 2015, the annual performing arts touring expo, hosted by the Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres in partnership with Regional Arts Victoria.
Close to $650,000 has been provided to support eleven tours by independent Victorian presenters, major organisations and institutions. The tours span a range of creative forms, from circus to theatre, performances for children and families, opera and an exhibition.
The ANZAC Centenary will be a focus with two supported tours centred on honouring the legacy of the ANZACs.
The State Library of Victoria will tour its exhibition Writing the War: Personal Stories from WWI, which tells the stories of seven Victorians who lived through the first world war, to public libraries across Victoria
The Victorian Opera will also tour its original opera Remembrance, which is based on a war correspondent’s bulletins. The tour will include a program of opera workshops for community choirs.
With funding now secured, the recipients will work with venues and performing arts centres across the state to confirm dates for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The Touring Victoria Program is part of the Andrews Labor Government’s $202 million investment in Creative Industries in the 2015 Budget.
A full list of supported tours is attached.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley
“We’re bringing these works to regional Victoria. Everyone should have the opportunity to experience these performances, especially those that are honouring our ANZACs.”
“The Andrews Labor Government is strengthening and securing the future of the creative industries right across the state, from our cities to our smallest towns.”
“This latest round of grants, along with the $20 million regional package provided in the 2015-16 State Budget, ensures that when it comes to Victorian creativity no matter where you live there is much to look forward to.”
| TOURING VICTORIA GRANT RECIPIENTS | |
| Flying Fruit Fly Foundation | $61,428 |
| A regional tour of Circus Under My Bed, a new full-length contemporary circus work by Flying Fruit Fly Circus. | |
| HIT Productions Pty Ltd | $115,353 |
| A touring program of three works: the premiere production of All My Love, which follows the lost romance of literary icons Henry Lawson and Mary Gilmore; a new production of the Willy Russell favourite Educating Rita; and an extension of the tour of Jonathan Biggins' contemporary black comedy Australia Day into 2016. | |
| La Mama Inc | $20,000 |
| A tour of Coranderrk: We Will Show The Country, a remount of the original verbatim-theatre production from 2010 featuring the original cast including Uncle Jack Charles. | |
| Opera Australia | $98,178 |
| A tour of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, as part of a national tour by Oz Opera in 2016. | |
| Performing Lines | $25,683 |
| A tour of They Saw a Thylacine, a story of two women and the last of the thylacines, set in the 1930s. | |
| Purplestage Pty. Ltd. | $4,885 |
| A tour of Drowning in Veronica Lake, a one woman show reflecting on the self-destructive life of 1940s screen siren Veronica Lake. | |
| Regional Arts Victoria | $68,202 |
| A tour of HIPPO! - The Musical, a new production from Garry Ginivan Attractions, for schools and family audiences based on the bestselling children's book series There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake! | |
| Regional Arts Victoria | $89,685 |
| The presentation of a touring program that includes dance work Sankofa by Asanti Dance Company, and Larrikin Theatre's Boy Out of the Country, a story of a rural family coping with urban sprawl. | |
| State Library of Victoria (SLV) | $52,250 |
| A tour of Writing the War: Personal Stories from WWI, an exhibition featuring stories of seven Victorians drawn from the collection of the State Library of Victoria and other WWI archives. | |
| The Australian Shakespeare Company | $42,262 |
| A tour of Shakespeare's Dream Unplugged, a comedy that satirises and explores ten of Shakespeare's plays. | |
| Victorian Opera | $72,000 |
| Presentation of a regional program of opera workshops for community choirs and a tour of Remembrance, an original opera based on a war correspondent's bulletins that explores the ANZAC legacy. | |
Reviewed 19 August 2020