Basil Sellers Art Prize bigger than ever
 
This year, the renowned Basil Sellers Art Prize has a fresh new look and new prize money to match. What's more, the biannual competition is now open to include artists beyond the Eurobodalla Shire.

The competition, worth $10,000 in 2008, is now offering $15,000 in prize money, and artists living in the Bega Valley, Cooma-Monaro, Snowy River and Bombala Shires can enter for the first time.

All artworks must be original, one-off pieces, and the prize is open to a range of art forms, including sculpture, painting and monoprints.

Eurobodalla Shire Council's Coordinator Community Cultural Development, Monika McInerney, is responsible for coordinating the Basil Sellers Art Prize, and is now calling for entries by Friday 6 August.

She says another thing that is being done differently in 2010 is the method by which judges will select the shortlisted works to be included in the Prize's exhibition from 14 - 28 October at the Mechanics Institute in Moruya in October.

"We're asking all artists this year to submit high-quality digital images of their works with their entry form," Ms McInerney said. "The judges will use these to shortlist the works for exhibition. The winning work will be selected from the originals on exhibition."

She says there are plans in the pipeline to provide a workshop on how to photograph your work to the best advantage, and artists whose work is chosen to feature in the prestigious exhibition will be notified at the end of August.

This year's Art Prize will be judged by Kristian Pithie, the Director of the Chapman Galleries in Canberra; David Broker who has worked with the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia and the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane and who is now Director of the Canberra Contemporary Art Space; and Annie Doyle, a freelance art curator and arts writer/ critic with extensive experience.

Entry forms are available now at the Eurobodalla Shire's three libraries, at Council's Administration Building in Moruya or by calling Monika McInerney on 4474 1061. Forms can also be downloaded from Council's website www.esc.nsw.gov.au.

MUSIC IN COMMUNITIES NETWORK - BULK INSURANCE OPPORTUNITY

Organisation: Music Play for Life

Are you involved in a community choir, band, orchestra or 
some other form of community music group? Do you want cheaper public 
liability and accident insurance for your group?
Through its Music in Communities Network, Music Play for Life is 
investigating a discounted public liability & accident insurance 
scheme for community music groups. At this stage, we need to 
determine the level of demand and the types of activities for which 
groups need coverage, so we have come up with a simple survey which 
will help with our negotiations. You don't have to be a current 
member of the Music in Communities Network to complete the survey. 
However, any scheme which arises from our negotiations will be 
administered through the Network.

Complete the survey at:
https://www.computerjazz.net/secure/1/mic-insurance

Over 16 million Australians are actively participating in the arts, according to new research released today by the Australia Council for the Arts.

“We’ve discovered that nine out of every ten Australians aged over 15 made the arts part of their lives in the past year,” said the CEO of the Australia Council, Kathy Keele.

Click here to view the entire article.

blog should go here...

South East Arts Region (SEAR) is looking forward to an exciting 2010, thanks to a very generous donation from a local resident.  Mr John Handley, from the Bega Valley, has supported SEAR with $81,000, received through the Australia Cultural Fund.  “We will use the donation to create a range of projects across the region, over the next three years” explained Regional Arts Development Officer Andrew Gray.  “This will include touring theatre productions for school and general public audiences, supporting visuals artists, regional festivals, indigenous arts, museums and youth culture”.

Mr Handley has been impressed with the achievements of SEAR, which since 2005 has:
• Employed 220 artists, technicians and designers in a diverse range of art forms
• Presented 282 performances and exhibitions for over 30,000 audience members
• Delivered over 1,000 workshops developing arts skills and practice
• Secured $920,000 in arts-funding from government and philanthropic sources.

The program for 2010 includes touring of Too Hot To Handle (Jigsaw Theatre Company) for primary schools and Women In War (Australian War Memorial and SEAR) to high schools and general public audience.  Chrissie Shaw will tour the libraries of the region, with the children’s show Flotsam and Jetsam and adult’s show The Keeper, both performances exploring family life on lighthouses.  In partnership with ANU School of Music and local arts organisations, SEAR will present chamber music workshops and concerts, as well as supporting a range of arts skills development workshops and activities during Youth Week and throughout the year.

Click here to view a pdf of the new SEAR Brochure.

The March 2010 newsletter is out and is available for download here.

If you are on our mailing list and we have an email address for you, you should receive an email link. 

The newsletter features some what's on highlights, but remember to check out the full listing on the SEAR what's on page.

This edition of the SEAR newsletter will be available only via email, as we are trying to reduce the amount of paper we send out. However, we can still send you a hard copy if you don’t have access to an email account, but you’ll need to let us know.
Thanks!!