July Updates & Art Trail Exhibition Announced!

July has been another huge month at the desk, and I’m excited to share a number of significant announcements and highlights as we enter the new Financial Year:

• New project announcement: As announced by Minister Enoch earlier this month, I am one of 67 Queensland artists/arts workers to be awarded funding support through the Individuals Fund. This funding will enable me to undertake a four-month mentorship and Cultural Resource Mapping project for the South Burnett region, to identify and record community and cultural facilities, arts and cultural groups, volunteers and individual artists, festivals, heritage sites and local businesses operating within the cultural or creative industries. More information coming soon!
  This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
  

• South Burnett Arts: At the South Burnett Arts Inc. annual general meeting at the end of June, I was thrilled to be elected President for the 2020/21 year. I’d like to thank and acknowledge outgoing President Jane Iszlaub, who has led and guided the organisation since its inception in 2009. Big shoes to fill! We also hosted the fifth South Burnett Arts Hour online event earlier this week - if you missed our chat with special guest Simon Cotton, you can view the recording here. South Burnett Arts Hour has now moved to a monthly format, with the next session to be held via Zoom on Tuesday 18 August, 12-1pm.
  

• Masters progress: I completed the ‘Arts Marketing’ unit as part of my Master of Business (Arts & Cultural Management) with Deakin University, finishing with a High Distinction at 97% (!), and commenced ‘Financial Interpretation’ last week, which will keep me buried in accounting figures until exams in mid-October.
  

• CQ RASN residency: As previously announced, in June I received funding support from CQ RASN to undertake a month’s residency ‘at home’, and I used this time to create a new body of work encompassing digital collage pieces. Eight of the works created as a result of the residency will be exhibited across local businesses located in Kingaroy’s CBD from next Wednesday 29 July through to Monday 31 August. Read more here and follow the art trail map below!

You can read more about what I’ve been up to in this article from South Burnett Online:
Olivia Takes Art to Heart | July 2, 2020

More to come next month - including the launch of the new Services tab on my website!

Reflection: End of Financial Year

As June slips away, it’s almost time to say goodbye to the 2019/20 Financial Year! Despite the turbulence of COVID-19, I’d like to celebrate the good stuff and share some recent insights:

As we head into July, I’m also preparing (with much excitement!) to launch the new ‘Services’ tab on my website, with a new, simplified pricing structure and list of professional services available to you and your organisation.

I’m currently taking inquiries for the new Financial Year - if you’re looking for support during July-November please do get in touch before I’m fully booked! I would like to thank all my clients, both ongoing and new, who have chosen to work with me over the last Financial Year and I look forward to supporting you into the future!

My residency with CQ RASN as part of the artist ‘at home’ residency program has also continued throughout this month (new art works pictured above). I’ll be sharing further reflections on my experience during this time on the Tough and Tender Beauty Round 2 blog shortly, before the residency period wraps up on Friday 3 July. Later in July, I’ll be exhibiting some art works created during this time at a number of Kingaroy businesses - further information coming soon!

To make it even easier to find out what I’m up to, including works in progress from the Tough and Tender Beauty residency, you can now follow me on Instagram (@oliviaeverittprojects) and LinkedIn:

The fourth session of South Burnett Arts Hour was held on Tuesday and it was fantastic to hear from Lisa Stephenson (Manager - Cultural Services, Fraser Coast Regional Council) about the role of the arts in the Maryborough CBD revitalisation project over the last few years, as well as the recently opened Mary Poppins Story Bank Museum. I’d also like to say a big ‘thank you!’ to my fellow CQ RASN artists-in-residence Nanette Blanchin, Peta Lloyd, Katina Olsen and Jodie van de Wetering for joining in and sharing so openly about their residency projects. A recording of the session will be available shortly here.

South Burnett Arts Hour will return on Tuesday 21 July 12-1pm - stay tuned for details!

Lastly, I’d like to draw attention to a couple of news items coming out of the arts sector:

• Announced today! $250 million announced by the Morrison Government to support the arts industry across a number of schemes, including $75 million in competitive grants to support festivals, live performance, touring etc. Press release here - this is one to watch!
  

• Queensland Government Arts & Cultural Recovery Package: $22.5 million support to the arts sector to be rolled out over the next 2 years, including $2.9 million for local Councils, artists, organisations and festivals to invest in new arts products and experiences and enhance cultural tourism. More information here - first funding to be open for applications from 1 July 2020.
  

• Regional Arts Fund Recovery Boost: Once-off investment of $10 million for regional arts from the Australian Government. Three streams of funding available with short, medium and long term support on offer which will be administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance through the Regional Arts Fund. First funding open for applications from 1 July 2020 and progressively rolled out from there - read more here.

More to come!
Olivia

Special Announcement: Artist Residency with CQ RASN

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been selected as one of eight Central Queensland artists to take part in CQ RASN’s artist ‘at home’ residency program for the month of June!

This is the second round in the Tough and Tender Beauty program and runs from 8 June - 3 July. With funding support from CQ RASN, I’ll be creating a new body of work this month which will be an opportunity to reflect on my experiences during the ongoing COVID-19 situation and associated physical isolation. The residency program also includes a program of professional development opportunities and weekly networking with the other artists.

You can follow along with this project in the following ways:

• CQ RASN’s Facebook or Instagram @cq_rasn

• Tough and Tender beauty blog - you can read my first post about my progress here, and check out what the other artists are up. I’ll be contributing another 2 blogs during the course of the residency program.

• My new Instagram account @oliviaeverittprojects. I’ve been a long term Instagram user, but this residency presented the perfect opportunity to tick ‘build social media presence’ off my business battle board. I would love for you to follow me to stay in the loop about the residency, and also other projects coming online in the near future!

I also wanted to note that South Burnett Arts Hour is continuing this month, with the third session under our belt earlier this week with special guests Mayor Brett Otto and Melinda Jones. The next session is penciled in for Tuesday 23 June 12-1pm with details due to be released shortly. Thank you to South Burnett Arts for partnering with me on this project and to BIEDO for enabling these sessions to take place via Zoom. You can catch the recording from the session held on 9 June here.