BrisCulture

One thing we’ll be doing as part of the BrisCulture project is a regular online newsletter of stuff happening about town, interesting links, discussions of cultural and cultural policy developments, and suchlike. This isn’t intended to be an events or gig guide per se, but rather a heads up to things that fit in with our vision that folks might be interested in attending, discussing, or creating some ideas around. And also a little about how BrisCulture itself is travelling. No doubt I’ll think of a more systematic way of doing it, but since I had a few things to tell people, I thought I’d dip my toes in the pond today!

Events

Click on the links for event details.

If the link takes you to a Facebook events page, and you’re on Facebook, please do the organisers the courtesy of rsvp-ing there.

Somaspace

First up, the folks at Somaspace continue to showcase collaborative practice from Brisbane’s emerging artists tomorrow night. Drinks, tapas, live visual art, artwork from unrepresented artists, and more at Barsoma from 5pm tomorrow, Wednesday 1 July. A few of us popped along a little while back to check it out (as part of the State of Origin avoidance project: not that there’s anything wrong, etc) and it’s a really creative and neat use of the space – a fine contribution to the Valley’s night time creative ecology well worth supporting.

TTYN: Talk To You Never

The BURN Writers’ Collective take over the State Library of Queensland on Thursday night from 6.30pm. The Queensland Terrace on Level 2 will host TTYN: Talk To You Never:

Brisbane-based BURN Writers Collective presents a night of readings, spoken word performances and multimedia, exploring what it means to be a writer today. In an age where the mouthpieces outrank the mouths, join the BURN Writers Collective as they descend from their mythical garrets and take centre stage at State Library of Queensland, debunking the idea that writers should remain read and never seen or heard. In collaboration with digital artists, film makers and designers, writers from the BURN Collective revolt against enduring notions of the writer and revel in a series of multimedia enhanced self-portraits which explore the writer at work, the writer at play, and the writer in life. The night will also feature special guests from the Australian Poetry Slam and the State Library of Queensland Young Writers Award.

I’m really looking forward to this one, and to seeing (among others) some of our writing students from Griffith in a fabulous context which seeks to push the boundaries of the ‘literary reading’.

Friday night!

Unsurprisingly, there’s tons of stuff happening on Friday night. BrisCulture itself is supporting The Price Is Tight! – an off the wall trivia night at the TLC Building on Peel Street, South Brisbane, kicking off at 7.30pm. It’s a fundraiser for two emerging Brissie independent theatre companies: AS Theatre and The Good Room. My powers of summary are humbled by the plethora of good things that will be going on, so I’d suggest you follow the link and read the blurb!

If you feel like some preliminary Friday night drinks, there are some options over and above the City suit swill hour. The lovely folks at the Bleeding Heart Cafe and Gallery – whose launch a few weeks ago was lots of fun, and who hosted our Creative Brisbane event in May – welcome everyone for drinks with a purpose from 4pm. In keeping with their ‘profit for purpose’ vision, you’ll be drinking for a good cause. Yes, it’s a Goat Drive:

Enjoy a beer or wine after work on the lovely heritage, Queenslander-style veranda at Bleeding Heart. Everyone is welcome! This time, we’re donating all profits to the Oxfam Unwrapped Program. That’s right, we’re BUYING GOATS for communities in Africa. Our goal is to raise enough money to buy 15 of the little guys. Or 14 goats and a duck. Either way, you’re drinking for a good cause!

Alternatively, or better, additionally, you could make your way to the Turbine Platform at the Powerhouse at 6pm where our friends at Brispop (and their friends) inaugurate a new Friday night event – The Residents – to showcase some of the best indie bands who’ve been performing at Live Spark. The Sunburys will be first up, with an album launch.

No doubt there’s lots of other stuff going on, and if you know of any stuff we should be endorsing, please feel free to leave a comment! As part of the plans we have for the website, we’d also be interested in any event or gig reviews – we need a critical review culture for the Brisbane scene! My contact details are here.

Cultural policy discussions and BrisCulture

To start with, just a reminder that Arts Queensland has released its draft Sector Development Plan for 2010-2012. My previous post, with all the links you need, can be found here. It’s important that this initiative, which will contribute to shaping the funding environment and policy space for Queensland creatives for the next few years, attracts the broadest possible input from and discussion by those actually working in arts, creativity and culture.

Secondly, on the theme of sustainable creative practice, my blogging colleague at Larvatus Prodeo, Anna Winter, discusses a disturbing phenomenon now being facilitated by the federal government’s Government 2.0 Taskforce – sourcing creative input (in this case from designers) for free, in the guise of ‘crowdsourcing’. There are, obviously, broader implications, and it’s well worth joining in the discussion.

Lastly, and I’ve only just finished marking first semester essays, so I haven’t had a chance for a good look, the Australia Council has released its strategy for the arts and artists in the digital era. Again, I think it’s worth emphasising that we need to break the top down policy making lock, and actively engage in shaping and reshaping what emanates from the culture policy machine.

Speaking of only just having finished marking first semester essays, some of the BrisCulture planning process has been ongoing even in the madness that afflicts us at this time of year. But now that we’re temporarily free of teaching related commitments, I expect that there’ll be something of a whirlwind of activity over the next little while in progressing some of the ideas that have already emerged. So, please watch this space, and as always, don’t hesitate to be in touch!