culture.gov.au

Connecting you with Australian culture online

ausculture newsletter March 2007

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Welcome to Australia's Culture and Recreation Portal Newsletter
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March hails innovation, best practice and excellence, systems and designs 'that empower citizens and serve the public'. The judging criteria of the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AMIA) Awards on 2 March can be applied to the interactive media as well as to fashion, performance, literature and Indigenous arts. Creative cultural content in all of these forms is, according to AIMIA, 'designed to preserve and present cultural heritage in line with the challenges of the future' using state-of-the-art technology.

An aptitude for slogging away for the sheer delight of discovery and creation is evident in Australian design and invention since Lawrence Hargrave first flew his set of four box kites in 1894, to Carla Zampatti re-structuring Italian suiting to create modern Australian women's suits with distinctive cut, cloth and colours - based on the Australian trend for trousers established by aviatrix in the 1930s.

The L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival, 4 - 10 March, showcases some imaginative and innovative contemporary fashions. Another important historical milestone for creative innovation from the 1930s is the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, celebrating 75 years on 18 March. The Bridge's innovative design and construction, the greatest steel arch span in the world, made 'Our Bridge' an instantly recognisable world landmark.

The issues of innovative creative content which promotes, explains or documents Australian culture in interactive media will be addressed at the 'Digital Literacy and Creative Innovation in a Knowledge Economy' symposium in Brisbane, 29 - 30 March. Creative innovation is used to represent Indigenous knowledge and cultural attachment to country in a photographic exhibition at Collector, New South Wales entitled 'Sacred Country Unwrapped' throughout March.

The attitude of best practice, as part of the criteria for innovation, is explored in the exhibition 'Working Together', State Library of NSW 1 - 31 March, documenting the achievements of black and white women who have played a significant, often undervalued role. Their innovation in deliberately setting out to improve understanding between black and white cultures has helped improve a system that they hoped would also 'empower citizens and serve the public'.

Creative cultural content in forms that meets the challenges of the future is all encompassing at the Adelaide Fringe Festival (8 - 31 March), Australia's biggest arts festival. Innovation and excellence in performance will be seen with Tasdance at the 'Ten Days on the Island Festival' while the Arnhem Land band Nabarlek touring the eastern states, 27 February - 10 March, fuses traditional Indigenous stories and songs, with Western rock, country and gospel.

Presenting cultural heritage using state-of-the-art technology, as part of the challenges of the future, is a new literary website, Lightning Bug, an innovative resource for aspiring young adult writers, which are issues also to be discussed at the Fiction Festival, Sydney (24 March). The madness and sheer joy of being innovative and setting out boldly for new territory is seen in the Fremantle to Rottnest Big Splash - celebrating the first Fremantle to Rottnest swim held in 1956.

Check out our Australian Stories:
Aviation: http://www.culture.gov.au/articles/aviation/
Inventions: http://www.culture.gov.au/articles/inventions/
Fashion: http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au./articles/fashion/

Featured Site
Sydney Harbour Bridge - Our Bridge - Sydney
18 March
http://www.ourbridge.com.au/Home.aspx

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Snippets from our regularly updated News pages for March 2007 http://www.culture.gov.au/news/

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Announcements
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/announcements.htm

13th Annual AIMIA Award winners
2 March

Australia's peak industry body for digital and interactive content, AIMIA, has honoured the 22 winners of its 13th Annual AIMIA Awards. A judging panel of over 120 Australian and international experts from across the interactive media spectrum were given the significant task of selecting award winners from a high calibre of finalists, ranging from small businesses to larger, well-established organisations. The Outstanding Contribution Award was given to Chris Winter for his work with television, radio and new media in Australia. The Best Cultural, Lifestyle or Sport category was won by the Melbourne International Arts Festival 2006 website.
http://www.aimia.com.au/i-cms?page=1.36.2779.2776#Cultural
http://www.aimia.com.au/i-cms?page=1

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Design and Architecture
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/design.htm

L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival - Melbourne
4 - 10 March

The L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival is an event that has as its core objective to engage and excite the public about fashion and all things fashionable, while dedicated to stimulating ideas and highlighting trends in design, business and innovation. The Festival each year is a week of fashion shows, famous faces, exhibitions, business events and parties, capturing the glamour of the world of fashion. Various venues.
http://www.lmff.com.au/

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Digital Media and Film
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/digitalmedia.htm

Digital Literacy and Creative Innovation in a Knowledge Economy Research Symposium - Brisbane
29 - 30 March

Digital Literacy and Creative Innovation in a Knowledge Economy is a two-day research symposium for thought leaders, policy innovators and knowledge entrepreneurs, jointly presented by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCi) and the Cultural Research Network (CRN). http://www.cci.edu.au/downloads/digital literacy registration.pdf
http://www.cci.edu.au/
http://www.uq.edu.au/crn/

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Festivals and Conferences
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/festivalsandconferences.htm

Ten Days on the Island - Tasmania
23 March - 1 April

Ten Days presents the world premiere of its first international co-commission, Mercy: A Dance for the Forgotten, featuring Tasmania's highly acclaimed Tasdance. Events are held at various venues.
http://www.tendaysontheisland.org/home.jsp
http://www.tasdance.com.au/

Adelaide Fringe 2007 - Adelaide
8 - 31 March

The Adelaide Fringe Festival is Australia's biggest arts festival and features emerging and established artists in music, dance, theatre, comedy, visual arts, film, writing, cabaret, digital arts and more.
http://www.adelaidefringe.com.au

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History and Identity
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/museums.htm

Sydney Harbour Bridge walk - Sydney
18 March

The Sydney Harbour Bridge 75th Anniversary is celebrated with a walk across the bridge and other commemorative events for National Trust Day. Walkers need to register to take part in the event which will end in the National Trust Centre at Observatory Hill. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is internationally recognised as a symbol of modern Australia and its social maturity. The steelwork was manufactured in NSW and the granite from Moruya.
http://www.ourbridge.com.au/Home.aspx

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Indigenous Arts
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/indigenousarts.htm

Black & White Women Working Together - Sydney
1 - 31 March

Showcasing the collections of the State Library of NSW in celebration of Women's History Month, this exhibition features original and published materials relating to the achievements of black and white women who have played a significant, often undervalued role in improving understanding between black and white culture, reconciliation and black justice. Includes material from the collections of Faith Bandler, Mary Gilmore, Pearl Gibbs, Ruby Langford and Hannah Middleton. It also profiles Deborah Cheetham, Zohl de Ishtar, Mary Ellen Jordan, Deborah Mailman and Leah Purcell. State Library of NSW.
http://womenshistory.org.au/events/calendar.php?mode=cal&date=2007-03-01

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Language and Literature
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/languageandliterature.htm

Contemporary Australian Fiction Festival - Sydney
24 March

The NSW Writers' Centre is holding its first ever Contemporary Australian Fiction Festival. It will feature writers, poets, playwrights, publishers, editors and mentors. Panel sessions include: On Writing the First, Second, Fifth Novels; New Writing; The 'in thing' in Children's and Young Adult Fiction; Poetry and Playwrighting: The Poor Cousins of Fiction?; Publishing Fiction; and Judging Fiction. http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=516&nav_cat_id=134&nav_top_id=57&dsb=612
http://www.newwriting.uts.edu.au/
http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au/html/s01_home/home.asp?dsb=1

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Performance
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/performance.htm

Nabarlek tour - Darwin and national
27 February - 10 March

Nabarlek, a nine-piece Arnhem Land band, is about to travel to Australia's eastern states. Nabarlek's songs are derived from traditional stories and songs and are sung in tribal language and English. Their style is influenced by rock, country and gospel and is known as Indigenous Roots music. The tour is funded by Playing Australia.
http://www.skinnyfishmusic.com.au/indigenous_roots/narb.html
http://www.dcita.gov.au/arts_culture/arts/playing_australia

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Sport and Recreation
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/sportandrecreation.htm

Fremantle - Rottnest Big Splash - Perth

17 March

Fremantle - Rottnest Big Splash celebrates the first Fremantle to Rottnest swim held in 1956. There are two sections, a swim section, for teams of 4 and fun teams of 4 to 10 and a paddle section for surf craft capable of travelling to Rottnest. Both sections have age groupings and groups for seniors and high school students.
http://www.freotorottobigsplash.com.au/

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Visual Arts and Crafts
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/visualarts.htm

Sacred Country Unwrapped - Collector, New South Wales
10 February - 25 March

A photographic exhibition will be shown by two renowned Aboriginal artists Jenni Kemarre Martiniello and Kerry Reed-Gilbert entitled Sacred Country Unwrapped. The official opening will be on 11 February at 3pm with guest speaker Brenda L. Croft, Senior Curator for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, National Gallery of Australia. Collector Gallery Artspace and Bookshop.
http://www.collectorgallery.com.au/html/news.php?nwoffset=2

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Websites - new
http://www.culture.gov.au/news/websites.htm

Lightning Bug

Lightning Bug is designed to help young adults with story writing. Lightning Bug focuses on fostering inspiration, finding voice, developing structure and encouraging an interest in writing. It is intended to be a writing companion, a resource to draw on as writers craft a narrative. It is also useful for confident literate young writers, and those less sure of their writing abilities.
http://www.lightningbug.com.au/

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