$6.6m program for young and emerging artists

The Opportunities Young and Emerging Artists program provides $6.6m over four years (2008-2011) to build skills and experience for young and emerging artists.

Opportunities for Young and Emerging Artists program is a comprehensive, national initiative to help seed the future of Australian arts.

This new range of programs will grow the professional networks of young and emerging artists, develop their skills, support performing arts companies to present their work and give rise to projects using new technologies to engage artists and audiences.

To find out how you can participate, please contact the relevant project officers of each program as outlined in each section below.

The Opportunities for Young and Emerging Artists program has six components:

1. Creative residencies and commissions

These two grant programs support performing arts companies to develop and present young and emerging artists work.

There are two categories:

• Grants for residencies with major performing arts companies for young and emerging creative producers, directors and performing artists.
• Commissions for new work created or performed by young and emerging artists with the Australia Council’s major performing arts companies and key organisations.

For more information, contact: Trish Ludgate, Program + Policy Officer, Major Performing Arts t.ludgate@australiacouncil.gov.au

2. Artist run initiatives

There are two projects in this initiative:

The first assists young and emerging artists involved with an artist run initiative to develop their professional skills and build their professional networks. For more information please contact Jane Gillespie, Program Officer, Visual Arts j.gillespie@australiacouncil.gov.au

The second project is the production of a comprehensive online guide to establishing and managing artist run initiatives which is still in development. For more information regarding the guide, contact Bow Campbell, Program Officer, National Audience Development, b.campbell@australiacouncil.gov.au

Click here for more information on artist run initiatives.

3. National mentoring programs

Three new mentoring programs are available:

National mentoring program for young and emerging artists

The Australia Council’s new national mentoring program for young and emerging artists, 'JUMP' brings the latest generation of artists across the country together with arts organisations and more established artists.

'JUMP' offers 30 young artists each year, a ten month mentoring partnership to build their professional skills, develop their arts practice in a chosen artform and create opportunities to collaborate across other artforms.

The program also supports projects to better engage young artists with audiences and career development. Mentorships are available for artists up to 30 years old.

Artists selected will receive training, direct funding to develop artistic practices along with access to industry networks and the opportunity to showcase works at a local, state and national level.

Youth Arts Queensland will manage the national program and work with key state and territory partners who are able to respond to the identified needs of the artists.

'JUMP' builds on arts mentoring research, successful contemporary mentoring programs and sound business models. The Australia Council funding enables YAQ to build on current partnerships in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland and develop the programs for all states and territories.

Youth Arts Queensland will be open for applications from artists in September 2009.

For more information on 'JUMP' contact jump@yaq.org.au. For more information regarding Youth Arts Queensland contact www.yaq.org.au

Emerging Producers Mentorships - the next generation of arts professionals  

This Emerging Producers Mentorship program assists the next generation of Australian arts professionals to develop skills in research, selling rights, negotiating contracts, facilitating tours, commissions, exhibitions, presentations, residencies and sector collaboration.

The group of young producers, agents, art gallery dealers and rights managers selected for this program will be supported through an 18 month placement with a senior arts professional.

Contact: Olivia Parker, Project Coordinator National Audience Development at o.parker@australiacouncil.gov,au

Click here for a list of the ten mentors who are involved in this program.

Indigenous picture book to performance

Emerging Indigenous writers and illustrators will work with established mentors as an unpublished Indigenous picture book manuscript is turned into a book, theatrical production and bi-lingual e-book, in English and Indigenous language(s).

This project is managed by The Little Big Book Club in South Australia.

For more information contact Cena Josevska, Program Officer, National Audience Development c.josevska@australiacouncil.gov.au

4. SPLENDID Interdiscisciplinary arts residential laboratories at Splendour in the Grass

Ten emerging young artists and ten senior practitioners will participate in bi-annual residencies, thanks to a partnership with the music, arts and youth festival Splendour in the Grass. In addition, five festival new works will be commissioned from the residencies to be exhibited and/or performed at the festival in 2010.

How do you get involved? Contact Ricardo Peach, Program Manager, Inter-arts Office r.peach@australiacouncil.gov.au

5. The Program

‘The Program’ will be an online, open, arts community that provides;

• a public-facing, social networking space for young audiences to engage with Australian arts
• an industry-facing platform for those working in the arts to network, collaborate, and share research
• a central digital repository for organisational, venue, event and audience data.

This will be officially launched in November 2009 so watch this space. For more information now contact Kim Hanna, Manager, National Audience Development k.hanna@australiacouncil.com.au

6. Young and Emerging Artist Award with the Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF)

As part of the annual AbaF awards, the Australia Council will sponsor a Young and Emerging Artist Award for the next four years. The award will honour a partnership between a business and a cultural organisation for example, a performing arts company, artist-run initiative, arts service organisation that helps to build skills, experience and opportunities for young and emerging artists.

For more information regarding the Australia Council’s sponsorship of the award please contact the Australian Business Arts Foundation   www.abaf.org.au