Creative Ballarat
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Our COVID Response

Be Kind, Be Creative

 

Sanitise live music streaming festival - pic by Alex Grose, Ak Pix

 

be kind, be creative - a city-wide cultural response to covid-19

Life under lockdown. Ballarat in the grip of COVID-19. The immediate impact is felt by our creatives, our artists, our makers and dreamers. Be Kind - Be Creative is our Council led initiative that is the voice of the community, by the community and for the community. The program, Be Kind – Be Creative, provides our community with opportunities to respond creatively to new and changing circumstances.

What was it?

This was the City of Ballarat’s cultural response to the first lockdowns experienced by the city between March – June 2020. It was designed as an economic stimulus for some of the city’s most vulnerable communities – our arts & culture sector. There were ten different programs of arts and cultural activity – from podcasts, to kid’s TV programs, digital choirs, artist commissions, video productions and workshops amongst others. All services purchased were from local suppliers, creatives and makers within Ballarat and surrounds.

Over 135,000 people were reached through the combined initiatives, at a cost of less than a $1 per person. More than 13% of those reached responded by drawing, downloading, listening, viewing, singing, crafting and participating. 63 different artists, creatives, producers, designers, musicians and others were directly funded through the initiatives, all of them paid to produce creative content. Over 100 different community groups, businesses and individuals provided input and support.

 
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Stories of our cultural city: 

We sought the views and voices of our city’s videographers and film makers. We asked the question “what kind of city are we today, and what kind of city do we want to be tomorrow?” Same challenge, different responses.


 
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Ballarat Open Studios [Remote]:

Ballarat Open Studios was a program of activities celebrating the art of making, uncovering the hidden stories and studios of Ballarat’s creative community. Through exhibitions, workshops, talks and creative spaces, the Art of Making was designed to take you behind the scenes of our creative city. Today we’re offering you a chance to visit these spaces virtually.

 
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Virtual Soul Choir: 

The City of Ballarat invested in a community interaction that brought people together to sing remotely. Composers and choir conductors, Geoffrey and Georgina Williams wrote a song that summed up Ballarat’s experience under lockdown and encouraged over 200 people to sign up and sing it!

 

‘Once Upon a Lockdown’ Podcast series: 

A first for the city, this weekly production of podcasts captures the life of Ballarat in lockdown. Looking at themes of selflessness, creativity, resilience and others, we take a peek into the stories of how people in our city live, love and prosper.


 

Artist commissions: 

Working with the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the City of Ballarat has commissioned eight artists to document the current world events and Ballarat’s place within it. These commissions will be produced and on display at the Art Gallery of Ballarat from 13 February to 18 April 2021 in the exhibition Mutual Realities: Finding common ground in uncertain times.


 
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Workshops and skill share: 

Learn something new! Try a new skill, or refresh a familiar one. Short video classes to share skills and knowledge – from cooking and wellbeing through to drawing instruction.

 
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Be TV! 

A hilarious romp through lockdown, this is a kids TV show helping kids process the idea of isolation and what it means to live in the era of a pandemic. A first for the city, and it links kids to their community.


 
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Design a COVID-19 superhero

What does a Covid-19 superhero look like? Contemporary artist and ceramicist Vipoo Srivilasa will be taking inspiration from your dreams and using them to create a collection of ideal superheroes as ceramic sculpture.

 
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Random Co-Lab

A grassroots and completely organic response to the pandemic, Random Co-Lab started out as a casual game between friends where random people were matched together and given a week to create something. The challenge has expanded beyond Ballarat, and gathering artists across genres who all respond to this world we are living in today.

 
 
 
 

SANITISE

a live streaming collection of the ballarat music scene

Ballarat’s live music scene banded together to create a two-day live-streamed event. A range of talented local artists and bands from Ballarat and surrounding areas came together for a ‘concert’ people could enjoy from the comfort of their own homes during these trying times. Streamed over two nights and two locations - Ballarat’s own Volta and The Eastern - the event is designed for a broad audience to explore, tune in and discover what is in their own backyard. Opening night took over The Eastern on Friday, May 29, while the second instalment was held at Volta on Friday, June 5.

Other local artists include Anna Wright, Apex Bloom, Barracouta, Brodie Glenn, Candi Wade, Dewey and the Panel Beaters, Esoteric, Honey Hunter, Lymes and Raro. A Welcome To Country will be performed by Wadawurrung man Uncle Barry Gilson, and the event will be hosted by Abby Ashmore and Hap Hayward.

 
 

Fully Sick

regular streamed performances from ballarat’s young people

Coming straight at you from the bedrooms, garages and kitchens of Ballarat’s under-25s. Whether it’s sick beats or teaching you how to draw a manga character, Fully Sick takes place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Taking your mind off the iso blues. Brought to you by Sonika.

At Sonika, they’re all about the all-ages community, art, culture and live music scene: music and events for young people, by young people. Shout out to Victorian State government funding through FReeZA and to everyone involved in putting together Sonika events. Music is Sonika’s thing.

 
 
 

Be Kind Be Creative Credit List

The Be Kind Be Creative initiative has given a voice to the community and provided opportunities for local creatives and business. Through the Be Kind Be Creative stimulus, we are pleased to have directly supported the following individuals and organisations:

  • Artist Commissions

    • Kim Anderson

    • Nathan Curnow

    • Neville French 

    • Sarah Barclay

    • Skyscraper Stan

    • Dillon Naylor

    • Donna Blackall

    • Rhonda Baum

  • Sanitise - live streamed music festival

    • Lachie Anderson, Volta

    • Braiden Michett Production/Audio Engineer, Noir Machina

    • Rex Hardware, Video Engineer

    • Jarrod Ferguson, Audio Engineer

    • H3 Studios, Vision and streaming

    • Luke Thiel, Lighting, Volta

    • Alex Grose, Photographer

    • Edan Strachan, Graphic Designer

    • The Eastern Station

    • Volta

    • Abby Ashmore, Co-host

    • Hap Hayward, Co-host

    • Uncle Barry Gilson, Welcome to Country

    • Barracouta

    • Candi Wade

    • Dewey and the Panel Beaters

    • FLOC

    • Freya Josephine Hollick

    • Honey Hunter

    • Lymes

    • Snake Valley

    • The Shorts

    • Volta

    • Anna Bilbrough

    • Anna Wright

    • Anticline

    • Apex Bloom

    • Esoteric

    • Raro

    • Meraki Minds

    • Gangz

  • Open Studios [Remote]

    • Deborah Klein

    • Deb Weston

    • Jem Olsen

    • Katie Chancellor

    • Maggie Dannatt

    • Melinda Muscat

    • Neville French

    • Orange Owl Textiles

    • Peter Pilven

    • Susan Nethercote



  • Random Co-Lab -artist collaborations

    • Mick Trembath, Coordinator

    • Magda Williams & Rachel Grose

    • Lynden Nicholls & Ros Pach

    • Deb Weston & Heather McLeod

    • Steven J Nimmo & Mel Jane Wilson

  • Virtual Soul Choir - digital choir

    • George and Geoffrey Williams

    • Wind and Sky

  • Bar Choir @ Home - digital choir

    • Paige Duggan

    • Mary Card

  • Video production - COVID poem

    • Gingko Production

    • Garth Horsfield

    • Hap Hayward

  • Video production - Yearning

    • Erin McCusky, Yum Studio

    • Megan J Riedl, Poet

    • Christine Tammer, Music

  • Workshops and skill share

    • Amie Brulee & Cecily Davis.

    • Slow Art Project

    • Ian Kemp

    • Lou Ridsdale, Food is Free

    • Ellen Jackson, Potential Psychology

    • Whitney Phillips, Advanced Nutrition

    • Chef Dona, Carboni’s Kitchen

    • Bec Reeves, Formation Hair Salon

    • H Studios

  • Once Upon a Lockdown - podcast production

    • Mass Motion production

    • Hardy Audio

    • Hap Hayward, Presenter

    • Sam and Christine Harmer

    • Sarah Kittelty, Kittelty’s Cafe

    • Freya Josephine Hollick

    • Elizabeth Gray, Gekko Systems

    • Mick Trembath

    • Raquel Cowan, Ballarat Health Services

    • Lorraine Gittings, Ballarat Soup Bus

  • Stories of our Cultural City

    • Eureka Centre

    • Her Majesty’s Theatre

 
 

  • BE TV - kids TV production

    • Kaine Hansen, Host

    • Mass Motion, Production

    • Keepers Riley & JC, Ballarat Wildlife Park

    • Nyagak & Yaya, Girl Space Ballarat, Afro Zumba

    • Hanny Debuhr

    • Animal Attendant April, Ballarat Animal Shelter

    • Tammy Gilson

    • Jeremy Azzorpardi

    • Aiden, Stop Watch Magic

    • Kryal Castle

    • Coco Sounds

    • BJ Humphrey

    • Ben Sanders

    • Jackson Ford

    • Sovereign Hill

    • Krystal De Napoli

    • Ballarat Dancemakers

    • Ballarat Winter Festival