The exciting part is: because this will be the
first ever festival of this
>kind in Brisbane, there are no precedents, no
"musts", and no
>idea that is necessarily out and place. More so now
than at any time later,
>we now have the chance to try things, experiment,
throw
>around ideas and make mistakes.
>
>Hopefully the result will be an event that people
will be interested in,
>enjoy, make new friends and professional contacts
at, and
>find thought-provoking and inspiring.
>
>What is Straight Out of Brisbane going to be about?
>***********************************************************
>Straight Out of Brisbane plans to be a small but
growing niche festival
>aimed specifically at showcasing art and culture by
>Brisbane's many young and emerging artists - across
artforms and genres.
>Its key objective is to give opportunities for
young and
>emerging Queensland artists to exhibit, promote and
talk about their work.
>
>Straight Out of Brisbane will focus heavily on work
produced by young and
>emerging artists themselves, and aims to become a
>highly valued opportunity for showing work,
cultural exchange with other
>artists, networking, professional development, and
as an
>opportunity for dialogue with peak bodies, cultural
organisations and
>government arts agencies.
>
>Straight Out of Brisbane is also about independent
cultural production -
>"bedroom art", if you like. We want to celebrate
>independent publications, music, performance,
visual art, film-making, etc
>etc. We're also exceptionally keen to include
groups or
>collectives of independent artworkers, wherever we
can find them. Art
>collectives, artist-run spaces, small galleries,
writers
>groups, record labels, publishers, and small
businesses that cater to
>independent production such as indpendent boutiques
and
>record stores are all part of our ambit.
>
>A bit more of a spiel about the festival
>*******************************************
>Straight Out of Brisbane is the name I came up with
to describe a new
>festival in Brisbane. The idea of this event is
essentially to
>copy the very successful This Is Not Art festival
in Newcastle, in order to
>create new opportunities for young and emerging art
and
>artists in Brisbane.
>
>The festival aims to expose young and emerging art
and artists in Brisbane
>to new audiences, but also to each other. Its
>long-term
>goal is to try and "build the scene" here to the
stage where it is no
>longer necessary to leave Queensland in order to
live from your
>art.
>
>Essentially, the idea of Straight Out of Brisbane
is to represent and
>showcase as much of the interesting non-commercial
art,
>media and culture being made here as possible,
whatever its origin and
>whoever made it. We want to give people who are
>actually "doing stuff" a platform to expose it.
>
>More fundamentally, we just want to reinject a bit
of life into Brisbane's
>arts and culture scene, which is full of creative
people who
>make work that no-one sees. Thus, our aim is to
embrace interesting,
>intelligent and novel art, especially of an
underground or
>under-exposed nature (and let's face: what in
Brisbane isn't?) wherever we
>can find it.
>
>Straight Out of Brisbane recognises that there are
large numbers of small
>but interconnected "underground" or "bedroom"
>scenes
>going on in Brisbane right now; at the same time,
never has it been harder
>to get a start and establish yourself as a working
artist
>in Queensland. Venues are closing,
government-sponsored art continues to
>under-whelm, and talented people continue to leave
>town.
>
>Straight Out of Brisbane aims to try and address
some of this by
>stimulating debate, showcasing art, and providing
opportunities
>for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange between people
working across a whole
>range of artforms and area of interest. We want to
>try and "grow a scene" up from the grass-roots.
>
>Straight Out of Brisbane also exists in a
complementary and sometimes
>agitatory relationship with existing Brisbane arts
>festivals, which we argue don't address the full
diversity of artistic
>production going on in south-east Queensland right
now.
>Although it is not a fringe festival, it does have
the opportunity to
>showcase artwork of the kind that Governments
rarely fund and
>Government-funded festivals won't touch. Such art
tends to be too new, too
>difficult, unfashionable, or often simply
politically
>incompatible with curators and directors of large
festivals. In a phrase,
>they don't "get it." Straight Out of Brisbane is an
attempt to
>fill this gap.
>
>Straight Out of Brisbane also aims to be political,
in the sense of being
>interested in the political views and issues of our
day.
>While the festival itself has no political
orientation, the organisers want
>to encourage debate and even acrimony - anything to
>combat the apathy so prevalent in Australia today.
We recognise that the
>activist community in all its diversity includes a
lot of
>energetic people doing interesting stuff, many of
whom are artists as well.
>
>Who is it for?
>***************
>In a word, us.
>
>We've asked you to help with SOOB because you, like
us, are heavily
>involved in creating and organising artistic-type
things. We
>think you probably already realise a lot of the
points made above. We think
>you "get it." Otherwise we wouldn't have asked you
to
>help.
>
>We want you to programme content that would
interest you and your peer
>groups, because if it doesn't, then what's the
point?
>Even if we simply put on an event for all of the
organiser's friends, the
>nature of Brisbane means that it will probably be
pretty cool.
>There is already a precedent for this in the sort
of events Tara Pattenden
>has organised as Mindscapes, artistic collectives
such
>as the EAS, and record labels like Sound
Malfunction. All of these
>collectives bring groups of friends and peers
together to make
>interesting things happen, often in an informal and
enjoyable way. This is
>a good thing. Angry Mime is another collective that
has
>achieved fantastic stuff by harnessing the power of
friends. We should try
>and do this too.
>
>More broadly, we believe that the audience for
emerging and interesting art
>is essentially other artists - designers - musos -
>film-makers - writers - IT geeks - performers -
media types - and so on. We
>want to build content that will appeal to a large
>number
>of small subsets/niches of these people.
>
>It's preferable for a given piece of content - a
panel, a workshop, a
>performance - to appeal really strongly to 20
people, rather
>than to generate luke-warm interest from 2,000. If
we can programme 100
>different little niche events that each bring 10
new
>people to the event, then we'll be doing very well.
>
>We have used the terms "young", "youth" and
"emerging" (though, like most
>of you, we're not really sure what they actually
mean)
>extensively in grant applications, but that doesn't
mean the festival is
>only for these people. After all, what do these
terms mean
>any more? The ages at which people can be called
"young" are increasing due
>to social change. People stay at uni longer, live
>with their parents longer, work in menial "McJobs"
longer, and postpone
>marriage and children longer than they did a
generation
>ago. Channel 10 understands this demographic much
better than Arts
>Queensland.
>
>In fact, we're not going to use terms like "youth"
at all in our marketing,
>because we believe they have become tainted by
misuse
>by government festivals like National Youth Week.
Our audience is actually
>wary of events being tagged "youth" because they
>suspect them of being tokenistic. We want to market
TO younger audiences,
>not AT them.
>
>However we do believe that there is very little
opportunity for artists to
>develop and showcase their art in their 20's. There
is often
>a very long window between leaving university and
finally becoming
>"established" as a mature and successful artist. As
we know,
>most people give up in their 20's and get a "real"
job. These are the sort
>of people we want to do the festival for.
>
>To give you a sort of an idea, you might say our
intended audience are the
>"art-yobs" - the kids who make art or music but
also
>like drinking beer - perhaps the crowd at the RGs
on Thursday nights -
>students, artists, film-makers, musos, people
working in
>media, fashion, design, and IT. Another excellent
intended demographic is
>the crowd that came to the old DeBunk nights at
>Wednesdays at Jameson's last year.
>
>What will be in it?
>********************
>Straight Out of Brisbane programming will fall into
six main strands, each
>of which will function as "mini-festivals" in their
own
>right.
>If you are reading this document, it is because
we'd like to you to help
>program one of this strands:
>
>* An independent and young and emerging writing,
zines and self-publishing
>strand, heavily engaged with the Queensland zine
>community and Queensland student media, and also
addressing dynamic and
>under-represented newer forms of writing such as
>Speculative Fiction, non-fiction and critical
writing by young people,
>spoken word and performance, and hip-hop.
>
>* A young digital arts and new media strand,
including some aspects of
>film- and video-making. This strand will include a
wide
>range of electronically-informed artforms,
including music, art, digital
>video and screen art by young and emerging
Queensland
>artist in online media as well as on DVDs, CD-ROMs,
and for broadcast and
>the screen. It also seeks to develop a "tech/geek"
>programme that addresses some of the technical
issues of new media,
>including electronic music composition and digital
audio,
>digital video editing and mixing, web-based content
technologies, digital
>broadcast technologies, community broadband
>initiatives, and so on.
>
>* A professional development strand geared to
providing networking and
>knowledge exchange opportunities across the
>Queensland emerging arts sector. This strand will
include both panel
>discussions and workshops with representatives from
>organisations working with young and emerging
artists across the arts, from
>the mainstream to the independent and
>community-based, but aiming to be more informal and
discursive than current
>programs like A-Venue or Navigation.
>
>* A performance, movement and theatre strand.
Queensland has a nationally
>recognised physical theatre and movement scene,
>as well as a vibrant student theatre community and
many independent theatre
>companies specialising in producing work by and
>with emerging performers, playwrights and
choreographers. This strand will
>be a combination of both performances and
>discussions, allowing knowledge exchange within
this community and
>showcasing the quality of the young and emerging
>performing arts in Brisbane to a much wider
audience.
>
>* A contemporary music and gigs strand. This strand
will feature five
>nights of music performances across a the full
range of
>young
>and emerging comtemporary music genres in Brisbane,
including jazz, funk
>and hip-hop, rock and pop, and electronica and
>experimental musics. Running as the "night program"
of the Straight Out of
>Brisbane Festival, it will be the first event of
its type in
>Brisbane to run over multiple nights specifically
devoted to emerging
>contemporary music genres.
>
>* A young visual arts strand will exhibit as much
exciting work by emerging
>Brisbane visual artists as possible. Galleries
across
>Fortitude Valley and New farm will be approached to
set aside space for
>young and emerging exhibitions, which will "take
over"
>the Brisbane gallery scene for the period of the
festival. The timing of
>the festival in late November also allows strong
synergies to
>be developed with end-of-year showcases by visual
arts students training at
>universities such as the Queensland College of Art
>and QUT.
>
>So what do we want you to do?
>************************************
>Basically, we want you to program a mixture of
panel discussions,
>presentations, workshops and performances by
interesting
>people in your field.
>
>The emphasis should be on looking at important
issues involved in the
>making of your art. For example, independent
theatre in
>Brisbane, (another example) writing speculative
fiction in Australia, or
>(yet another) the state of Queensland hip-hop.
There are a
>zillion other ideas, of course.
>
>We want the main emphasis to be on talk-fests -
we're not hear to change
>the world, simply tto talk about our stuff. But
>performances are also important, and we'll have
gigs, readings, etc. as
>well.
>
>There will be NO BOOK SIGNINGS at Straight Out of
Brisbane.
― Queen G's netherlands, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)