IN FOCUS: ARCHIVE

ShortCuts Film Festival Director, Tresa Ponnor gives us a sneak peak into what's on offer at this year's ShortCuts. Festival night is on Saturday April 21 at the Fairfiled Forum.

1. Who is Tresa Ponnor?
Yikes! That’s a pretty deep question so I’ll answer as superficially as possible. I’m the festival director of Shortcuts Film Festival 2012. I’m a directing graduate from the AFTRS and I currently teach at TAFE.
 
2. What has she been doing?
  Other than watching some awesome Shortcuts entries, I’ve been organising the film festival to ensure we have a successful festival night. This includes bringing on board awesome judges, hosts, prizes and sponsors. I’ve also been liaising with entrants and finalists in the lead up to the entry deadline and festival night. This year is Shortcuts 9th birthday so the event is bigger and better than ever so I’ve been heavily involved in marketing and promoting the festival to the local media.   MORE

: : Fast Five Flashback : :

We published the following interview in March 2012 and are thrilled that Alan and Effie have now completed production on the first season of their web series, Ama & Chan's Kitchen Rescue. It was launched in October, here's the youtube link.

Artfiles catches up with the delightful and versatile actor, comedy devisor and filmmaker, Alan Lao. Alan is the second half of the soon-to-be-cult comic duo, Ama & Chan. Their web series Ama & Chan Kitchen Rescue is being produced as part of the Curiousworks Stories Project and will go online later this year.

1. Who is Alan Lao?
I am an Australian born Chinese/Thai Artist, I studied Theatre, Acting and Filmmaking. I'm currently studying Advertising at Sydney Institute, and am a bartender and barista with what ever left over time I have left over. I love my comedy, coffee and cocktails.

2.Who are Ama & Chan and what have they been doing?
Ama and Chan are a modern day power couple, the end result of having an opinionated Chinese-Australian man married to a headstrong Ghanaian-Australian woman. They are Z-list celebrities trying to be A-list, with the grammar they possess, it's going to take a while. Their claim to fame is inventing fusion Asian/African cuisine. They have a 6 part web series out online - stay tuned to see what the gossip is all about! So I have been trying to get the web series together with the help of CuriousWorks and Matta Media.
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This week Artfiles catches up with artist Joanne Saad as she prepares to open I Want To Know What Love Is, her solo exhibition examining ordinary people's love of song, launching 29 March 2012 at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.

1. Who is Joanne Saad?
Probably easier if I quote from my bio- Joanne has exhibited widely throughout Australia in solo and group shows as well as internationally. Fascinated by the extra-ordinariness of people’s daily life and hyper-aware of the connection we have to emotive images and words, Joanne Saad is a multi-media artist who relishes in community collaboration. Genuinely curious about both the private world of people and public spaces, it is in this interaction that her photography and video work, becomes its own individual world.

2. What has she been doing?
Over the last six months I have focused solely on a major Public Artwork for Blacktown City Council working with artist Abbas Makrab we produced a 25 metre Mosaic Mural Wall. This was created in consultation with the local community in Mt Druitt. We collaborated with over 150 local residents to create the final work. I have also been working on a major solo show, I Want To Know What Love Is.   MORE

The image of the poor starving artist in the garret is certainly romantic. But if you're the one doing the starving, it can lose its appeal pretty fast.

Emerging artists and small cultural organisations often find it difficult to raise crucial funds to get their projects rolling. And government support is limited and highly competitive.

But another source of arts funding has almost doubled in the last decade from $111.6 million to $212 million nationally. The secret source of this lifeline for the arts? Private donations and sponsorships.

Caroline Vu is the NSW Manager of the Australia Council's Artsupport Australia, a position also supported by Arts NSW. Her role is to help individual artists and cultural organisations connect with private financial support.

The assistance she provides is free and highly effective – Artsupport Australia's work has resulted in over $60 million in donations to 200 artists and 600 organisations since 2003.

Caroline is specifically responsible for Western Sydney artists.

'Anyone can come and see me as long as you are working in the cultural sector and you're not a commercial outfit,' she says. 'You could be an organisation or an individual artist from any artform – visual arts, dance, theatre, literature, film, music, multimedia.'   MORE

Looking for inspiration, validation or juicy food for thought to fuel your community cultural development work?

Feast your eyes online with this Artfiles-curated collection of community-and-the-arts-related resources from across Australia and beyond.

Be inspired by a rich variety of free toolkits, guides and templates made for you and your activities with and in communities. From public art to awareness campaigns to cultural mapping and more.

Discover research and hard data that could inform or bolster your project development and grant applications. From connecting arts and celebrations with wellbeing to community empowerment and even train stations as community hubs.

And experience the sense of validation that can come from knowing that you, your work, your community is not acting alone. The world of CCD (community cultural development) is a big place and Western Sydney is one of its capital cities.

Sources include: Chiara Camponeschi, Community Arts Network WA, Creative City Network of Canada, Enabling City, Fairfield City Council, Globalism Institute RMIT University, Queensland Arts Council, Soul of the Community, Tactical Technology Collective, and VicHealth.   MORE

Do people like your work?
Then tell them about it!

The New Year is the perfect time to make or start contact with your supporters: briefly recap 2011's highlights and make the link to what you've got planned for 2012, say 'thank you' for their support in 2011 and give an idea of how often you plan to contact them in 2012.

Why make contact? To be remembered. To be more than a name. To sell your work. To make conversation. To get hired or commissioned. To promote your social media outlets. To be invited to good stuff. Heck, for like a hundred reasons!

By using free email marketing tools people can easily subscribe/unsubscribe to your updates, you can manage your email lists, and you can make regular contact with your subscribers using good looking email messages.   MORE