SmartArts

Managing Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sophie Galaise joins Richard to chat about the first part of the MSO’s 2021 programming. Featuring a range of free concerts and more, part 1 of the MSO’s 2021 programming will begin on January 29th and run until June.

Also, Jenny M Thomas of folk band Bush Gothic chats to Richard about their recent collaboration with Welsh fiddle-player, Angharad Jenkins, the struggles of pronouncing Welsh properly plus their new songs, I Fyw I Fôd (To Live and To Be) and Sosbahn Fach (Little Saucepan) - the story about just how crazy domesticity can be.

Lastly, Danny Pearson MP, the new Minister for Creative Industries, chats to Richard about the announcement of the Victorian Creative Strategy and Survey. The survey is looking to hear from young people aged 15 to 25, First Nations People, the LGBTQ+ community, and anyone else who feels as though their voices are not heard in order to make sure the resources, strategic focus, and intent are properly allocated to guide Victoria’s creative sector out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Season 2021 Guide | MSO

Bush Gothic | Bandcamp

Creative Strategy Survey | Engage Victoria

Director and CEO of ACMI, Katrina Sedgewick joins Richard to talk about the launch of a new gallery in 2021. After ACMI’s closure in 2019 and subsequent 40 million dollar renovation of the new gallery.

Richard is also joined by Craft Victoria director, Bryony Nainby to discuss Craft Contemporary, a new festival exploring how craft is evolving in the 21st century.

Also, Artistic Director of the Korean Film Festival of Australia, David Park joins the show to give an overview of this year’s edition of the festival as well as talk about the challenges all festivals have faced so far in 2020. Running from October 29th to November 5th, the full program will be available to anyone, anywhere in Australia for free!

And lastly, what have you been doing during Covid-19? Have you been using this time for self-reflection and exercise or perhaps, because the gyms are closed, you’ve found the couch to be quite comfortable and chocolate has become your vice.

Whatever you’ve been up to, we’ve all got something to confess in regards to our activities. Co-lead artist, Joseph Appleton, joins Richard to chat about the Corona Confessions project asking Melbournians to share their innermost thoughts and create a collective snapshot of the city during Covid-19. Organised by independent artist-collective, FLAG inc., you can submit your confessions via FLAG inc.’s website.

The Story of the Moving Image | ACMI

ACMI is reopening in 2021, here's what to expect | Broadsheet

Craft Contemporary | Craft.org

Korean Film Festival of Australia 2020

FLAG inc | Corona Confessions

Tai Snaith joins Richard for the visual arts review segment Art Attack to review Jamie O'Connell's Love Saves the Day. A poetic, simple, sort of strange but ephemeral exhibition on until the 7th of November at Neon Parc Gallery.

Also, Senior Curator at the National Gallery of Victoria Ted Gott talks to Richard about Don’t Leave Me This Way: Art in the Age of AIDS, an online lecture released as part of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art’s Defining Moments annual lecture series. It's about a 1994 exhibition that presented over 200 works on the subject of HIV/AIDS by more than 100 Australian and international artists, covering the scope and inception stories behind the exhibition.

Lastly, Chaosium’s Michael O’Brien chats with Richard about tabletop games, RPGs, and Melbourne International Games Week's Big Games Night In happening on Sunday, October 4.

Love Saves the Day | Neon Parc Gallery

Don't Leave Me this Way | ACCA Melbourne

Chaosium | Home

Games Week Melbourne

Literary Manager of Australian Plays, John Kachoyan joins Richard to discuss the launch of the NIMROD 50 Collection. An extensive and exciting collection of previously unpublished or out of print works to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Nimrod Street Theatre Company.

Richard is also joined by playwright and assistant lecturer at Monash University, Fleur Kilpatrick, and Gemma Livingstone, a theatre student at Monash University, who shared their thoughts about the proposed closure of the university’s Centre for Theatre and Performing Arts.

Fleur also talked about how COVID-19 has changed the manner in which theatre companies, actors, artists and others involved in the industry now operate.

Australian Plays launches the NIMROD 50 Collection | Arts Review

NIMROD 50 Collection | Australian Plays

The Centre Cannot Hold | Witness Performance

Save Our CTP

Why the "new normal" should be artist led | Arts Hub

Gallery Director of No Vacancy, Hayley Hanes joins Richard to discuss the online exhibition Still Life. Featuring works from over sixty artists, the exhibition is inspired by objects that provide comfort and stillness of mind.

Ace Wagstaff returns for his fortnightly Art Attack segment, reviewing Tom Civil’s Sparks exhibition on until September 20th at Backwoods Gallery.

Lastly, Melbourne artist, Laresa Kosloff discusses Radical Acts, a darkly humorous and critical short film commissioned by Buxton Contemporary, assembled and edited entirely using stock footage as its medium. Radical Acts tells the fantastical story of frustrated climate scientists who devise a plan to ensure they’re no longer ignored.

Still Life | No Vacancy

Sparks by Tom Civil | Backwoods Gallery

Laresa Kosloff - Radical Acts | Buxton Contemporary

Assistant Director of Curatorial and Audience Engagement at the NGV, Donna McColm joins Richard to talk about the announcement of Melbourne Now 2023, a massive free exhibition of art, design, and performance that celebrates Victoria’s creativity. The NGV hopes the exhibition will reignite the state’s creative spark and give the population something to look forward to as Melbourne retains its cultural capital crown after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Richard is also joined by Dr. Wendy Were from the Australia Council for the Arts to discuss the Council's Creating Our Future report. The report is a landmark research series that explores Australians’ engagement with and attitudes towards the arts and provides vital new evidence about the essential role arts and creativity play in Australian communities.

Thirdly, Tameka Carter phones up to chat with Richard about State of Disaster, a community art project started in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and Alexandra Heller Nicholas joins Richard to talk about In Fabric, a long weekend for fashion victims and film fetishists coming up at the Capitol Theatre.

Creating Our Future Report | Australia Council

Melbourne Now 2023 | NGV

In Fabric Long Weekend | Capitol Theatre RMIT

Richard is joined by Paul Davies, Director of MEAA Musicians who discussed the need for a comprehensive cultural policy to help sustain the arts in all its forms and invigorating everyone who consumes and creates art as well as increasing participation in the sector.

Plus Richard chats with writer and journalist Ben Eltham about the Parliament of Australia’s inquiry into our creative and cultural industries and institutions. The inquiry is taking submissions and will also involve hearings, with a report due next year. The hope is that both the inquiry and report will lead to policy changes that support the Arts Sector.

Australia needs a comprehensive cultural policy | MEAA Australia

Australia's creative and cultural industries and institutions | Parliament of Australia

Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung woman and recently appointed First Peoples curator at the TarraWarra Art Gallery, Stacie Piper joined Richard to talk about the Djirri Djirri Cultural Group who spoke as part of the Tall Trees Festival that happened on Sunday, August 23rd. The ticket proceeds from this year’s festival will be spent helping defend our vital native forests.

Plus the Artistic Director of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Janina Harding, joined Richard for an overview of the festival including a talk about the indigenous response to the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage.

Lastly, Richard spoke with Joel McGuiness, the Chief Executive Officer of the Geelong Arts Centre to chat about the centre’s ongoing August live streams and the package of grants released through its Creative Engine program to benefit artists and creatives of the Geelong and Surf Coast Shire area.

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair | Homepage

Geelong Arts Centre | Homepage

Geelong Arts Centre | Creative Engine Grant

Comedian and composer, Lou Wall phones in to talk to Richard about Dramageddon a genre-bending choose your own adventure podcast created by Lou and Jean Tong that pits two queer people against the climate apocalypse in 2050. Dramageddon is part of the Melbourne Writers’ Festival 2020 MWF Digital programming.
Richard is also joined by curator and arts writer, Natalie King, to discuss the Mini Monographs series of books published by Thames and Hudson. The series is a collection of small, compact books on an artist containing images of their most loved works accompanied by text written by someone outside of the art world. 

Lastly, Richard is joined by choreographer Prue Lang, who is involved in the Science Gallery’s Body / Insect / Machine, a work that explores the body, androids, artificial movement and intelligence on the one side and the body, human instinct, natural movement and nature on the other.

Dramageddon | MWF Digital

Natalie King's Mini Monographs | Thames and Hudson

Science Gallery | Body / Insect / Move

Melbourne based playwright, Gabriel Bergmoser talks to Richard about the musical radio-play adaptation of the Midsumma 2018 Bittern By Productions, Moonlite, one of Australia’s lesser-known bushrangers, out now online.
Richard is also joined by Mia Falstein Rush, MIFF’s Shorts programmer to chat about the festival’s 68½ programming for 2020 and the various short films on offer for this year’s festival which has moved online amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lastly, Creative Producer for Families and Children at Arts Centre Melbourne, Mary Harvey, discusses the launch of Bambert’s Lost Stories, a theatrical tale for families by Barking Gecko Theatre plus the complementary range of creative activities inspired by the show to keep young minds occupied during this time.

Moonlite Radio-Play

MIFF | MIFF 2020

Bambert's Book of Lost Stories | Arts Centre Melbourne