SmartArts

Artist Telia Nevile on her new one-woman cabaret performance ‘Insomniac Mixtape’ at Melbourne Fringe Festival, capturing the unsettling and relatable descent into chaos that is sleep deprivation, through a range of bizarre goth, electronic and punk tunes; Melbourne Art Foundation CEO and Melbourne Art Fair director, Maree Di Pasquale gives a rundown of the newly annual 2024 Art Fair program, and explains the recently revamped artist commissioning process; NGV senior curator, Susan van Wyk on the creative process of photograph selection to put together her new exhibition, ‘Real and Imagined’, exploring the concepts of historical reality and illusion at the Ian Potter centre; Executive Director, Richard Hull and Artistic Director, Anni Davey of Flying Fruit Fly Circus walk listeners through their exciting program at Albury Wodonga’s Borderville Circus Festival

Irish Film Festival Director Dr Enda Murray walks listeners through the exciting 2023 program overview for the Irish Film Festival; Program Director Hadley Agrez unveils the diverse 2023 Melbourne International Jazz Festival lineup; Accessed via a real phone number audiences can call, Kasey Gambling explains her new interactive work, ‘The Hotline’ at Melbourne Fringe Festival, which allows audiences to experience a satirical critique of real anti-choice pregnancy hotlines, and their place in a patriarchal medical system; Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks gives an overview of season 2024 of the Melbourne Theatre Company

Co-producers Tim Sneddon and Jeff Achtem explain how accessibility and the need for low-cost family festivals drove them to create the new Merribek Family Festival, walking listeners through their exciting program; Nina Sanadze, founder of  Collective Polyphony Festival, and artist Camille Perry from Collective Agitation explore the importance of giving a voice to different perspectives and diasporas; Dr Craig Cormick on his new book, ‘A Darker Shade of Moonlite: A Creative Biography’, a retelling of history through the lens of the present, exploring the queerness of bushranger Captain Moonlite; Director Melanie Hillman on her all-female cast production, ‘A funny thing happened on the way to the forum’, comically reimagining the 2000-year-old comedies of Roman playwright, Plautus

Composer and cellist Zoë Barry on how her unlikely experience of being struck by lightning on three separate occasions inspired her new artistic work in ‘The Nervous Atmosphere’ at Arts House; Simon Abrahams, Creative Director and CEO of Melbourne Fringe walks listeners through the exciting new program for the 41st Melbourne Fringe Festival; Co-Artistic Directors Andy Freer and Nick Wilson of Snuff Puppets on their new festival, ‘Snuffest’, bringing joy and giant puppets to Melbourne’s West; Matthew Lutton, Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Malthouse Theatre explores the intriguing new program for Malthouse Theatre in 2024

It's Radiothon time here at Triple R - the time of the year we ask our listeners to help support SmartArts and all the other programs on RRR by financially supporting the station by taking out a subscription.

Listen to a very special edition of SmartArts as Richard is joined by regular guests and mainstays of Melbourne's Arts & Culture community to talk about the importance of independent media. Tai Snaith and Bernard Caleo continue their regular segments, ‘Art Attack’ and ‘Drawn Out’; Executive director of Theatre Works, Dianne Toulson and McClelland Sculpture Gallery director Lisa Byrne explore the impact of Triple R on the art scene in Melbourne; Comedian Damian Callinan and arts journalist Anne-Marie Peard talk their personal experiences being part of the vibrant Triple R community.

to subscribe to Triple R & SmartArts, head to rrr.org.au/radiothon

Contemporary theatre performers Dominic Weintraub and Hugo Williams of Pony Cam exhibit the process of knowledge sharing across generations, breaking theatre convention by collaborating with mass community-led ensemble cast of locals aged 55+ in ‘All This Could Be Yours’; Artistic Director Danielle Micich on her new production ‘idk’ borrowing from her experience as an intimacy coordinator to explore consent and the memories the body holds; Melbourne artist Christian Capurro on the dialogue between contemporary Melbourne and Latin artists in Heide’s exhibition ‘Beneath the surface, behind the scenes’; Actor Aisha Aidara on playing Portia in Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s new production of ‘Julius Caesar’

Director Nick Kozakis talks how his childhood horror movie obsession and the resurgence of the horror film genre in Australia influenced his new independent horror, ‘Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism’; CEO and creative director of Geelong Arts Centre, Joel McGuiness on Geelong’s blossoming art scene, outlining the star-studded lineup for the new Geelong Arts Centre opening; Choreographers Kayla Douglas and Kady Mansour on dance premier ‘ESCALATOR’ by the Stephanie Lake Company, showcasing five upcoming choreographic talents; Playwright Emily Sheehan explores the connection between beauty and power in new production ‘MONUMENT’.

Richard is away this week, guest host Daniel Santangeli fills in! Playwright Fleur Murphy explores ordinary acts of bravery and the ethical concerns of witnessing domestic violence in her award-winning play ‘The Fence,’ set in Melbourne suburbia; Visual artist and performer Will Huxley captivates audiences with his dynamic photographic works in ‘DisGraceland’, following the fantastical narrative of two queer alien Elvises; Visual artist Tai Snaith is back with our visual art segment ‘Art Attack’

First Nations artist Gail Mabo talks shouldering the legacy of her father, activist Eddie Mabo, and her new exhibition ‘Current’ at McClelland Gallery with fellow First Nations artists Lisa Wuap and Dominic White, transporting audiences to her home in Murray Island; National Institute for Circus Arts students Sophia Laidlaw and Naruha Ohta explain their distress towards Swinburne University’s shock decision to freeze the Bachelor of Circus Arts program for 2024, leaving their futures in the art form uncertain; Actor and playwright Benjamin Nichol explores the unpredictability of queer love and intimacy in his two productions ‘Kerosene’ and ‘SIRENS’ at Fortyfivedownstairs theatre. 

Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Vice President of Actor’s Equity for the MEAA breaks down the US writers and actors strike, uncovering how streaming and AI technologies have threatened livelihoods in film and the potential impacts of this on Australian art; Leading actors Jacob Warner and Rose Riley on how their ages and close friendship have informed a deeper exploration of love in their portrayals of Romeo and Juliet in the latest production by Bell Shakespeare; Curator Catlin Langford and artist Buzz Gardiner on their photography exhibition ‘Walking Through The Darkness’,  at the Centre of Contemporary Photography, celebrating photography’s ability to capture the darkness of stories with light.