Spirit Bird Dancers welcome crowds at M~M2014. Image courtesy Brian Cohn and the City of Greater Geelong.
Spanning from Corio Bay to the Barwon River, the City of Greater Geelong has a range of upcoming social and cultural experiences for communities across the Greater Geelong municipality.
Manager of Arts & Culture at the City, Kaz Paton, said that there is extraordinary momentum growing in the region, with arts and culture playing a major part in Geelong’s future developments.
Geelong’s history of fostering artistic talent is the springboard for this newfound creative drive, with cultural institutions of the finest standard including the Geelong Gallery, the Geelong Performing Arts Centre and the landmark newly redeveloped Geelong Library & Heritage Centre (opening toward the end of 2015) at the helm.
‘With strong support from our Mayor Darryn Lyons and Councillors, our focus is on what is unique and authentic in Geelong, so not importing ideas but really developing what is special about the place in which we live and the artists who work here. We are trying to really build on our own distinctive strengths. Restoration of important historic public art works as well as commissioning contemporary artists to create projection programmes on City Hall is part of the mix,’ said Paton.
‘Over more recent years there has been an intensifying of the cultural sector and a greater recognition and awareness of the arts in general. It’s a very dynamic time. Outstanding original work by companies such as Back to Back, artists and performers, multiple arts groups and festivals, have contributed to the profile and level of arts activity here’.
An example of the community-created arts projects developing in Geelong is Mountain to Mouth (M~M), a multi-award winning cultural event first piloted in 2009 and introduced as a biennial event in 2014 – the next event will take place in May 2016. This innovative event invites people of all ages and abilities to walk one or more stages of an 80km pathway over a 24 hour period, sharing a journey through the unique landscape of the Geelong region. It is about connecting people with place.
Working closely with the Wadawurrung people, the traditional owners of this land, Artistic Director Meme MacDonald, and project partners Diversitat, Deakin University, Karingal, CCMA and Borough of Queenscliffe, along with artists and community creates a contemporary songline that responds to the landscapes, the land, and the people of Geelong and Queenscliffe, while showcasing ephemeral art along the journey.
‘M~M has a very strong environmental focus, it is a pilgrimage to help us all appreciate and understand the environment in which we live and how precious its ecology is. By walking the land you see it in a different way, you appreciate it and you notice change,’ said Paton.
M~M2014 first incorporated ‘Geelong After Dark’, now an annual vibrant city centre arts event that lights up Geelong with spontaneous performances, music and art installations. This year’s event featured 265 artworks from predominantly regional and local artists, with over 10,000 people attending, nearly doubling the inaugural 2014 attendee numbers.
‘M~M and Geelong After Dark are really about the discovery of the land and the people and recognition of the fragile environment that we live in, connecting people to place and deepening our understanding of where we live,’ said Paton.
For more information on arts events visit the City of Greater Geelong.
