‘Having stuff I’ve written performed by a full orchestra, or performing something I’ve written with a full orchestra, they’re both things I thought would be mad when I was young, but I guess I’d accepted they would never happen. That’s life. That’s how it goes,’ says Gamilaraay guitarist, composer and Muloobinba/Newcastle resident, Jacob Cummins.
Thanks to City of Newcastle’s flagship arts festival New Annual, running from 27 September to 6 October, Cummins’ dreams are finally coming true.
Two of his compositions, Matricide (which features Cummins as guitar soloist and draws parallels between disrespect towards women and disrespect of the Land) and the longer work Rising from the Ashes (inspired by Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy Mistborn series) will be performed by the Newcastle Youth Orchestra (NYO) as part of New Annual on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September.
Cummins, whose musical influences range from hard rock and punk to classical music and film and video game scores, is excited to have his work featured in the festival. He’s even more excited about the potential impact his music may have on local audiences – especially young people who harbour performance dreams of their own.
‘My favourite part of any gig is to have someone come up afterwards and, after the standard compliments, say something like, “I’m going to practise as soon as I get home, because watching you was great.” I love that,’ he tells ArtsHub.
‘That’s my favourite thing to hear, because I know that feeling of watching something and being so geed-up that you’re really excited to get back to doing whatever it is that you love doing. So even if it’s one person that walks away from each event at the festival being like, “Hey, maybe I’m going to give this a go, maybe I’m going to practise again,” that will be just great,’ Cummins says.
He is equally enthusiastic about the appearance of First Nations artists such Gomeroi rapper Kobie Dee, a leader figure in the hip-hop community, and internationally acclaimed Quandamooka visual artist Megan Cope in the New Annual program.
‘Kobie Dee is probably one of my favourite artists at the moment. I’ve seen him perform a couple of times before. He’s an absolutely brilliant storyteller, and a role model too for the young fellas, which is really important,’ Cummins adds.
A celebration of Newcastle and beyond
Now in its fourth year, New Annual is a catalyst for City of Newcastle’s cultural ecology as well as a means of growing cultural tourism in the area, according to Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes.
‘Since launching New Annual in 2021, we’ve invested around $3 million into developing and delivering this flagship festival for Newcastle as part of our wider commitment to arts and culture in our city,’ Nelmes says.
‘In that time, and on the back of its diverse and ambitious programs, New Annual has cemented its place in the events calendar, attracting 95,000 visitors to Newcastle across its first three years.’
Opening with a free street party headlined by didgeridoo player, traditional dancer and singer Mitch Tambo, a Gamilaraay/Gomeroi man, New Annual 2024 highlights include the three-day street art event Big Picture Fest, allowing audiences to watch the creation of large-scale murals in real time; the exuberant and immersive 10-Minute Dance Parties curated by Melbourne artist JOF; and a new musical celebrating Newcastle’s café culture, Karma Kafé, created by Stray Dogs Theatre Company.
Megan Cope’s Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House, a 10-day participatory project designed to share knowledge about the cultural significance of oysters and local histories of Muloobinba/Newcastle, while also acknowledging the importance of environmental stewardship, is sure to be another highlight.
Councillor Carol Duncan, chair of City of Newcastle’s Community and Culture Advisory Committee and Public Art Reference Group, says New Annual highlights Newcastle’s identity as a creative hub.
‘With local artists and performers accounting for more than 50% of this year’s programming, New Annual provides a platform to showcase talented Novocastrians alongside national and internationally renowned practitioners,’ Duncan says.
Such practitioners include the celebrated artists of Townsville-based company Dancenorth Australia, led by Artistic Director Kyle Page, whose work has been staged in every major arts festival in the country as well as touring overseas.
Having previously presented the company’s Noise in New Annual last year, Page says he is looking forward to returning to Newcastle in 2024, this time with Wayfinder, a work he describes as an antidote to the anxiety and isolation felt by many people in recent years.
‘We wanted to create a work that really invited people – audience and performers, audience with other audience members, and performers with performers – into a closer proximity,’ Page says.
‘Wayfinder is a tonic for the times… We wanted to remind people of the incredible human capacity for connection and joy and celebration and love.’
The resulting work, co-created with Page’s life and artistic partner Amber Haines, together with a range of collaborators, including visual artist Hiromi Tango and Melbourne band Hiatus Kaiyote, has been rapturously received by audiences around the country.
‘As someone said to me post the Adelaide Festival earlier this year, “I can’t believe that I’m witnessing angst-free contemporary dance; what an absolute gift this is for the world.” And that’s a pretty universal response,’ Page laughs.
The power of storytelling
There is a special pleasure to be found in performing to audiences in regional centres like Newcastle, Kyle Page continues.
‘I have this very firm belief that art made by regional companies, or independent artists living in regional centres, should be seen by and shared with regional audiences… I think it’s different when you’re meeting people in smaller regional places – they meet you differently to when you’re going to an event or an opening night in a big city. There’s a spaciousness and a patience and a generosity and an engagement that I just think is more readily available,’ he explains.
The opportunity to connect with people outside one’s own immediate circle of friends and family, and to share stories and experiences with them, resonates deeply with Jacob Cummins.
‘Music is a really important way to tell stories, and not just modern storytelling – it’s the way that us Gamilaraay, and other mobs as well, have passed down stories for hundreds and thousands of years,’ he says.
Rising from the Ashes: An Orchestral Suite, the centrepiece of Cummin’s collaboration with the NYO, had its origins in his desire to share the books he was reading – and the soundscapes he imagined for them – with his friends.
‘I would write music just for myself and a handful of friends to listen to, if they wanted to listen, as soundtracks for books I was reading. If this was a film or if this was a game, what would it sound like? So that was kind of my process,’ he tells ArtsHub.
One of Cummins’ most ambitious pieces to date, Rising from the Ashes will be played by the NYO with Cummins watching on, though the event also features performers from the National College of Dance directed by Brett Morgan, and a visual accompaniment of works by local photographer Dru Maher-Brooks. All told, it’s a suitably epic festival production – fitting for a composition inspired by an epic fantasy series.
Coupled with New Annual’s programming of artists from across the country as well as close to home, the experience is one Cummins is sure to remember.
‘It’s a privilege, an absolute privilege, to be able to experience so many things [at the festival] that I might not be able to experience otherwise,’ he concludes.
City of Newcastle’s New Annual festival runs from 27 September – 6 October 2024 in Newcastle, NSW. Visit the festival website for program and ticketing details.
