Green Room: Government ‘still plugging away’ on Tarrkarri
SA arts & culture news in brief.
No new Tarrkarri money in State Budget
Readers may recall the State Government launched its long-awaited new ‘A Place to Create’ arts and culture policy with a splash — and an $80 million funding commitment — back in March. It took InReview another few days to wiggle out just how much of that number was ‘new’ money — $13 million in the end, to be allocated in the then-forthcoming 2025-26 State Budget.
Lo and behold our colleagues at InDaily emerged fresh from the Budget lockup on Thursday with confirmation that $13 million has indeed been set aside in next year’s budget papers. Still absent however is any movement on the long-mooted North Terrace Aboriginal arts and culture gallery, which, despite the Premier’s insistence that “the Tarrkarri dream for us is still alive” in March, remains a dust-blown pipedream with no new money announced.
“We think something like two to three times the $200 million budget that was left to us by the previous government is actually what’s required to deliver it successfully,” the Treasurer told InDaily on Thursday.
It will stay that way until a few hundred million fall into the government’s lap. Back in March the Premier hinted that unnamed private funders had already committed to “not insignificant” amounts of money, but it still isn’t enough.
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“We don’t have the capacity to do it ourselves,” the Treasurer said on Thursday. “We’re keeping the door open to try and attract some other funding, perhaps from the Commonwealth. But we’ll keep plugging away, because we believe in this project.”
Coriole clinches Concertmaster
Coriole Music Festival has plucked its latest artistic director from the musical vine with the news Kate Suthers will take over after three years led by celebrated cellist Simon Cobcroft.
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A veteran of the Royal Academy of Music, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and City of Birmingham Orchestra, the Sydney-born Suthers will already be very familiar to chamber music fans as Concertmaster of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. The newly appointed Festivalmaster will oversee the 2025 festival, which will run from May 16-17 at Coriole Vineyard.
“I’m delighted to be entrusted with the role of the next Artistic Director of the Coriole Music Festival,” Suthers said. “The recent festival celebrated 25 years, and I see my tenure as a chance to build on those traditions as well as an opportunity to explore new repertoire and programming.
“I relish the thought of combining the beautiful setting of the Coriole Vineyard with a weekend full of music.”
You LOFT to see it
Australian Dance Theatre has unveiled the recipients of its LOFT program, a joint initiative with CreateSA that grants funding and rehearsal space — in Level One of the Lion Arts Centre and ADT’s Tanja Liedtke Studio — to independent and emerging dancers and choreographers.
Bharathanatyam dancer and choreographer Christopher Gurusamy has scored the $30,000, six-week EXPOUND Residency which he’ll use to develop a new work, Kalki, that promises a contemporary reinterpretation of Bharatanatyam, Carnatic and South Asian influences.
Another eight artists — Ade Suharto (SA), Aimee Raitman (VIC), Alix Kuijpers (SA), Cheeky Chandler (NT), Kaine Sultan Babij (SA), Natalie Allen (WA), Thomas Bradley (NSW) and Tyler Carney-Faleatua (NSW) — will receive a week of studio time and a $3000 grant each as part of the EXPLORE residency program.
“I love artists, and I love the messy, strange and almost alchemical process of making new work,” Australian Dance Theatre executive producer Viviana Sacchero says of the news. “It’s an incredible privilege to not only provide funding to a group of amazing creatives from across Australia, but to support the strengthening of the South Australian ecology by giving makers the opportunity to deepen and extend their connection to dance.”
Green Room is a regular column for InReview, providing quick news for people interested, or involved, in South Australian arts and culture. Get in touch by emailing us at [email protected]