6 February 2018
In November last year we announced that we would not be presenting a You Are Here festival in 2018. Since making that decision we received word that artsACT would be supporting us in our year of planning and development through their program funding round. The board and extended family of You Are Here want to acknowledge and thank the ACT government for this support. Their willingness to fund us in 2018 as a development year is proof that they understand how important it is that arts organisations are being run in rigorous, thoughtful and future-minded ways.
This presents us with a pretty special opportunity, to engage deeply with the planning, research and development of our little organisation using the same ethos that we approach festival making. Artist and producer led, embedded within the community, and experimental always.
In 2018 we’ll be defining our role and making decisions about how to change and improve our program for 2019 and onwards. We’ll investigate how the Canberra arts landscape and city itself has changed since we started (including how we ourselves have changed it), and how our skills and knowledge match up with what communities need. We’ll consult with artists, producers, stakeholders, partners and audiences about what we do well and what we must do better.
Throughout the course of this year we’re going to be sending out regular updates, for all who are interested, sharing what we’ve been thinking about, who we’ve been talking to, our findings and whatever tangents and rabbit holes we head down. There may even be some new artistic creations along the way. You might respond with your own thoughts, experiences, opinions, readings. In the meantime thanks for your investment in what we’re doing, whether it’s seven years or seven seconds old.
Media enquiries:
Yolande Norris
festival@youareherecanberra.com.au
0438 545 291