The Centre for Creative Communities | Community organisation

The Centre for Creative Communities

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24.01.2022 The Centre is alway interested in community rituals and celebrations and Neil Cameron's visit to the Mexican Day of the Dead Festival was significant. We are organising a public lecture in Hobart Thursday 19 February at the Salamanca Arts Centre (side entrance) at 6.00 to talk about issues around the arts, death and dying. Its free and see poster below for more details. Do come along

24.01.2022 My submission to the Senate Inquiry investigating the impact of the 2014-15 Commonwealth Budget decisions on the Arts A Statement about ethics "The position in international law can be summarized as follows: Although the right to freedom of expression does not require an absolute ban on prior censorship, this should be a highly exceptional measure, taken only when a publication threatens grave harm, such as loss of life or serious harm to health, safety or the environment. An...Continue reading

22.01.2022 'Project Watermark' in Queenstown, Tasmania is over. It was a hard project to stage a theatre show with the local people of a small mining town that would present an emotional but positive view of their future but it really worked. The local mine has closed and thrown many out of work but 'Watermark', part of the Tasmanian International Arts Festival, really did the job. It went over three nights and on the last performance the show went through the roof. It had 62 local peop...le involved, seven professional actors and three musicians. "Putting on a show like this is like a reverse explosion" said the director Neil Cameron " You start with a lot of research that turn into dozens of small creative bits that travel towards each other at different speeds and velocities and at last come together as a harmonised whole. I loved the show and want to thank everyone who made it work including Arts Tasmania and TIAF for supporting it ".

20.01.2022 WATERMARK: A THEATRE SHOW ABOUT COURAGE The Centre is based in a small mining town in the highlands of western Tasmania for the month of March. Directed by Neil Cameron and produced by Adelaide Wood the show is being performed for Ten Days on the Island and commissioned by the local arts festival the Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival. There are now over 60 people in the show and eleven professionals who are all working hard to get it ready for Thursday 26, Friday 27 and S...aturday 28 March in the Civic Hall in Queenstown. The show charts the history of the area going back 40,000 years and tells of the heroism and courage of the people that have made the west what it is. More reports later.

20.01.2022 DARK MOFO TALKS Neil Cameron and architect Robert Morris-Nunn compared death rites at a two night lecture as part of Dark Mofo Festival in Hobart. They took Victorian funeral attitudes and compared them to the moving and extraordinary Day of the Dead festivals in Mexico. But what came of the various talks they have been doing is a common interest in holding an event that allows the community to get together and hold a one day festival that commemorates the people we have love...d and have now gone. Is a Day of the dead festival possible in Hobart? We know they have small beginning in other cities so maybe a step forward in Tasmania is possible. Watch this space

18.01.2022 Here is a picture of one of the graves in Mexico

15.01.2022 Eight days to go! Bookings still open. BECOME A BETTER WRITER BY UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF STORY Novelist Rosie Dub and international theatre director Neil ...Cameron are running a Writing Weekend in Hobart called ‘The Heroic Journey’ Sat 3 to Sun 4 Nov. ($250 Full - $230 Con) Strengthen your storytelling skills Discover the elements that drive your story Harness the power of myth and archetypes Understand the functions of story MORE DETAILS FROM NEIL CAMERON 0418-733-551 or [email protected]

14.01.2022 BECOME A BETTER WRITER BY UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF STORY Novelist Rosie Dub and international theatre director Neil Cameron are running a Writing Weekend in Hobart called ‘The Heroic Journey’ Sat 3 to Sun 4 Nov. ($250 Full - $230 Con) Strengthen your storytelling skills Discover the elements that drive your story Harness the power of myth and archetypes... Understand the functions of story MORE DETAILS FROM NEIL CAMERON 0418-733-551 [email protected]

13.01.2022 AUSTRALIA COUNCIL CUTS Neil Cameron: Even in Japan people were talking about massive cut-backs in the arts. That a small group of people in government could damage the cultural life in this country so deeply is difficult to believe. The disruption, damage and unemployment to our most creative people will be devastating and Australia will not easily recover. One has to ask why? Is it just cultural ignorance? Is it that a senior minister is handed the arts portfolio who real...ly has little idea what the arts are doing in our society and just cuts funding to save money? Maybe they have no real comprehension of how culture works in Australia and have not really done any homework on what will happen to our culture when they get out the scalpel ? Or is it prejudice? Politicians are well known for their arts prejudice. They see theatre, writing, dance, the visual arts and music as being fancy middle class extras, entertainment that most people could do without and that the arts don't really don't matter, and can be cut with impunity. They are able to dissociate the arts from the daily life of Australians and what they think and feel as a people. They forget that every Australia is being exposed to the arts every day of their lives through film, television, books, images, magazines, educational structures, newspapers, radio, CDs, DVDs, games, fashion, festivals, design of everything we use, architecture, town planning, tourism and even politics. Might even be politically motivated? The arts are, at their base, powerful communication channels able to reach our thoughts and feelings in way that nothing else can. They can be used and misused by anyone to express anything. It can dumb down as well as enrich. We have seen the Australia Council as an institution that fights to keep human expression at its highest level, to preserve our ethics and our integrity as a nation. They had the task to promote an independent voice, separate from government, that explores what it is like to be a human being: perhaps the most important job of any society. One can see how this might threaten the present government. We must ask why one of the foundation stones of our society is being damaged. We must also question the motives that have made this possible." For more: See Centre's web site >what we offer >writings >'The Eight Realms'

13.01.2022 The Mexican Day of the Dead. A visit... Neil Cameron " What a wonderful event - parades the streets, altars being build everywhere, sand sculptures and most moving of all night-long celebrations in the graveyards. The Mexicans seem to grab death in a joyful embrace and in doing so celebrate life. Particularly moving was the visits to the graveyards on the 31 October. Almost every grave is covered with marigolds and candles surrounded by family and friends who spend the nig...ht singing the deceased favourite songs, telling them news of the year's activities and bringing food and drink their loved one enjoyed - the atmosphere is powerful but not in the least morbid. It seemed such a healthy way for us to face the lose of someone we loved. I have noticed since I came back how many of these kinds of events are being organised here in Australia. " See more

12.01.2022 THE LIVING ARTS CENTRE GETS 1.65 MILLION GRANT! At last after a struggle of two years we have won the battle to get an old abandoned nineteenth century school in South Hobart made into a dynamic arts centre. Working closely with local residences, who have been campaigning for years to open the building, we have eventually got the finances we need to renovate the magnificent old building. Five arts organisation, who work with communities, will be housed in the building and of... course our Centre for Creative Communities will at last have a home. It has been Neil Cameron’s dream to run a national theatre school in Hobart and now that vision might come true. Photograph by South Hobart Progress Association

12.01.2022 An angel visits but something goes wrong!!! The Centre organised a beautiful opening at the Queenstown Heritage and Arts Festival in October with a street band, parades and a seven metre Angel lantern. (See more on News section on Centre's website) The Centre's director Neil Cameron built it but, in spite of his experience and concerns over safety, a candle slipped and the image caught on fire. Neil Cameron: 'I could have kicked myself. I have built so many and this is the first time this has happened. The audience loved it but I didn't! ".

11.01.2022 Director Neil Cameron has been appointed Artist-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania School of Art for sixteen weeks starting in August. He will be working on a project that involves the building of altars and will stage an event on the 31 October this year in the Hunter Street campus. It will be based on themes from Day of the Dead festivals. He will still be developing the Living Arts Centre site in South Hobart and still available for the Centre's normal projects.

08.01.2022 HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE CENTRE TO EVERYONE WHO JOINED US IN VARIOUS ADVENTURES IN 2014 AND WE WISH YOU EVERY HAPPINESS IN THE YEAR AHEAD!!! LOTS OF GOOD PROJECTS COMING UP SO WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED

08.01.2022 KANDA MATSURI FESTIVAL IN TOKYO Director Neil Cameron has now returned from a study of one of the biggest festivals in Japan - THE KANDA MATSURI FESTIVAL. Neil Cameron: I had done my research with great care and travelled a long distance to get there an I turned up on the right day, at the right temple, but instead of tens of thousands of people celebrating I foundabsolutely nothing. The temple was deserted and, to top it all off, it was raining. What had gone wrong? Some... Japanese publicity lost in translation? The next day I went despondently across Tokyo by subway to visit an art gallery. My choice was random and I really could have gone anywhere. I came up to the surface and walked into one of the biggest festivals I have ever witnessed. By some extraordinary luck I had stumbled into the lost festival I had come so far to see. Ten of thousands of people danced through the streets (blocked off to traffic) carrying extremely heavy wooded shrines. The shrines are taken out of the temple every year and paraded through the streets with music and dancing. The teams that carry these beautiful images are really working hard, packed together row after row they struggle to keep the show on the road hours after hour. As one tires another takes their place. The atmosphere was everything I was looking for, a real sense of community celebration on every face. The Gods had steered me in the right direction! See more

04.01.2022 The director Neil Cameron is travelling to Japan this week (12 May) to study the Kanda Matsuri Festival in Tokyo and he is also taking part in a 10 day walk following in the footsteps of Basho, the famous 17th century haiku poet. More to report on the return (7 June).

04.01.2022 WRITING WEEKEND WORKSHOP IN HOBART 30/31 MARCH After their sell-out weekend last November Rosie Dub and Neil Cameron are running the second in the series - The Dynamics of Story. This time it explores THE LOVERS - one of the great themes of all time. Strengthen your storytelling skills, harness the power of myth and empower your art practice.... Eight days until early bird prices close. It the weekend just for writers? No. The weekend is for anyone who wants to understand how story works and to find the universal forms that are held within all stories. This time it's the Lovers. $250/$210 con. Early bird before 1 March $210 [email protected] 0418-733-551

01.01.2022 Article today in the Mercury (24 July) from Neil Cameron based on his comments to the Senate inquiry into arts funding - see below. To read the full artical please refer to Mercury website.

01.01.2022 AIR Art Exhibition at the Plimsol Gallery, UTAS Art School, Hunter's St - finishes 27 May. Neil Cameron has been the artist-in-residence at the Art School in Hobart in 2015 and he joins other aristis-in-residence in an exhibition. His inspiration has the the plight of the refugees and the collection is called 'Human Alters'