Performance Space
Annual Report 2012
About Performance Space Mission & Core Values Performance Space is where exciting futures for Australian contemporary arts and artists are forged. Our mission is for artistic excellence and innovation to inspire, captivate and create audiences. We are Australia’s leading agency for interdisciplinary arts, producing and presenting new artistic experiences across a multiplicity of sites, locations and venues.
Performance Space is:
Committed: to interdisciplinary arts informed by performance, which draw their influence from across the performing and visual arts.
Ambitious: to enable artists to reach their potential, to enrich lives of audiences, and to be a world-leader in interdisciplinary arts.
Inclusive: of artistic ideas, forms, and contexts, and the diversity and differences of our artists and audiences.
Collaborative: with artists, arts organisations, communities, government and other stakeholders in pursuit of mutual goals.
Strategic: in business; balancing the day-to-day, entrepreneurial opportunities and long-term aspirations.
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Staff
Board
CO- DIRECTORS AND CEOS
INDIGENOUS PROJECTS OFFICER
Bec Dean & Jeff Khan
Alison Murphy-Oates
GENERAL MANAGER
PROJECTS OFFICER
Julieanne Campbell (until May 2012)
Georgie Meagher (until June 2012)
Paul Stuart (May – August 2012)
Nat Randall (until May 2012)
Bronwyn Edinger
Steph Walker (started August 2012)
Tulleah Pearce (started May 2012)
Andrea James (until September 2012)
PRODUCTION MANAGER
ADMINISTRATOR
Jann Kohlman
Amelia Wallin (until March 2013)
Rhonda McCann
Tristan Ellis-Windsor
TECHNICAL MANAGER Aaron Clarke
MEDIA AND MARKETING OFFICER
Emiline Forster (started March 2013)
CHAIR Clare Petre
DIRECTORS Clark Butler Leon Cmielewski
Ian Enright
Jane McDermott Gail Priest
FINANCE OFFICER Rhanda Mansour
Rosie Fisher (until March 2012) Leo Messias (started June 2012)
RELATIONSHIPS & AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER Julia Holderness (until February 2012) Amelia Wallin (started March 2012)
PRODUCER Tanja Farman
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2012 Chair’s Report 2012 was a significant year of change for Performance Space as an organisation. At the end of 2011, we said a sad goodbye to Director of three years, Daniel Brine and appointed Bec Dean and Jeff Khan as interim Co-Directors for a six month period, beginning in January 2012. Bec and Jeff then applied for the position when it was advertised both nationally and internationally, and were successful in their application to continue as Co-Directors and Co-CEOs. Around the same time as this appointment, Julieanne Campbell, Performance Space’s formidable General Manager for over a decade, resigned to take a position at Parramasala, the Parramatta Festival. Since then Julieanne has accepted the position of General Manager at Urban Theatre Projects in Bankstown, working with another former Performance Space staff member, Rosie Dennis. We wish both of them all the best in their new team. Julieanne Campbell was replaced by interim General Manager, Paul Stuart and then permanently by Steph Walker who joined us from the Christchurch Arts Festival. With Julieanne Campbell, Bec and Jeff worked solidly and analytically on Performance Space’s 2013 Business plan, which was accepted by both the Australia Council for the Arts, and ArtsNSW. The business plan presents the organisation with very clear direction for its future, a taste of which is very much present in the scope and artistic direction and focus of our program in 2012. Performance Space continues to deliver on strategic sector initiatives with our state and federal funding partners including IndigeSpace, the Emerging Indigenous Producer Mentorship, the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy and Program Presenter. We have also partnered with Critical Path, The Critical Practice Unit at the University of New South Wales, and the Centre for Performance
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Studies at Sydney University to offer numerous other residency programs over the past twelve months. Carriageworks continues to be the base for Performance Space’s administration, as well as several seasons throughout the year. We are immensely thankful to the 80 donors who showed their confidence in Performance Space through a financial contribution. Their support helps us to continue to forge exciting futures for Australian contemporary arts and artists. Many of these donors are listed in this report, but we also acknowledge those who prefer to remain anonymous – their support is equally valued. 2012 marked the final year of our Triennial funding with both Australia Council and Arts NSW, and we are pleased that they have continued to support us with a further three year funding agreement. We toured Vicki Van Hout’s contemporary dance work Briwyant to three cities with the support of Playing Australia, and were thankful for the support of the Keir Foundation for Local Positioning Systems, our major partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art. We’re proud to be a part of CAOS (the network of contemporary arts organisations across Australia) and Mobile States (contemporary performance touring network). Partnerships are an important part of what we do and we look forward to developing these relationships further in the coming years. Performance Space plays an important role for many artists as the auspice of grants from Federal, State and local government. This year these included Victoria Hunt’s Copper Promises: Hinemiki Haka, Vicki Van Hout’s Briwyant, and Gail Priest and Jane McKernan’s One Thing Follows Another.
There were many staff changes for us in 2012, with shifts in staffing from administration, marketing, development and philanthropy, producing and project management. Julia Holderness left the role of Development and Membership Officer with former Administrator Amelia Wallin taking over the role; previous intern Emiline Forster started as Administrator. Rosie Fisher, Marketing and Communications Officer, was replaced by Leo Messias; and Natalie Randall and Georgie Meagher left their job-share Project Officer role, with Tulleah Pearce replacing them in one full time role. Tanja Farman came on board as Producer for the company. We are delighted that the organisation was able to manage these significant shifts and still present an ambitious, exciting program. Aaron Clarke continued in his position as Technical Manager, as did Tristan Ellis-Windsor as Production Manager. Alison Murphy-Oates continued her
Australia Council funded mentorship with us as Indigenous Projects Officer. Rhanda Mansour remains as Book keeper, with Emma Murphy acting as finance consultant for the company. Thank you to all the hard working, talented and committed staff of Performance Space. We’d also like to thank our season Production Manager Richard Whitehouse, and contract producers Jo Fishman and Harley Stumm. Special thanks must go to Rosalind Richards and Richard Whitehouse for their work on our Briwyant tour. Lastly, sincere thanks go to my colleagues on the board for their hard work, commitment and enthusiasm for the unique work that Performance Space curates, presents and supports.
Clare Petre CHAIR
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Co-Directors’ Report 2012 was an exciting year of artistic adventure, audience growth, and organisational transformation for Performance Space. We ambitiously expanded our program of site-specific work, taking artists and audiences to intriguing new locations around Sydney. Meanwhile, we consolidated our program of curated seasons at Carriageworks and our residency and presentation partnerships across the city. The year commenced with one of the most significant and successful partnerships in our organisation’s history. Local Positioning Systems was a program of site-specific and performance artworks curated by Performance Space for the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Commissioned by the MCA to coincide with the re-opening of the expanded Museum premises in Circular Quay, Local Positioning Systems presented 7 performance artworks over the 7 weeks of the Museum’s re-opening season. The MCA were generous and enthusiastic partners in the presentation of this major program and Local Positioning Systems attracted significant critical and media acclaim as well as audiences of over 30,000 – a landmark figure for our burgeoning sitespecific program. Our curated programs at Carriageworks continued to make connections between diverse artforms and disciplines, and to immerse audiences in the most exciting new developments in contemporary artistic practice. Dimension Crossing was the first of these, bringing together artists and works that explored states of transition and transformation, including a stunning pair of solo visual arts commissions by Robyn Backen and Michaela Gleave. On the performance front, we were delighted to premiere new works by Sydney dancer-choreographer Victoria Hunt and Melbourne-based company Aphids, and present the Sydney premiere of Yumi Umiumare’s celebrated dance and new media work EnTrance. Collectively, these projects explored transitions between different cultures, histories, and physical states.
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In July, our Show On program provided an invigorating snapshot of current contemporary performance in Australia. We commissioned the brilliant young artist collective Applespiel to create their rock’n’roll opus Applespiel make a band and take on the recording industry. And through the Mobile States touring consortium, of which Performance Space is a proud and active member, we presented exciting new works by Tamara Saulwick, Aphids, Back to Back Theatre, and Christine Johnston, Lisa O’Neill and Peter Nelson – each of which pushed the boundaries of contemporary performance practice in surprising and engaging ways. In August-September we again went site-specific, taking over Sydney’s town halls, church yards and community meeting spaces as sites of artistic activity and intervention. Halls for Hire comprised 6 works: Brown Council’s Mass Action at the Country Women’s Association NSW Headquarters; Jane McKernan’s Opening and Closing Ceremony at Arlington Oval; Sussi Porsborg’s The Making of the Flag at Sydney Trades Hall; Barbara Campbell’s Spring Cursive at the Clifton School of Arts; Alex Davies’ Phantasma #3 at Petersham Bowling Club; and a special edition of our much-loved NightTime series of short works in the atmospheric surrounds of St Stephen’s Church and Graveyard. Halls for Hire strengthened our commitment to championing site-specific work and creating new opportunities for artists and audiences alike to explore this exiting realm of artistic practice. 2012 concluded with the SEXES Festival, our biggest and most ambitious program at Carriageworks to date. Artist and curator Deborah Kelly joined us as co-curator to develop this expansive program of works exploring new perspectives on sex and gender through the lens of contemporary Australian art. Over five weeks, SEXES was anchored by an exhibition of 17 Australian artists, including 7 new commissions. The Festival also included the premiere seasons of Julie-Anne Long’s wonderful
Something In The Way She Moves, and Whelping Box, an intensely physical, darkly humorous new work by Branch Nebula in collaboration with Matthew Prest and Clare Britton. A live art program comprising 18 short performances animated the Carriageworks spaces throughout the season, and our specially-curated Clubhouse program presented a kaleidoscope of critical discourse and special events, from keynote lectures to erotic fiction to dance parties. Alongside these presentation programs, Performance Space remained steadfastly committed to supporting the development of new works. We hosted 14 residencies, at Carriageworks and with our partners at Sydney University, Critical Path and the University of NSW Creative Practice Research Unit. We thank these partners for their collegiality and commitment, and look forward to continuing our relationships into the future. Many of the works developed through our residencies find presentation through our artistic programs, and we were excited to deepen our relationships with many of these artists, whilst also initiating exciting new relationships with new and established artists and companies. 2012 was also notable for several special initiatives designed to strategically develop particular artform sectors. Our Indigespace program continued our commitment to contemporary Indigenous practice, with new residency projects by Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor and Colin Kinchela with Gavin Waters. We were also delighted to reactivate the Stephen Cummins Bequest, left to Performance Space to initiate an annual residency and mentorship program for queer performing artists. Another milestone was our national tour of Vicki Van Hout’s astonishing dance-theatre work, Briwyant. Premiered by Performance Space 2011, Briwyant won significant critical acclaim as a landmark work of contemporary indigenous choreography. Our tour of Briwyant was supported by Playing Australia and realised in partnership with
Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne), Darwin Festival and Brisbane Powerhouse. Audiences responded enthusiastically and we look forward to touring more of our work in the coming years, increasing the life of the projects we commission and connecting them with even greater audiences. 2012 was also a major year of transition for Performance Space in terms of our staffing and organisational structure, and our Chair Clare Petre’s report outlines the changes to the staff team. We particularly wish to acknowledge our outgoing General Manager Julieanne Campbell, who played such a pivotal part in Performance Space’s leadership for over 9 years. Performance Space is fortunate to have an extraordinarily committed and talented staff, and we wish to thank all staff members, past and present, for their hard work and vital contribution to what was a very busy but incredibly fruitful and successful year. At the conclusion of 2012, Performance Space achieved our highest-ever level of audience attendance and participation; dramatically expanded our program of site-specific programming and partnerships; consolidated and deepened our presentation and residency programs at Carriageworks; and continued to offer opportunities for artists to develop, present and tour their works at all stages of their life cycle. This robust, creatively-charged environment places the artist at its centre, and we continue to forge new ways to support these artists and connect them with ever-expanding audiences.
Bec Dean and Jeff Khan Co-Directors and CEOs
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Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich
Sam Routledge
Peter Nelson
Lara Thoms
Willoh S. Weiland
Elizabeth Dunn
Latai Taumoepeau
Yumi Umiumare
Tristan Meecham
Julie-Anne Long
Victoria Hunt
Applespiel
Jason Maling
Luke George
Samantha Chester
Stuart Ringholt
Sam James
Ross Ganf
Bennett Miller
Scott Price
Simone O’Brien
Robyn Backen
Tamara Saulwick
Gavin Clarke
Michaela Gleave
Christine Johnston
Dean Cross
Martyn Coutts
Lisa O’Neill
Leeke Griffin
Ryuichi Fijimura
The Spectral Committee
Holly James
Danielle Micich
Zoe Meagher
Katherine Beckett
Venettia Miller
Mish Grigor
Hossein Ghaemi
Joseph Simons
Lachlan Vercoe
Narelle Benjamin
Alex Davies
Jennifer Hamilton
Lee Wilson
Sussi Porsborg
Craig Johnson
Matt Prest
Barbara Campbell
Jodie McNeilly
Mirabelle Wouters
Brown Council
Kraig Grady
Clare Britton
Jane McKernan
Markela Panegyres
Deborah Kelly
Agatha Gothe-Snape
Benjamin Hancock
Christian Thompson
2012 Artists
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Cigdem Aydemir
Ladies
Travis de Jonk
Eric Bridgeman
Paul Knight
Yiorgos Zafiriou
John Meade
Philip Brophy
Paul Gazzola
Julie Rrap
Tarryn Gill & Pilar Mata Dupont
Norrie May-Welby
LEVEL
The Kingpins
Fiona McGregor
Liam Benson
Tracey Moffat & Gary Hillberg
Wart
Luke Parker & Sangeeta Sandrasegar
Trevor Fry
Maude Davey
Sarah Coconis
Atlanta Eke
Shian Law
Lex Lindsay
Dallas Dellaforce
Elvis Richardson
Anne Summers
The Scarlett Alliance
Raghav Handa
Glory Hole
Sex Workers Outreach Project
Rosealee Pearson
Eddie Sharp
Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor
Beau Dean Smith
Linda Jaivin
Nadeena Dixon
Melinda Tyquin
Sunil Badami
Colin Kinchela
Sean Marcs
Annaliese Constable
Gavin Walters
Imogen Cranna
Andrew Frost
Zoe Coombs Marr
Anne Marsh
John A. Douglas
Ed Scheer
Vicki van Hout
Stereogamous
Henrietta Baird
Marley Dawson Natalya Hughes Jess Olivieri & the Parachutes for
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Thanks Major Gifts and Bequests Stephen Cummins – Bequest
Individual Supporters Ahmad Abas, Kate Barnet, Amy Barrett-Lennard, Daniel Brine, Meredith Brooks, Barbara Campbell, Bec Dean, Roise Dennis & Sylvia Zajkowski, Bronwyn Edinger, Emi Forster, Paul Gazzola, Samuel James, Jeff Khan, Jann Kohlman, Heidrun Lohr, Andrew Lorien and Cathy Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth Macgregor, Sarah Miller and Derek Kreckler, Nat Randall, Talya Rubin & Nick James, Joey Ruigrok van der Werven, Tulleah Pearce, Performance Space Board, Linda Quartermass and Ian Enright, Sandy Saxon and John Kron, Ben & Suzy Strout, Supporter of the TPS artists’ programs, Paul Stuart, Lara Thoms, Mémé Thorne, Anique Vered, Amelia Wallin, Sarah Waterson, Simon Wellington, Dr David Williams, Paul & Jennifer Winch, Fiona Winning, Angharad Wynne-Jones.
Major Program Supporters in 2012 Arts NSW Australia Council Playing Australia Keir Foundation
Corporate Supporters in 2012 CarriageWorks The Nest
Design Blood & Thunder
Website Boccalatte
Many individual supporters prefer to remain anonymous. Performance Space thanks you for your generosity.
Partners in 2012 Arts House, Melbourne Brisbane Powerhouse Contemporary Arts Organisations of Australia (CAOS) Critical Path, Sydney The Centre for Performance Studies at Sydney University Darwin Festival Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Performing Lines, Sydney RealTime Sydney Festival The Critical Practice Unit at the University of New South Wales University of Technology, Sydney
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2012 Financials
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Director’s Report
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Director’s Report Continued
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Director’s Report Continued
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Statement of comprehensive income For the year ending 31 December 2012
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Statement of financial position as at 31 December 2012
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Statement of changes of funds For the year ending 31 December 2012
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Statement of cash flows
For the year ending 31 December 2012
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Notes to and forming part of the financial statements
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Notes to and forming part of the financial statements (continued)
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Notes to and forming part of the financial statements (continued)
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Notes to and forming part of the financial statements (continued)
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Notes to and forming part of the financial statements (continued)
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Notes to and forming part of the financial statements (continued)
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Director’s Declaration
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Contact Details Carriageworks 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh NSW 2015
IMAGE CREDITS
Postal address
Page 05: Brown Council, Mass Action: 137 Cakes in 90 Hours, photo: Lucy Parakhina
PO Box 461, Newtown NSW 2042
Front Page: Branch Nebula, Matt Prest & Clare Britton, Whelping Box, photo: Heidrun Lohr
Phone 02 8571 9111
Page 10: Simon Hunt, Incite with Pauline Pantsdown, photo: Lucy Parakhina
info@performancespace.com.au performancespace.com.au
Page 12: Latai Taumopeau, I-land X-isle, photo: Heidrun Lohr
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