Cad Factory Annual Report 2017 by Vic McEwan

Annual Report 2017

The Cad Factory 1906 Strontian Rd Sandigo NSW 2700 0409 543 952 www.cadfactory.com.au vic@cadfactory.com.au ABN: 19 845 469 233

Vic McEwan (Artistic Director) and Sarah McEwan (Creative Producer) at their Cad Factory home in Birrego, NSW, Australia, framed by the light of the super moon and traditional land management burnings by farmer Graham Strong. Image: Barbara Bartos and Vic McEwan

The Cad Factory is an artist led organisation creating an international program of new, immersive and experimental work guided by authentic exchange, ethical principles, people and place. We are a multi-disciplinary organisation that engages with the real world to extract poetry from lived experience. We place people at the centre of our arts practice, believing that if the arts is about an exploration of the human condition, then engagement with human beings is the best way to make meaningful work. The Cad Factory embraces opportunities to expand contemporary arts practice by working with diverse sectors such as health, business, education, community and the environment. We work independently and in collaboration to create new contemporary art and performance. We devise, deliver and evaluate what we do within an ethical framework so we can confidently push ourselves and others. Our programming is based on breaking down hierarchies and binaries that exist within our contemporary world; such as the division of regional and urban, man and woman or human and non-human. We understand these realities as being in complex, intra-connected relationships, rather than in opposition. The Cad Factory believes some of the best, most original, innovative and exciting ideas exist just beyond the things we know, where real and imagined borders are porous.

FRONT COVER: Doubtful Cradles, Julie Montgarrett, 2017, for Shadow Places on the Narrandera Travelling Stock Reserve. Lighting: Fausto Brusamolino Image: Vic McEwan

STAT S 2017 We worked with

ARTISTS

We delivered

WORKSHOPS We spoke at

CONFERENCES We shared our work with

20751 PEOPLE

We engaged

108

STUDENTS We presented

ARTISTIC OUTCOMES We held

RESEARCH/ RESIDENCIES/ DEVELOPMENTS

The richness and impact of The Cad Factoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice springs from its foundation in a coherent and clearly thought out ethical framework: the commitment to artist-led authentic engagement with people and places, consistently made into work of international standing. Dr Claire Hooker, Senior Lecturer in Medical Humanities at Sydney University

Vanishing Point 4, Julie Montgarrett, 2017, for Shadow Places on the Narrandera Travelling Stock Reserve. Lighting: Fausto Brusamolino Image: James T Farley

President ’s

Report Renay Ringma

It is always a humbling experience to reflect on a year’s worth of work and contribution, made by the Cad Factory, and 2017 is no exception. Key highlights include: • 65% growth in funding received in 2017 • A major exhibition, and related talks, delivered at the Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK • New international audiences reached in the UK and Lithuania • Participated in the inaugural Big Anxiety Festival at UNSW, Australia • Founded a close association with Falls Creek Management Committee, Victoria, Australia • Employed a General Manager, Claire Harris • Received Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status While these are important achievements, they do not reflect the depth and breadth of artistic and community outcomes delivered by Vic and Sarah in partnership with 59 artists across 82 outcomes which reached over 20,000 direct audience members across several continents. It is a testament to the funding bodies, Create NSW, Australia Council, Regional Arts NSW and Catalyst, together with national and international cultural institutions and organisations, that help fund and support the very important work that we do and without whom we could not achieve so much. It is important to also acknowledge the ongoing work and immense contribution of the Cad Factory Board, Linda Luke, Lindy Allen, Sabiene Heindl and Jane Kries. In particular I would like

to acknowledge the significant guidance we have received from outgoing Board Member, Lindy Allen, whose long-standing support of, and association with, the Cad Factory, started prior to its inception as an Incorporated Association. Her assistance and wisdom has helped the organisation grow and mature into what it is today. While this annual report includes ‘cameos’ of the last year – we acknowledge that the real work of the Cad Factory is reflected in the ongoing lives of the individuals and communities that we have worked with, the people who have attended one of our many talks, exhibitions or workshops and the discussions that continue with like-minded people across the globe. In a constant state of becoming, knowing, understanding and evolution, the Cad Factory, under the guidance of Vic and Sarah, has proven itself to be one of Australia’s most important artist led organisations – forging new territories of arts and cultural practice – that in Vic’s words, we do not yet have a language for. In light of this, I recall the words of the poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” It is the ‘trail’ that Vic and Sarah continue to leave that challenges and brings meaning to arts and cultural conversations locally and globally, and so it is with great anticipation the Board and I look forward to 2018 and beyond.

Artistic Director ’s

Report Vic McEwan

This year, our projects led us to places of immense sharing, immense pleasure and also of immense grief. We faced many complex realities through contemporary arts practice including climate change, Indigenous histories, gender imbalance, critical illness, mental health and education, just to name a few. We explored what it means to be part of a community and what it means to feel connected to the things upon which we rely. These processes come from a belief that artists shouldn’t exist in isolation within the construct of an artificial art hierarchy, but should instead be embedded in the day-to-day thinking of how our world is run; within hospitals, schools, immigration departments, prisons, urban design, environmental management - anywhere there is a consequence for people. I look back through note books, through posts on social media, through quotes and comments and I am amazed at what I have written, for example: All the work we have undertaken over the last few years, that has explored complex and at times difficult realities using contemporary arts, were intensified into this short few seconds. I was surprised by the intensity of sadness, grief and loss that I felt. Months after writing the above quote, I can still access this sensation. I can still feel it on the surface and deep within, all provoked by deep human engagement through contemporary arts practice. It’s often hard to convey the

complex depth of some of the work that we do. We can’t find the meaning in platitudes about “Community” or “Socially Engaged Arts Practice”. We can only find it within these deep and visceral experiences. 2017 was full of moments too big to convey within an Artistic Directors report. I don’t want to focus on stats, although I am very proud of what we achieve with such a small team and resources. I don’t want to focus on projects specifically, although we created a huge number of outcomes locally, nationally, internationally and all ethically. Yet again our ship has been steered by fabulous board of deeply talented human beings who volunteer their time to help the Cad Factory achieve their vision. We thank our board so much for their contribution. I think somewhere at the core of the Cad Factory, there’s the beginnings of a profound shift happening, something which I can’t put words to yet. So, it becomes important throughout 2018, that we take the opportunity to allow time to understand what these last few years have meant. How can we understand them and articulate them in ways that are useful not just to ourselves, but to others? In an arts practice that places itself so constantly in the unknown, we must occasionally create processes to find some type of “knowing”.

Engine Coil, Peter Fraser and Vic McEwan, 2017, for Shadow Places on the Narrandera Travelling Stock Reserve. Lighting: Fausto Brusamolino Image: Vic McEwan

CALENDAR 2017 JANUARY

FEBRUARY

2 x Arts Labs for RE//CREATING

RE//CREATING Exhibition Wagga Wagga 2 x RE//CREATING High School Talks Falls Creek Residency Falls Creek Workshops

MARCH RE//CREATING Final Dinner 11 x RE//CREATING Critique Sessions RE//CREATING Closing Duke University Residency, USA

2 x Falls Creek Showing

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

3 x Shadow Places, St Joseph’s Primary School Workshops

Rural Health Congress Keynote

Rural Residency Collaborations Exhibition, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery

Shadow Places Site Visit

Art, Farming and Mental Health Keynote

Peter Fraser Residency

CSU Photography Club Judge

Rural Residency Collaborations Opening

Orchestra of Tears Exhibition

Big Anxiety Festival Exhibition

Orchestra of Tears Opening

Harmonic Oscillator Book and EP Launch 4 x Shadow Places, St Joseph’s Primary School Workshops

APRIL

2 x Specimen Presentations Regional Arts NSW Dinner Speaker RE//CREATING Opening in Narradera

MAY RE//CREATING Exhibition Narrandera RE//CREATING Artist Talk Shadow Places, St Joseph’s Primary School Workshop Create NSW Roadshow Panel, Wagga Wagga

JUNE New Materialist Conference Paris Australia Council Afternoon Tea in Berlin Gallery of Lithuania Keynote Bristol Arts and Health Keynote Tate Liverpool Exchange Harmonic Oscillator Tate Liverpool Presentation

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Shadow Places, St Joseph’s Primary School Workshop

Demolition Filming, UK

REMIX Panel Presenter

Create NSW Young Regional Artist, Panel Presenter

Her Riot Recording

Parliament House Conference Presenter Shadow Places Speaking Event

Shadow Places, St Joseph’s Primary School Workshop

Natalie Power Exhibition Natalie Power Exhibition Opening

Shadow Places NSW Rural Women’s Gathering Event Shadow Places

DELIVERING EXCELLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY ARTS PRACTICE We are committed to providing and broadening Australian contemporary visual, performance and installation arts practice that represents global excellence The Harmonic Oscillator

Over the last three years Vic McEwan has worked in partnership with Clive Parkinson (Manchester Metropolitian University) at Alder Hey Children’s Hosipital to develop the project the Harmonic Oscillator. During 2017 the Harmonic Oscillator had major outcomes including: a showing of works in development at Tate Liverpool, a presentation at the National Gallery of Lithuania; a presentation at Manchester Metropolitan University; a keynote presentation at the International Arts and Health Conference in Bristol, UK; an exhibition and presentation at the Big Anxiety Festival presented by the National Institute of Experimental Arts at UNSW, where Dr Jill Bennett, Director of the National Institute of Experimental Arts described the Harmonic Oscillator as ‘one of those field-defining projects...in a class of its own’.

Specimen

Falls Creek Residency, Victoria: 20 February – 5 March Illuminate Festival, Wagga Wagga: 14 – 15 April Specimen is a series of site specific photographic and video artworks made with the Australian Institute of Anatomy Specimen Collection from the National Museum of Australia, which has travelled throughout NSW and the UK. These specimens in jars lack any detailed records of their origin, rendering them eternally dislocated from their own histories, from the timescales and landscapes in which they lived. Instead they sit preserved in toxic formaldehyde. Many of the

specimens represent species heavily impacted by human activity. By projecting photographs of their ghostlike presences back onto the landscape, Specimen invites audiences to attend to and consider their relationship with their natural environment and its non-human community. In Australia these images were projected back onto the landscape from which they were removed, in the UK they were projected onto places connected to the colonisation of Australia. Animated by place, the final photographs render these specimens both present and absent in a changing environment. Speciman is an ongoing project that will continue in 2018.

Shadow and Consequences: Shadow Places 26 – 29 October

Shadow Places was an extremely successful addition to our 2017 calendar recieving national media attention. A three-night presentation that included 15 artworks created by 18 Riverina artists, 40 Narrandera school students, seven visiting artists from either Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and six farming families. It was completely solar powered and provided research to continue the Cad Factory’s investment into sustainable art presentations. Shadow Places combined ecological and agricultural thinking, projection, sound and textiles and is focused on the interconnectedness of rural and urban places and people. It proposes that rural landscapes are forgotten places, despite people being intimately tied to them through food and fibre production, through ecology and materiality.

The Harmonic Oscillator, Vic McEwan, 2017, at Tate Liverpool Image: Vic McEwan

Specimen, Vic McEwan, 2017, at Wagga Beach for Illuminate Image: Vic McEwan

BUILDING MEANINGFUL AND VOCAL PARTNERSHIPS; NURTURE AND DEVELOP ARTS CAPACITY FOR COMMUNITIES, PEOPLE AND PLACES We will actively connect with the arts and other sectors, service providers, community groups and national and local businesses to build relationships, tell stories and celebrate remote landscapes and the people that live within them St Joseph’s Narrandera Workshops

Over four months we worked with 41 students from St Joseph’s Primary School in Narrandera to create video and sound artworks to be presented as part of Shadow Places. This process allowed the students to explore the contribution that their families make internationally through agriculture and to understand the reliance that we have on things from far and wide. We exposed the students to a wide range of contemporary art making skills that focused on enabling the students to find and contribute a voice.

Rural Women’s Gathering

Over 2017 we partnered with the NSW Rural Women’s Gathering Narradera Committee to present Shadow Places to coincide with the annual Gathering supported by the Department of Primary Industries. It was a huge event for Narrandera women and we wanted to support their achievement of successfully winning the bid to host the conference. The opening event for the conference was held within the Shadow Places site, with dinner, speeches and time to enjoy the artworks. It was the first time something like this had occurred at a NSW Rural Women’s Gathering. We had overwhelming positive feedback from the Committee, Department of Primary Industries and conference delegates.

Falls Creek Residency

We developed a relationship with the Falls Creek Management Committee, along with the local primary school and pre-school in this residency. This mutually beneficial relationship further developed into us applying for major funding to do a large-scale project together.

Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga

We continued our third year of partnering with Charles Sturt Uiniversity (CSU) to support the development of female Riverina artists through arts labs, exhibitions, lectures and critque sessions. We toured the final exhibition to Narrandera thanks to the support of Western Riverina Arts.

National Museum of Australia

We continued working with the National Museum of Australia (NMA) through Specimen, who provided us access to their collections and curators.

Duke University Residency

Over two weeks Sarah McEwan spent time at Duke University in the USA, with Professor Elizabeth Grosz, researching for her Create NSW Regional Fellowship.

Presentations with Cad Factory Speakers

• NSW Rural Health Congress, Wagga Wagga • Big Anxiety Festival, Sydney • International Arts and Health Conference, Bristol UK • National Gallery of Lithuania, Vilnius • Regional Arts NSW Dinner Speaker, Sydney • Forum at Tate Exchange, Liverpool UK • Art, Farming and Mental Health Keynote, Swan Hill Regional Gallery • Parliament House Presentation, Canberra • REMIX, Sydney • Young Regional Arts Scholarship Development, Sydney • Create NSW Roadshow, Wagga Wagga

Women, Culture, Land, Vic McEwan and Sarah McEwan, 2017, for Shadow Places on the Narrandera Travelling Stock Reserve. Lighting: Fausto Brusamolino Image: Jackie Cooper

Duke University, Durham, USA 2017 Image: Vic McEwan

PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS, AUDIENCES AND COMMUNITIES We will help grow and sustain local artists and audiences by providing connections and voices for regional communities to celebrate their natural and built landscapes

Orchestra of Tears

From Tate Liverpool to the Narrandera Arts and Community Centre, we presented a finished exhibition of artworks that were informed by the public development period of the Harmonic Oscillator in the Tate Exchange room. It was important for us to share with our community the work and experiences that we had developed in overseas locations.

Natalie Power Mentorship

Over 2017 Sarah McEwan mentored Wagga Wagga artist Natalie Power to realise her exhibition Vigil held at HR Gallop Gallery, Wagga Wagga that marked 20 years of her practice.

St Joseph’s Narrandera Students

By engaging young people in devising, making and collaborating on contemporary art outcomes, we offerred opportunities for students to experience what is involved in being a professional artist. We also offerred process, language and dialogue to understand contemporary art as audience members.

Shadow Places Representation

In developing Shadow Places from our 2016 Powerhouse exhibition into a large-scale outdoor roaming installation, we were able to represent the large textile work created by the Narrandera Textile’s Group, led by Sydney artist Nicole Barakat that hung in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS). We were excited that we could show this work in Narrandera where it was originally created, after its inclusion in the Sydney Design Festival 2016.

RE//CREATING Professional Development

To grow the capacity of women artists in our region, Charles Sturt University lecturer, artist and curator, Dr Julie Montgarrett and Sarah McEwan planned and held a series of opportunities for conversations and reflections on practice including: arts labs; critique sessions with Melbourne artist Elvis Richardson; a public lecture by Richardson; and curatorial support in the development of new work.

Rural Residency Exhibition

Narrandera photographer Trent Light and Sydney film maker Darrin Baker worked together for two weeks exchanging ideas, skills and collaborating on new artworks. They presented the exhibition A Road in a Line is a Melody at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery in the gallery’s new media space as an outcome of their residency.

What I respect most about the Cad Factory is their ability to engage the audience in the communities in which they collaboratively involve. Natalie Power, Artist

St Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Narrandera Workshops for Shadow Places 2017 Image: Vic McEwan

Vigil, Natalie Power, 2017, HR Gallop Gallery Image: Julie Montgarrett

TOP IMAGE: Shadow Places: Three Textiles, Nicole Barakat and the Narrandera Textiles Group, 2016, for Shadow Places on the Narrandera Travelling Stock Reserve. Lighting: Fausto Brusamolino Image: Vic McEwan BOTTOM IMAGE: A Road is a Line is a Melody, Darrin Baker and Trent Light, 2016-17, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Image: Jacob Raupach

HELPING POSITION THE ARTS AS AN ESSENTIAL PLAYER IN BUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE Using art-based activity and projects, we will help create resilient communities and individuals in response to significant change impacting Australia including climate change, economic instability, marginalisation, feminism and mental health RE//CREATING

In 2017 we continued our three-year partnership with CSU, to support Riverina based women artists. Through this provess we aimed to effect change regarding gender imbalance within the visual arts sector.

The Harmonic Oscillator

This international project explored health and wellbeing within institutional settings: what it means to be a patient compared to what it means to be a human being. Working with patients, families and staff, this project had impact within the arts and medical sectors.

Falls Creek Community Sharing and Residency Images: Vic McEwan

Performative Lectures

Over 2017, Vic McEwan delivered nine performative lectures that shared the work of the Cad Factory over the last 13 years. Sharing openly about the realities of life using contemporary arts practice, allowed an entry point for people to start navigating the complexities that we all face.

Falls Creek Residency

Falls Creek is a community that will be largely affected by climate change in the future. This residency discussed these impending social, economic and environmental changes with the community.

RE//CREATING, 2017, HR Gallop Gallery Top Image: Tim Crutchett Bottom Image: James T Farley

RE//CREATING, 2017, Narrandera Arts Centre Image: Sarah McEwan

CREATING A VIABLE, SAFE, DYNAMIC AND CONNECTED ORGANISATION We aim to become a mature and more sustainable organisation by increasing funding, building organisational capacity and connecting interested supporters to us in more formal ways New Staff

For three months in 2017 we achieved a milestone in employing Claire Harris as our General Manger. Claire brought a wealth of knowledge from across the arts and business sectors, having worked in numerous small and medium arts organisations. In 2018, upon returning from materinity leave, Claire will be working permanently at the Cad Factory. Kimberley Beattie began working with us one day a week as a project assisstant for Shadow Places. The value of her contribution has been enormous and we hope to continue this position in to 2018.

Becoming a Registered Charity

In 2017 we successfully started the process of becoming a registered charity with approval from the Register of Cultural Organsations.

Staff Contributions to Other Organisations

Vic McEwan continued his position as a Music NSW board member and a member of the NSW/ACT Arts and Health Leadership Group. Sarah McEwan continued her work supporting learning disabled artists at the supported studio the Art Factory. She is a member of the Riverina Community College’s Community Advisory Group. Claire Harris continued her positon as Business Manager for Outback Theatre for Young People and Kimberley Beattie continued her Customer Support role at Narrandera Council.

Funding Recieved

• Create NSW Program Funding • Australia Council Project Funding • Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal • Country Arts Support Program • Wagga Wagga Council Arts and Culture Grant • Narrandera Council Community Grant • Create NSW Regional Partnerships • Regional Arts Fund

Renay Ringma, President

Connected, visceral, boundary-less, brave, beautiful - these are the words that come to mind when I reflect on the work and people of the Cad Factory.

Jane Kreis, Vice-President

Being part of the Cad Factory board has allowed me to practice what I believe: that the human creative process is just as important at a board and management level as it is at an artistic level.

Linda Luke, Treasurer I’m simply proud to be on the board of the Cad Factory: to participate in and watch it grow as an organisations whose integrity lies in real engagement with our human experience and to reflect that in visceral high calibre art works that are deeply inclusive of communities - from local rural to international communities.

Lindy Allen, Member

It’s been a real privilege working on the Cad Board, watching the organisation grow and take on partnerships at a local, national and international level, but most of all, it’s that feeling that authentic community-engaged arts practice is in safe hands with Vic and Sarah and their collaborators.

Sabiene Heindl, Member

Inspirational international artists with an eye for innovation founded in community story-telling. Vic and Sarah’s strong commitment to ethics, people, place and authenticity makes it an honour to be part of the Cad Factory Board.

Staff

Vic McEwan: Public Officer and Artistic Director Sarah McEwan: Secretary and Creative Producer Claire Harris: General Manager (1.5 days March - May) Kimberley Beattie: Project Assistant (1 day August - December)

2017 FINANCIALS PROGRAM CORE P&L INCOME Create NSW Australia Council Regional Partnerships Regional Arts NSW Catalyst Other Funding Grants Carried Forward Earned Income Interest TOTAL INCOME

ACTUALS 70,000 42,700 102,907 11,656 42,393 6,373 800 46,511 2,334 325,674

EXPENSES Overheads Project Expenses TOTAL EXPENSES

102,097 219, 912 322,009

TOTAL INCOME TOTAL EXPENSES SURPLUS FOR 2017

325,674 322,009 3,665

TOP IMAGE: Solar Farm, Michael Petchovsky, 2017 Image: Jackie Cooper OPPOSITE IMAGE: Reflections, 2017, Year 5 Students from St Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Narrnadera and Vic and Sarah McEwan, Both for Shadow Places on the Narrandera Travelling Stock Reserve. Lighting: Fausto Brusamolino Image: Vic McEwan BOTTOM IMAGE: Year 5 student thoughts about Shadow Places

Donations are welcome and tax deductible The Cad Factory is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW