A platform for energetic female art

Female-identifying artists and art workers will congregate at Platform Arts (previously Courthouse Youth Arts) next month for the organisation’s inaugural symposium, Energetical.

Hosted in partnership with Deakin University, Energetical’s program features exhibitions and workshops which focus on the value, labour, experience and intergenerational knowledge of regional Victoria’s creative community.

Energetical will be held on March 12-13 and see leaders from regional arts organisations offer guidance and insight into closing the gap on the remuneration, opportunities and economic security of female practitioners.

The first round of speakers, which were revealed earlier this month, will speak about topics from diverse and inclusive programming and legacy art projects:

* Rebecca Coates – an established curator, writer and lecturer, with more than 25 years professional art museum and gallery experience in both Australia and overseas. She is the director of the Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), having previously worked at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (MAO), the Melbourne International Festival (MIAF) and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

* Frances Cannon’s work examines ideas of body-love and body-loathing, anxiety, relationships, sex and sexuality, gender, and bodily functions. She has had solo shows at Tinning Street, Off the Kerb and Platform Arts, and exhibited in group shows at Montsalvat, RMIT Gallery, Neon Park, Rubicon ARI, and Fort Delta. Frances has worked with Teen-Vogue, Gucci, Refinery 29, Third Drawer Down. She is the co-owner and director of Pink Ember Studios in Coburg.

* Lisa Sullivan – senior curator of the Geelong Gallery. Her recent curatorial achievements include The Moon; The Archibald Prize (2017-2018), Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly Series and Bauhaus Centenary – Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack.

* Louise Tegart – director at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. She has held the positions of assistant director at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, manager of exhibitions at the State Library of New South Wales, head of exhibitions at the Historic Houses Trust, director at SH Ervin Gallery, acting director of Bendigo Art Gallery, acting director of Shepparton Art Gallery and Curator Warrnambool Art Gallery. She is the vice president of the Public Galleries Association of Victoria and sits on the board of the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists.

* Jude Anderson – founder and director of Punctum, an artist-led, live arts organisation based in central Victoria. She has created and produced contemporary performances and initiated blueprints for collaborative and interdisciplinary practice in regional and international settings for the past 28 years. She’s also created, directed and taught in close collaboration with communities in Chile, the U.S.A., France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland.

* Lyndel Quick – artistic director of Blink Dance Theatre an independent dance theatre company based in Geelong. It was founded in 2012 by local contemporary dance and theatre makers and has an established reputation for creating captivating and immersive work, often performing in non-traditional spaces. Ms Quick said the company’s name was chosen to send a message about inclusivity. “The name we chose for our company is a basic human action that every single body makes, and for us, that’s important,” she said. “It says something about the bigger picture, about our work being accessible; that movement is inherent to all.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with Deakin University and facilitate a major event for arts practitioners and leaders from across our region to share knowledge, discuss, debate, network and forge connections,” a statement from Platform Arts said.

“We hope you can join us for this amazing forum and help make it a mainstay for the artists of our future.”