Latest news with #Vivid
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Major festival news for western Sydney – and that's just the start
NSW Labor has promised to redress a funding divide stretching between the harbour and the Blue Mountains that splits the city between the arts' haves and have-nots – spending $5 million to fund a new home-grown festival for western Sydney and other new projects. The government's three-year strategic plan for the region is to be announced at a gathering of the region's arts leaders at Blacktown Arts Centre on Tuesday. Front and centre of the new funding plans is development of a home-grown festival celebrating the region's diversity and creative spirit that could potentially rival Vivid, South by Southwest Sydney, or even the Sydney Festival. Campbelltown's Fisher's Ghost Festival and Parramatta Lanes are among the region's longest-running festivals, while Parramasala, celebrating south Asian arts, was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID and has yet to return. In opposition, Labor asserted Parramasala should be funded ahead of the Logies. 'In short, the vision is to create a thriving and inclusive creative ecosystem in western Sydney that celebrates its diverse communities, drives cultural innovation and delivers social and economic value for everyone,' Arts Minister John Graham will say. 'To get there the key priorities are unlocking investment, putting First Nations' culture at the centre, growing creative careers, strengthening creative ecosystems, better showcasing off western Sydney artists, and unlocking more cultural spaces.' This week's launch of the Western Sydney Plan for Arts, Culture and Creative Industries comes 25 years after former premier Bob Carr launched Labor's first western Sydney cultural strategy in 1999. The new $5 million funding commitment will be met entirely from cost savings made to Create NSW, the state's art agency, which is facing the loss of one-quarter of its workforce under a major restructure.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Major festival news for western Sydney – and that's just the start
NSW Labor has promised to redress a funding divide stretching between the harbour and the Blue Mountains that splits the city between the arts' haves and have-nots – spending $5 million to fund a new home-grown festival for western Sydney and other new projects. The government's three-year strategic plan for the region is to be announced at a gathering of the region's arts leaders at Blacktown Arts Centre on Tuesday. Front and centre of the new funding plans is development of a home-grown festival celebrating the region's diversity and creative spirit that could potentially rival Vivid, South by Southwest Sydney, or even the Sydney Festival. Campbelltown's Fisher's Ghost Festival and Parramatta Lanes are among the region's longest-running festivals, while Parramasala, celebrating south Asian arts, was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID and has yet to return. In opposition, Labor asserted Parramasala should be funded ahead of the Logies. 'In short, the vision is to create a thriving and inclusive creative ecosystem in western Sydney that celebrates its diverse communities, drives cultural innovation and delivers social and economic value for everyone,' Arts Minister John Graham will say. 'To get there the key priorities are unlocking investment, putting First Nations' culture at the centre, growing creative careers, strengthening creative ecosystems, better showcasing off western Sydney artists, and unlocking more cultural spaces.' This week's launch of the Western Sydney Plan for Arts, Culture and Creative Industries comes 25 years after former premier Bob Carr launched Labor's first western Sydney cultural strategy in 1999. The new $5 million funding commitment will be met entirely from cost savings made to Create NSW, the state's art agency, which is facing the loss of one-quarter of its workforce under a major restructure.
The Age
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
OK Zoomers, it's time to quit the cringe. Let's dance
We all need to dance, at all stages and ages of life. But particularly in our 20s. A Sydney University Study published last year found having a groove is not just physically good for you but also reduces anxiety, distress and depression while improving motivation. It's also spiritual. I am not a person of faith but the times I've felt transcendence have been on the dance floor at Mardi Gras, Sleaze Ball, warehouse parties or Big Day Outs. I still have a chat group 'meet you under the mirror ball' with friends forever connected through nights of musical worship where we danced until dawn. A certain strobe light at Vivid can take me back to that communal bliss. The Faithless song God Is a DJ is a cultural anthem that celebrates a dance floor's connection to a transformative power. As Maxi Jazz rapped, 'This is my church. This is where I heal my hurt'. Loading Far from being faithless, this Buddhist from Brixton understood that the dance floor was a place where 'young lives take shape', where they can be 'content in the hum'. He told me he relished the power that dance had to raise consciousness. And when he stood on stage, spread his arms out wide and sang to the heavenly heaving mass, he was a high priest of house. Dance grounds you; it pulls you into your body, but it also allows your brain to let go and lose your body to the beat. Dance is healing. It's a mutual high and a communal hug. It's a blessing with a dose of devilishly sexy delight. It's where drums match heartbeats and bodies move together, apart. And in that universal devotion to dance there's a synchronicity of hearts and minds. A dance floor can be a place of love, compassion, kindness, respect. And it's a rite-of-passage for a young generation to feel that connection. While Generation Z avoid the dance floor, people of my age are returning. Ministry of Sound is a nightclub and record label based in London reviving its original anthems in day parties. Last year it hosted DJs and laser lights over three nights at Sydney's coolest heritage venue – the remodelled White Bay Power Station. Thousands danced on the tar-blackened concrete floors where we had danced at illegal raves in the '90s. Back in their church of beats, bellied and balding Generation X-ers regained their communal connection in comfortable shoes. Loading Due to a (dance floor) injury, I have not danced for years. But my physio has just cleared me for action. In fact, he has prescribed it. I'm feeling the nerves of the young – contained, constricted and cringed. Perhaps I'll begin with 'No L' – a dance floor in darkness, liberated from the judgment of others. I'd like to suggest these as a gateway dance drug for the generation who don't dance enough. So come on kids, you can't afford housing, your future is uncertain and old, rich, angry men are ruining your world. Take to the dance floor and let it all lift for a few hours. I wish you communal joy and the therapy of the throng. Warm up on TikTok where everybody dances. There's talk there about 'cringe mountain'. The idea that everyone who is cool started as cringe. Every good dancer started as bad. Nudge nonchalance away, climb cringe mountain, throw the phone away and dance like nobody's watching.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
OK Zoomers, it's time to quit the cringe. Let's dance
We all need to dance, at all stages and ages of life. But particularly in our 20s. A Sydney University Study published last year found having a groove is not just physically good for you but also reduces anxiety, distress and depression while improving motivation. It's also spiritual. I am not a person of faith but the times I've felt transcendence have been on the dance floor at Mardi Gras, Sleaze Ball, warehouse parties or Big Day Outs. I still have a chat group 'meet you under the mirror ball' with friends forever connected through nights of musical worship where we danced until dawn. A certain strobe light at Vivid can take me back to that communal bliss. The Faithless song God Is a DJ is a cultural anthem that celebrates a dance floor's connection to a transformative power. As Maxi Jazz rapped, 'This is my church. This is where I heal my hurt'. Loading Far from being faithless, this Buddhist from Brixton understood that the dance floor was a place where 'young lives take shape', where they can be 'content in the hum'. He told me he relished the power that dance had to raise consciousness. And when he stood on stage, spread his arms out wide and sang to the heavenly heaving mass, he was a high priest of house. Dance grounds you; it pulls you into your body, but it also allows your brain to let go and lose your body to the beat. Dance is healing. It's a mutual high and a communal hug. It's a blessing with a dose of devilishly sexy delight. It's where drums match heartbeats and bodies move together, apart. And in that universal devotion to dance there's a synchronicity of hearts and minds. A dance floor can be a place of love, compassion, kindness, respect. And it's a rite-of-passage for a young generation to feel that connection. While Generation Z avoid the dance floor, people of my age are returning. Ministry of Sound is a nightclub and record label based in London reviving its original anthems in day parties. Last year it hosted DJs and laser lights over three nights at Sydney's coolest heritage venue – the remodelled White Bay Power Station. Thousands danced on the tar-blackened concrete floors where we had danced at illegal raves in the '90s. Back in their church of beats, bellied and balding Generation X-ers regained their communal connection in comfortable shoes. Loading Due to a (dance floor) injury, I have not danced for years. But my physio has just cleared me for action. In fact, he has prescribed it. I'm feeling the nerves of the young – contained, constricted and cringed. Perhaps I'll begin with 'No L' – a dance floor in darkness, liberated from the judgment of others. I'd like to suggest these as a gateway dance drug for the generation who don't dance enough. So come on kids, you can't afford housing, your future is uncertain and old, rich, angry men are ruining your world. Take to the dance floor and let it all lift for a few hours. I wish you communal joy and the therapy of the throng.
The Age
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Bridget has Down Syndrome and is non-verbal, but still expresses herself Vividly
The work of artist Bridget Kelly, who has Down Syndrome and is mostly non-verbal, received a strong response at the Vivid Festival this year. Bridget communicates by expression, limited words and writing. I interviewed her by text with the help of her sister, Morag. Fitz: Bridget, congratulations on your art. When did you take it up? BK: I have been drawing since I was little but I started using Posca Pens in Year 12 at St Scholastica's College, Glebe, which I attended with my two sisters. That was when I got really excited about my art. Fitz: When did you realise you were not just good at it, but seriously talented? BK: When I finished high school, I kept doing my art because it made me happy. When I was 21, I won the Inner West Blooming Arts prize. I won a mentorship to University of Sydney College of the Arts. I felt happy because people started to call me an artist. Loading Fitz: Who are your greatest artistic influences? BK: I get ideas from the world around me. I like colours and shapes and showing people how I see things. Fitz: What did your parents and sisters say when you told them your work was to be displayed at Vivid?
