Projects
Current Grant, Sponsorship or Commissioned Projects
Completed Commissioned Projects
Completed Grant Recipients
Completed Sponsored Projects
Applying for Our Arts Funding
The Graham F. Smith Peace Trust supports art projects (visual and performing) through commissions, grant provision and sponsorship. Examples of recent projects supported in each category are described below.
Current Grant, Sponsorship or Commissioned Projects
The Peace Trust is very pleased to support three projects in 2008.
Act Now postcard
ActNow Theatre for Social Change, an emerging young people’s political theatre company, based in Adelaide. ActNow aims to empower young people to use theatre as a tool for social change. Peace Trust funding will support the development of two street theatre performances.
The Academy of DYI - a weekend festival of accessible arts, activism, education and collaboration. It is designed to facilitate skill-sharing and the development of strong networks amongst artists and activists. The festival will be part of the Adelaide Fringe in March 2009 and include panels, workshops, film screenings and exhibitions.
Mallacoota Strum Inc are being supported to commission Padma Newsome to compose a piece for Making Music Together for Peace as part of the East Gippsland Community Peace Project. This weekend community music festival in Mallacoota, 26-28th September 2008 will include choral, improvisation, instrumental and songwriting workshops. Padma Newsome, an ex- Adelaide resident, is a current Commissioning and Residency award recipient from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University.
Completed Grant Recipient Projects
In 2007 the Peace Trust received a number of funding applications for Arts projects exploring a broad spectrum of environmental, political and social issues. These included proposals for performances, arts festivals, exhibitions, digital media and film.
On the Banks of the Tigris
Documentary Film, 2007
On the Banks of the Tigris is an inspiring new documentary film that is timely, uplifting and promotes peace and cultural understanding.
The film celebrates the Jewish contribution to Iraqi music and the cultural bonds that link all Iraqis. When Majid Shokor escaped from Iraq he discovered a hidden history- that many of the songs he and other Iraqis sing today were written by Jews. Determined to know the truth about this beautiful music and the Jewish people who had to flee Iraq in the 1950s, he embarks on a journey to find the composers, performers and stories behind the music he loves. In Israel, the UK, Holland, and at home in Australia, he finds an amazing cast of characters - Jewish, Muslim and Christian - who play marvellous music, tell spellbinding stories, and inspire him to work for peace and reconciliation between all Iraqis.
Marsha Emerman is a documentary filmmaker and lecturer with over 20 years experience making films on peace, human rights and social justice themes.
Majid Shoukor is an actor, playwright and former member of the Iraqi National Theatre. After four years in Lebanon teaching drama and writing, he and his family came to Melbourne in 2001 through the auspices of the UNHCR.
Peace Trust funding helped to enable the filmmaking team to travel to Israel in December ’06 and film interviews with several musicians and songwriters who are more than 80 years old. The film is now at the final editing stage.
Second to None Performance/installation, 2007
The Peace Trust was very proud to be associated with Kurruru Indigenous Youth Performing Arts in Port Adelaide in 2007. Kurruru, meaning ‘circle’ in Kaurna language, is Australia’s only Indigenous Youth Performing arts company. The Peace Trust funded Kurruru with a major grant to support the workshop program leading to the production Second to None, a co-production with Vitalstatistix Theatre Company.
Second to None was an outdoor, history-making performance and installation event including dance, installation, film and the recreation of important Kaurna ceremony. The audience took a bus journey through four significant sites celebrating the past, present and future of the Port.
Brunswick Womens Choir Commissioning of a composer - Jennie Swan - to write a work with the themes of peace, tolerance and reconciliation. The composition had it’s premier performance at the Brunswick Town Hall in October 2006 in a concert entitled Songs of Peace and Reconciliation. The composition will become a part of the extensive repertoire of the choir and will be performed for many months in Melbourne, country Victoria and New Zealand.
Nasser Palangi His project is “I lost everything - Woman during the war”; an exhibition of photographs and sketches of women living through the Iran- Iraq war (1980-1988) including story telling and slide shows about the exhibition. The exhibition was held at the School of Art Gallery at the Australian National University from 18 – 24 September 2006. Email sofagallery@anu.edu.au for further information. The exhibition was also shown in Adelaide in 2006. Nasser is an Iranian-Australian artist and lecturer at the ANU school of art who was in the war for the entire eight years.
Woodville High School Kaurna Meyuna, Kaurna Yerta Education Initiative The Peace Trust is absolutely delighted that the Kaurna Meyuna, Kaurna Yerta public art and trail will be used by Indigenous senior secondary students as part of their cultural and language studies program. Digital technology and visual primary source material will make the walking trail guide available to the students on palm pilots, which we believe will significantly enhance their learning and understanding.
This program has the potential to increase Indigenous-led cross-cultural experiences for a variety of audiences.
Completed Commissioned Projects
| Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi ‘Recognising Kaurna people and Kaurna land’ Public Sculpture, 2002 |
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Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi sculptures are dedicated to the Kaurna People. Initiated by, and funded through the Graham F. Smith Peace Trust, this Reconciliation public artwork was commissioned by the Peace Trust in a valued partnership with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust. The artwork is as a gift to the Kaurna people in recognition of their traditional ownership and custodianship of the Adelaide Plains and it is an act of Reconciliation. Representing some of the Kaurna meyunna story, it gives insight to continuous Kaurna culture and history. It was designed by Kaurna artist Eileen Karpany, Aboriginal artist Darren Siwes and local artist Tony Rosella; the sandstone components sculpted by Donato Rosella.
In acknowledgment of Reconciliation and Peace the artwork explores some of the Kaurna history in the context of events, experiences and spiritual meanings. The sculptures communicate this story visually, powerfully and sensitively. The installed artwork consists of a seven metre piece of simple sculptural forms which represent the historical legacy and cultural heritage of the Kaurna people. Situated in the forecourt of the Adelaide Festival Centre it consists of a centrally placed piece in moving water surrounded by four bold minimalist rock formations. The work is installed at a traditional meeting place that remains a significant Kaurna site.
Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi ‘Recognising Kaurna people and Kaurna land’
Walking Trail Guide, 2002 The walking trail guide begins at the Reconciliation Artwork Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi, where it interprets the sculpture installation. Then it links twenty-five additional sites across the Adelaide Central Business District most of which have historical and cultural significance regarding relations between Kaurna and non-Indigenous people. It is a shared history of invasion and dispossession. The trail follows along the Karrawirraparri (Torrens River) and then a long North Terrace and finishes at Tarndanyangga (Victoria Square).
The walk enables students, citizens and visitors to gain an important viewpoint of Adelaide’s early history. It is hoped that this will make a contribution to understanding the past and making way for a future of shared ideas, space and experiences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. It is a Federation project which encourages all people to participate towards Reconciliation.
The consultation and development of the walking trail guide was conducted by Adele Pring, Project Officer: Aboriginal Studies and Cultural Affairs from the Department of Education and Childrens’ Services, South Australia.
Kaurna people say to you: Marni ninna budni Kaurna yertaanna. Ninna padnipadnima, bukki mukabando! - It’s good that you came to Kaurna land. As you walk, remember the past!
Copies of the Walking Trail Guide are available from Showbiz, the Adelaide Festival Centre shop & the South Australian Museum shop.
Download the Peace Trusts’ paper Gift-giving as a Path to Reconciliation: Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi| Children of the Gulf War Photographic Exhibition, 2003 |
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The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was given a Grant to cover the cost of the airfreight to bring the “Children of the Gulf War” photographic exhibition to Adelaide in June 2003. The exhibition consists of 58 graphic and moving photographs, mounted on card with captions describing the scene, characters portrayed and factors that impinge on that scene. The photographs were taken by world-renowned Japanese photographer Takashi who is part of the Hiroshima Foundation.
Some of these photographs can be viewed at http://www.savewarchildren.org
| Xray Written by Chris Tugwell Directed by Geoff Crowhurst Theatre Production, 2004 |
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X-ray takes us to Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where South Australian David Hicks has been held for more than two years without being charged. Set in a replica of his cell, X-ray confronts its audience with the reality of America’s “War on Terror”, revealing a day in the life of David Hicks and the developing relationship with his American prison guard - his only human contact. This is a play about justice, not terrorism. The unchallenged detention of Australians without charge in a foreign country marks a fundamental shift in the government’s attitude towards its own citizens. It also threatens the presumption of innocence that is at the heart of our legal system. Written with the cooperation of the Hicks family. A Grant was awarded to mongrel productions (in association with AIT Arts) to present X-ray for the 2004 Adelaide Fringe.
| Morde Written by Paul Rees Directed by Catherine Carter Theatre Praxis Theatre Production, 1998 |
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The Life of Mordechai Vanunu is extraordinary and has touched many people. His story is a tribute to human bravery in the face of insurmountable torment and betrayal. Vanunu was a technician in the Dimona Nuclear Plant in Israel, and took photographs proving the plant’s capability for plutonium, and possibly titanium production (Before 1986, Israel was only rumoured to have nuclear weapons.). He released the photographs in Sydney in 1986, causing a spy chase that resulted in him being abducted by Israeli secret police in Rome and then shipped in a crate from Italy to Israel, where he was tried for treason.
Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years in jail and spent the first 12 1/2 years in solitary confinement in a cell no bigger than a closet. Vanunu’s dilemma was, and continues to be of national importance. His revelation cost him the most basic of human rights - the freedom to move and the freedom to speak. ‘Morde’ comments on the extent to which a military state will go to stifle political dissent.
Completed Sponsored Projects
The Hit!
Theatrical Production, 2006
The Hit! is a play about terror created by para//elo, directed by Netta Yaschin with text development by Christos Tsiolkas. Trust funding supported this project’s rehearsal and development. The Hit! does not make things right, it does not provide comfortable polemical answers, it evokes, rather, the human spirit and its frailty in the face of war. The Hit! previewed in Adelaide at Star Theatres in July and in the Tower Theatre, the CUB Malthouse, Melbourne in August ‘06. This brave and challenging work was attended in Adelaide by a group of Peace Trust members.
It was with a sense of sadness that we learnt that after almost a quarter of a century, para//elo has been unsuccessful in attaining triennial funding from the Australia Council and Arts SA. James Price, para//elo Chair. The Peace Trust echoes these sentiments and regrets the loss of para//elo’s original, evocative cross-cultural performances.
Best We Forget
Website/Wiki, 2006
boat-people.org had also been funded for this satirical art project.
‘One of the more insidious developments in Australian political life over the past decade or so has been the attempt to rewrite Australian history in the service of a partisan political cause.
boat-people.org has responded with a satirical art project aimed at lampooning mass memory loss, with limericks and beer as the secret key to unlock Australian public amnesia. Our hook, “Denial Beer”, aims to elicit interest in a revived public record.
www.bestweforget.org is a range of beer labels, posters and postcards that promotes an open-source account of history online. Our wiki** will highlight forgotten or endangered histories. Initially the wiki will cover a range of little known historical events, including: the Eureka Stockade’s cultural diversity, trade unionist and pacifist Simpson and his legendary donkey. Upon launch the public will be invited to contribute their own unacknowledged or lost histories to the site.
Best we forget is an experiment in community knowledge sharing and a critical analysis of nationalism.’
**A wiki is a type of encyclopedic website that allows anyone with access to the internet the ability to add and improve information. It is governed by a copyleft legal principle to ensure information is freely accessible. (eg http://www.wikipedia.org)
Sculpture on the Cliffs Festival
Sculpture, 2006
Small grant funding has also supported a regional community arts project at Elliston (West Coast, South Australia). Students from Elliston Area School worked with Indigenous artists at Kuju Arts in Port Lincoln to create sculptures for the Sculpture on the Cliffs Festival in Elliston, October 2006.
| Hearsay Exhibition, 2004 |
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Hearsay was created over a six month period by artists Siv Grava and John Turpie working alongside refugees at the Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia. Detainees created works using mosaic, clay, paintings, drawings, tapestry and paper casts.
Organised by the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2004 under the direction of Karen Hadfield. The purpose of the project was to dispel myths and misconceptions about refugees and asylum seekers. The project enabled the detainees to tell their stories, helping them to restore their self-esteem and pride. The outcome of this work was an Installation in Adelaide during the 2004 Fringe Festival, the second largest event of its kind in the world.
Afghanistan Unveiled Exhibition
Photographic Exhibition, 2002
In this exhibition newly arrived Afghan artists depicted life under the Taliban regime, their journey to Australia and life in detention. The exhibition was the vehicle to demonstrate the power of their experiences, bringing into focus the continual need for humanity to create pathways to find solutions to the complex, often volatile, existences of polar opposites within the world. The evaluation of the exhibition received through written comments showed that it was an excellent way of building community by creating bridges between cultures. The Exhibition was organised by The Migrant Health Service and coordinated by Diana Collett.
| East Timor A Photographic Perspective 1974-1990 Photographic Exhibition, 2002 |
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“This photographic exhibition with the work of three women with human and artistic sensitivity, Elaine Briere, Jenny Groves and Mel Sylvester, encompasses three periods of the history of East Timor - the pre-1974 colonial period, then the aborted decolonisation and civil war of 1975, and, almost fifteen years later, the face of the Resistance to Indonesia’s brutal occupation. It is an impressive collection of visual historical documents and it is heartbreaking as we see the East Timorese tragedy unfolding like in a film, from peace to war to resistance. Peace will return one day.”
Jose Ramos-Horta
Sydney, 25 November, 1990.
| Buklod Kababaihang Filipina Theatre Production, 1994 |
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In a moving 45-minute performance, Buklod Kababaihang Filipina (Filipina Women Survivors of Family Violence) depicted in a series of sketches, stories and songs the real experiences of 10 Filipina women. Through their performance, the women aimed to increase the understanding and knowledge of family violence against Filipina women in Australia. The use of drama and music as a participatory medium for organising people to have a voice in changing oppresive social structures has a strong tradition in the Philippines.
Applying for Our Arts Funding
Funding for 2008 has now been allocated. We will be calling for applications for 2009 early in the New Year
Applications are invited from individuals and organisations for arts projects which address the aims of the Trust - promoting peace, justice, and care for the environment.
Funding Categories
Small scale projects: amounts of up to $1,500 available throughout the year
Major projects: considered annually up to $5,000 (2008 deadline - Monday, May 26)
Applicants may apply to the Peace Trust for part funding of a project, if funding from other sources has been approved.
Background
The Graham F Smith Peace Trust is a grassroots, non-profit organisation, which is totally staffed by volunteers. It was established in 1989 to provide the opportunity to continue Graham’s work, who spent his life working for peace, justice, human rights and for the dignity of labour.
The Trust supports arts projects which accord with one or more of the following objects:
• Promote peace and justice at the family, community and international level
• Lead to the end of injustice, racial tension, oppression and discrimination
• Increase understanding and cooperation between political, racial and ethnic groups
• Support the right of Indigenous people to economic self-determination
• Educate the public in Australia about the alternatives to war as a means of solving international disputes
• Promote the care of the environment
• Support oppressed people to control their environment for their daily needs
• Promote ecologically sustainable development
Who Can Apply?
Applications will be accepted from individuals and organisations who propose art projects that can demonstrate:
• aims compatible with the Peace Trust’s vision – ‘Working for Peace through the Arts’
• accord with one or more of the objects of the Trust
• that funds will be used to support artists to create new work
and may also
• have the potential to touch many people – not only preach to the converted
• that the project process be equally as important as the outcome
• include the possibility of working collaboratively with other individuals/groups/organisations
• include the possibility of an education component
• involve a process of documentation
Conditions of the Peace Trust Grants
• Artists provide a statement of expenses and final project report.
• Artists acknowledge the support of the Peace Trust in all publicity material and verbally at public performances or events.
• Artists provide initial and then periodic photographs and progress reports on their work for use on the Graham F Smith Peace Trust website.
• Artists distribute Graham F Smith Peace trust brochures, membership forms and any other publicity material along with their publicity material.
• Artists to liaise with a member or contact of the Peace Trust in their state.
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