Case Studies SALT | RAF Case Study (2018)
SALT #
Barking Spider Visual Theatre #
A Quick Response Grant recipient, via the Regional Arts Fund, as managed by Regional Arts Victoria.
SALT was a visual arts/installation project addressing female representation in local history with a focus on the region’s salt lakes and brolgas.
The project was a partnership with WINDOWSPACE BEEAC, Studio 92 Colac, Colac-Otway Arts Trail, and enLIGHTen Me Birregurra and was led by regionally-based Barking Spider Visual Theatre who engaged artists of diverse abilities across the Colac-Otway area.
Cultural & Economic Impacts:
- SALT provided local artists with exposure and a new awareness of developing installation projects with a community outcome
- The networking within this project for the Colac area was exciting and beneficial for the artists in the community
- SALT not only increased regional communities’ exposure to unexpected art experiences, it expanded the profile of the organisations involved and galvanised artistic and broader community engagement
- The installation generated a lot of buzz around the district as an unexpected addition to the town landscape, resulting in raising the engagement and curiosity of locals
Social Impacts:
- The project connected Barking Spider Theatre artists with the arts community, which has lead to them advising on grant application writing; engaging in networked conversations about how to increase local government focus on the arts, and other activity that has progressed the arts in the region
- An outreach program of visual-arts workshops for disabled artists and a two week exhibition of their work was held over the space of a month at Studio 92
- Opportunities presented to remount SALT further afield, have included Port Fairy Winter Weekends Festival
- Also as a result of the project, Barking Spider emerging queer artist, Klari Agar, has been invited to present at WINDOWSPACE BEEAC, offering a significant opportunity for a young artist which will expose new voices and perspectives to regional communities
Links/socials:
Barking Spider Visual Theatre Facebook page
Barking Spider Visual Theatre website
Barking Spider Visual Theatre on Instagram
Image: SALT, 2018, Victoria. Photo by: Oleksandr Pogorilyi