Voyage #

Awaken Dance Theatre Company #

A Community Grant recipient, via the Regional Arts Fund, as managed by Regional Arts Victoria.

Voyage was a fusion of various community groups coming together across age, gender, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds as artists, cast, crew and audience members.

The project was multi-generational, including a dancer as young as 13, and a crew volunteer in their 70’s. Voyage linked the arts, education, business, not-for-profit organisations and local support communities. This event strengthened cross-cultural ties, particularly with our local Indigenous and refugee communities.

The outcomes of this project were incredible on many levels, especially the exposure gained from working alongside talented artists in the areas of music, media and design. Voyage had two sell-out performances as a part of the SheppARTon Festival, lots of positive feedback, and a there is a strong desire within the cast and community to see more projects from Awaken Dance Theatre Company in the future.

Awaken Dance Theatre Company is a newly formed dance theatre group for young people in the Shepparton Region. Everyone involved gained so much from this experience and all are eager to see what’s next.

Cultural & Economic Impacts:

• New career pathways created for the project artistic director, as well as the enhancement of artist careers
• An opportunity to share many art forms with public viewers – including dance, theatre, music, silk artistry, Welcome to Country with spoken word, dancing, and didgeridoo, lighting, sound, media arts and graphic artistry
• The exceptional result of two sold-out shows engaged new audiences, many of whom who had never experienced dance theatre, broadening community engagement with the arts
• Increased tourist spending locally, combined with project spending concentrated to the area, stimulating the local economy
• Profits were generated from ticket sales, intended to support future projects of a similar nature
• Valuable paid opportunities for artists and art-workers – specifically importance in regional areas where so much work is on a volunteer basis
• Enthusiastic feedback from audience members in reference to the high-quality, professional performance across all fields
• A sense of community support generated through local newspaper and television

Social Impacts:

• A wide range of partnerships and networks were formed throughout the community, including with schools, local and Federal government, and non-profits
• A successful collaboration with many talented artists from within community and beyond – this project worked mainly with youth so the benefits of working as a team, maturity, responsibility and acting professionally were all social outcomes
• Taking part in a dance theatre project that required physical fitness and stamina increased the sense of physical, mental and social wellbeing in this community group
• A positive atmosphere created for young people to strive and achieve, working together with all sorts of levels of expertise and backgrounds
• Social media and online presence have been developed through the creation of this project, which will continue to build a presence, social awareness and rapport with the community and beyond
• Decreased regional social isolation due to the valued support of Regional Arts Victoria, who embraced and affirmed this project
• Dancers relished in the opportunity to be a part of a project of this calibre

Links/socials:

Awaken Dance Theatre Company Facebook page

Image: Tangled, Voyage, 2018, Victoria. Photo by: Charmaine Moorhouse