Goya Dmytryshchak
The Substation arts venue has secured a record $1.2million in national arts funding during the coronavirus lockdown to ensure its survival.
The Newport-based organisation has also appointed a community ambassador to the committee of management, local resident Luke Isaacs, who has been instrumental in Indigenous reconciliation in sport and culture.
The Substation artistic director Brad Spolding said expressions of interest would soon be announced for a community reference group comprising local people.
“The idea being to bring local knowledge and expertise to inform our planning and decision making, and to provide community representation and pathways for input, feedback and participation in the organisation,“ he said.
The $1.2million funding from Australia Council for the Arts will be awarded over four years.
Mr Isaacs is also part of not-for-profit Aboriginal organisation, Tonberang’i Ngarrga, which works towards connecting Aboriginal people into the genre of electronic music.
“We incorporate cultural elements into our music and our events as well,“ he said.
“We’ll organise Aboriginal line-ups, so provide a platform for other Aboriginal musicians to perform and then through that incorporate other elements of Aboriginal content, whether it’s visual, whether its workshops, to really enable other Aboriginal people to connect into their culture and who they are.“
The Substation aims to reopen its gallery in August under potentially-restricted conditions such as bookings only.
