Grant Success for Port Pirie SALA Winter Festival
Grant funding of just over $45,000 will help to make a special project as part of the 2023 Port Pirie SALA Winter Festival become a reality.
Port Pirie Regional Council has been successful in securing a Festivals Australia grant through the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts. Council’s application was the only South Australian recipient, together with 17 other successful projects across the nation.
The Albanese Labor Government is supporting a place for every story and a story for every place, with new funding for a range of arts project at festivals across the country. Close to $700,000 in funding will be shared among 17 projects in regional and rural communities through the Festivals Australia program.
The Festivals Australia Grant is specifically granted to a single activity or project at an existing Festival and is aimed at high-quality arts projects that invite community participation and audience engagement. The successful projects highlight the diversity and originality of Australia’s arts sector which span live music, theatre, dance, literature, exhibitions and workshops.
Council’s project titled ‘The Salty Forest’ will explore the beauty of mangroves of the Upper Spencer Gulf through site visits, photography and hands-on art workshops. The creations will be interwoven into a moving image artwork encircling Memorial Park’s Rotunda to form a giant lantern.
The project will be coordinated by illuminart Stories in Light in conjunction with local artists, designers, animators and science educators. Following the Winter Festival, the digital art project will be re-assembled into a format which will be displayed seasonally on the City Park Projector enabling tourists and residents to continue to enjoy and appreciate the artwork they have co-created. The custom-built projection piece will also be able to be re-used at future Winter Festivals with new digital art imagery.
Port Pirie Regional Council’s Mayor Leon Stephens was over the moon with excitement about the recent announcement.
“Council is thrilled about the Festivals Australia grant because it will provide a major feature and boost to the Winter Festival and enhance the night-time activities as a truly amazing and unique digital show that regional SA hasn’t seen before! We are also pleased that the Hon Tony Burke MP Minister for the Arts has specially recognised Port Pirie,” said Mayor Stephens.
The official opening of the rotunda illumination will be held on Friday 4 August 2023 while the main Port Pirie SALA Winter Festival activities will be held on Saturday 5 August in Memorial Park, with extended promotion of SALA across the month of August.
Stay tuned for more information about the Port Pirie SALA Winter Festival and regional SALA events which will be available very soon.
Image caption: Artist’s impression of the Memorial Park Rotunda digital art installation by illuminart.