Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre confirmed on Wednesday it has been successful in securing a state government grant of $32,000 to support the development of locally produced contemporary theatre.
Funded through the Royalties for Regions Program, the grant is call ‘New Work in the House’ and is specifically designed to support arts centres to connect local professional artists and commission new contemporary works.
“This grant will really help BREC to fulfil our role in developing the local performing arts industry,” BREC general manager Sharon Custers said.
“We have high hopes for the quality of work that will come out of it and are extremely grateful to the government for having faith in us to deliver the program in Bunbury.”
Since 2013, Vahri McKenzie has worked with emerging artists, community members and key professional collaborators using a collaborative creative process.
She produced 2015’s sold out production of Lysistrata for BREC, and will return in 2018 with Bakkhai.
McKenzie, along with her creative team, would like to recruit adults from the South West community to contribute to this work in any capacity – as performers, dancers, singers, artists, designers, set-builders and stage crew.
She is particularly interested in working with young people of diverse genders.
The timeframe of the project is October 2017 to June 2018. T
he commitment for participants will be fortnightly on Sunday afternoons.
Members of the public interested in getting involved with this exciting project are encouraged contact Vahri Mckenzie via email at v.mckenzie@ecu.edu.au.