By Mikayla van Loon
Artists and creatives from the Yarra Ranges have the opportunity to hone their skills with a free professional development program to expand their learnings and craft over the coming months.
The ArtsACTION program organised by not-for-profit Jumpleads NFP is being run across six metropolitan Melbourne council areas for the first time between January and June this year.
It’s aiming to provide career support to artists in any stage or age of their creative journey, as well as in all mediums from musicians to visual artists, performers to writers.
For Yarra Ranges Council, strengthening its capacity to help support creative industries in the region was a key factor in choosing to offer this program to local artists.
“Council recognises the important role the creative industries play within our communities and the value in providing ongoing opportunities for professional development, upskilling, and building connections to support growth of the sector,” Yarra Ranges Council Executive Officer for Creative Communities Jenny Davies said.
Offering 20 subsidised positions for artists in the Yarra Ranges, ArtsACTION provides a Zoom workshop series over six weeks, mentoring artists on different topics, as well as providing emailed resources throughout the course of the program.
Having seen the impact Covid had on creative industries and creatives themselves, the council saw this as an opportunity to gauge the need for upskilling and industry support to decipher where guidance or connections can be made in the future.
“Creative businesses in the region have been particularly impacted over the past few years by Covid-19 and storm events. The ArtsACTION program provides an accessible capacity building offering for our creative industries,” Ms Davies said.
The professional development and business aspects of the course which may touch on career pathways and building market reach could cater more to emerging artists while the networking and diversity of creatives involved may assist those who already have an established business.
Having conducted this course across regional communities over the last few years, Jumpleads director and program facilitator Sharon Seyd said often the work of artists can be overlooked.
“This program recognises that creatives are often under-resourced and overlooked – despite their importance as a highly valuable, vital sector of our communities,” she said.
“According to Creative Victoria, in 2019-20, the creative sector contributed $31.6 billion to the Victorian economy, 8.6 per cent of the total state workforce.
“Through our experience delivering the previous four programs and working with thousands of artists, we have found most creatives want greater opportunities for exposure. Many need information, methods, and frameworks to maximise their potential.”
Yarra Ranges Council is currently taking expressions of interest from creatives in the region who might be interested in filling a subsidised position in either March or May.
There are two online workshop series to choose from:
Zoom Series #1 | Thursdays 10.30am – 12pm | 23 Mar – 18 May
Zoom Series #2 | Tuesdays 5.30pm – 7pm | 16 May – 20 Jun
Not only does ArtsACTION aim to connect people to artists already in the industry but also from across the six participating councils including Yarra Ranges, Brimbank, Cardinia, Hume, Melton, and Nillumbik.
Although the workshops have limited places available, emailed resources can be accessed by anyone by signing up.
For more information go to: https://popupart.com.au/artsaction
To join immediately, complete the form at: https://bit.ly/arts-action-5-join
To register for workshops, visit: http://popupart-artsaction.eventbrite.com
