Volunteers. Artists. Museums. Program
The Volunteers. Artists. Museums. Program (VAMP) is an Orana Arts initiative that connects regional, volunteer-run museums in NSW with artists and creative makers. It seeks to reimagine and reinterpret the way the stories of the regions and its people are told.
VAMP envisions a vibrant and engaged heritage sector in regional New South Wales.
VAMP works towards embedding heritage in the lives of all who live in the region and as a lived experience of all who visit.
VAMP includes close consultation with regional partners and stakeholders, from local government to tourism consultants and lead First Nations organisations and communities.
Orana Arts works with individual museums and artists and develops programs, partnerships, events and exhibitions that lead to positive outcomes for the museum, artist, community, and visitors. It builds visitor economy capacity and strengthens community engagement within local government areas. It enhances and reinforces the unique heritage and cultural landscape of the region.
enCounter
Writers and Artists-in-Residence in Museums across New South Wales
This is a Volunteers. Artists. Museums. Program (VAMP) project funded by the NSW Government through Create NSW
Two artists-in-residence and 10 writers are part of the Orana Arts’ Volunteers. Artists. Museums. Program (VAMP) enCounter project for museums, designed to connect museums, creatives, and audiences in regional NSW. They have worked with museum volunteers, curator Fiona MacDonald, and the respective collections to draw out stories, find new voices, and create new and transformative experiences for visitors.
On 29 April 2023, there will be two exhibitions and a publication unveiled, bringing the project to an end.
enCounter Writers
Helena Pastor, Catherine Moffat, Val Clark, Jason Richardson, Deborah Henley, Jamie Derkenne, Margaret Aitken, Alex Rosenblum, and Leah Szanto. Writer and dramaturg, Ruth Little ran a weekend of workshops for the writers to develop ideas for works, that look at museums as places where change and transformation take place. Expect to see an anthology of their work in 2023.
enCounter Artists-in-Residence
Rob Salt at the Wungunja Cultural Centre in Trangie
Nat Ord and Vanessa Keenan at the Gilgandra Museum
An initiative of Orana Arts, enCounter is supported by South East Arts and West Darling Arts, a demonstration of the Regional Arts Development Organisations networking to bring creative practitioners together from across the state to work, collaborate and share.
Fiona MacDonald
at the Henry Lawson Centre, Gulgong.
This is a Volunteers. Artists. Museums. Program (VAMP) - an initiative of Orana Arts.
Fiona MacDonald (Ilford NSW) has been the HARd (Heritage Artist Residency) artist working at the Henry Lawson Centre in Gulgong, to investigate and explore the collection and activities of the museum and develop a work. She's developed works that reference the various roles of women in Henry Lawson’s life and their stories, beyond the usual narrative associated with the man himself. In this video, Fiona talks about her work at the Henry Lawson Centre, what role she sees regional artists playing in extending the narratives about and audiences for regional collections, and what she sees as the outcomes of the residency.
Fiona MacDonald’s work, ‘The Dawn Club’ was exhibited at the Henry Lawson Centre, Gulgong
1 December 2021 - 31 January 2022.
FIONA MACDONALD ON HER HERITAGE ARTIST RESIDENCY
HENRY LAWSON CENTRE’S GORDON MCDONNELL ON THE VALUE OF THE RESIDENCY
HARd Henry Lawson Centre + Mudgee Museum
Recently, Orana Arts sought applications from regionally-based artists/ creatives to take part in Heritage Artist Residency (HARd), a VAMP program based in Mudgee and Gulgong, NSW.
HARd at the Henry Lawson Centre was open to female artists and creatives. The successful applicant set to explore the collection of the Henry Lawson Centre to create a work exploring themes related to women and their depiction/role in the story told by the Centre. Fiona MacDonald was the successful applicant.
“‘The Dawn Club’ began with a deep dive into the archive of the Henry Lawson Centre in Gulgong. After this immersion in the archive, I surfaced with sympathy for the women who were closest to Lawson - his mother, lovers, wife, daughter, colleagues and carers. The fragmentary traces of their lives are a record of the practicalities of life and the daily personal fight for rights and freedoms that underpins the grand arc of the history of emancipation. Domestic realities often set against the freedom and time to write.”
HARd at the Mudgee Museum was open to Aboriginal artists and creatives. The successful applicant will explore the collection of the Mudgee Museum to create a work exploring themes related to Aboriginal peoples and their depiction/role in the story told by the Museum. The successful applicant will be announced soon.
The residencies have been impacted by COVID and project timelines are due to be updated.
* All opportunities will be assessed internally and by a panel consisting of an Orana Arts board member, an Orana Arts staff member and, if applicable, a content specialist and/or project partner.
HARd is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW
