The Studio
Have you met our members?
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Launched in 2021, Studio Co!Lab was created by regionally-based artists for regionally-based artists - across NSW.
Time and time again, when we talk to our Studio Co!Lab members on and off the record, they say that being part of a network of artists, spending time with other creatives in residencies and conversation, connecting, exchanging information and learning from each other, cuts through the isolation. Then there’s the grants, residencies, professional development and more. See what our members do on Beyond the Studio, and hear more from of our members talking about their practice on The Studio page. Find out more about a Studio Co!Lab membership.
Keep scrolling to see what opportunities and activities we offer Studio Co!Lab members.
Read more about our Studio Co!Lab members in Beyond the Studios and on our Studio Co!Lab Happenings page.
Opportunities
* All Orana Arts generated opportunities are 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.
Residencies
Residency opportunities are offered to our Studio Co!Lab members each year. The next round will be in late 2025.
Keep scrolling to find out more about Studio Co!Lab and the residencies we’ve offered over the past three years.
Grants - this section is moving. Watch this space for a new page coming soon.
Residencies.
One of The Studio platform offerings is artist residencies. These come in a number of forms, with most of the residency opportunities being for our Studio Co!Lab members.. To apply for our residencies, make sure you’re a Studio Co!Lab member — open to artists anywhere in regional NSW, of all ages, stages and art forms, check out what a membership brings.
Ironbark Arts Residency
The Ironbark Arts Residency has been a partnership between Orana Arts and the Stuart Town Advancement Association (STAA), who have made the historic Railway Hotel, in Stuart Town, available as artist accommodation. It’s a beautiful old building just down the street from the railway station on the rail line from Sydney through to Dubbo
Since 2021, 10 artists have been part of the four Ironbark Arts Residency rounds, each 6 days/5 nights.
Stuart Town is in the Dubbo Local Government area. The Railway Hotel is owned by Dubbo Regional Council and managed by the STAA.
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR OUR 2025 RESIDENCY LATER THIS YEAR.
2024 Ironbark Arts Residency
In October 2024, three Studio Co!Lab artists came together for 6 days and 5 nights together in the historic Railway Hotel in Stuart Town. The artists were Sarah Randall (Orange), Susan Yaghjian (Dubbo) and Mick Davis (Dubbo). They had very different experiences, but all artists were united in their love of this residency and what it offers.
2023 Ironbark Arts Residency artists (October)
In October 2023, Danja Derkenne (Little Forest) spent time during the Ironbark Arts Residency on a variety of projects including creating drawings of the various windows and other architectural features in and around Stuart Town, plus collecting and then weaving wire around animal bones. Jason Richardson (Leeton) created a zine using photographs he took in and around the area, and poetry he wrote during his residency, as well as a video set to music from local bird song. Tina Pech (Baradine) worked on improving her art practice documentation but also started work on a stitched book, reflecting the Railway Hotel building and its many previous occupants. The three artists also collaborated on a work that they presented to the Stuart Town Advancement Association.
Tina Pech, Jason Richardson and Danja Derkenne
2023 Ironbark Arts Residency artists (March)
In March 2023, Nicola Mason and Therese Gabriel Wilkins spent 6 night and 5 days at the historic Railway Hotel in Stuart Town as part of the Ironbark Arts Residency. Their time there together allowed each the time and space to explore, ideate, and share their practice with a fellow member, and the local community.
THERESE: The residency was really wonderful and it afforded the opportunity do all the things I thought would be possible thanks to the tour, insights from other artists and folk in the town. It certainly provided the stimulus for a new venture writing some poetry and performing the presentation—my first foray into combining the visual and performance.
NIC: I had a great experience with the welcome, hospitality, tour, structure and opportunity to stay, create and share in The Railway Hotel. It was also great sharing this time with Therese. I felt very enlivened and had a great creative time.
March 2023 Ironbark Arts Residency artists in conversation
Nicola Mason and Therese Gabriel Wilkins talk about the layers of history and connections made while on residency together in Stuart Town on the Ironbark Arts Residency. Nic and Therese are both Studio Co!Lab members but they had never met before spending a week together in March 2023. They talk about how they made the most of the historic location, the small community there, and their time with each other. It's moderated by Alicia Leggett.
This was recorded live on Zoom on 16 August.
2021 Ironbark Arts Residency artists
Orana Arts caught up with Inel Date and Linda Chat at the end of their week of printmaking with Tim Winters in his Kinkara Studios at Stuart Town, in 2021.
Co!Lab
@CORRIDOR AIR
2021 Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR artists: Stephan de Wit van der Merwe and Anna Glynn (with creative collaborator, Peter Dalmazzo)
2022 Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR artists: Jason Richardson, Inel Date and Shani Nottingham (image courtesy the CORRIDOR project)
The Co!Lab@CORRIDOR Artist-in-Residence was a partnership between Orana Arts’ Studio Co!Lab and the CORRIDOR project. The 2021 program was the first residency offering under this three-year partnership. Each year, a short residency is offered to a visual artist, performing artist and writer who is a member of Orana Arts’ Studio Co!Lab. The 2022 artists recently completed their stay on site.
Artists are selected for this paid residency by a panel through an EOI process. Chosen artists get to engage with tCp’s Creative Producer and, when appropriate, with other professional artists during their tCp residency. The Program supports peer-to-peer mentoring and enable connections with professional bodies, galleries and funding organisations.
2022 Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR artists
JASON: I didn't realise how much I needed the nurture in nature that was afforded to me and am grateful for the opportunity to discuss practices.There's now an optimism that our time together will translate into future opportunities in the region and beyond.
INEL: An intense, immersive experience in a spectacular setting. Thank you to my fellow artists for being such great companions in this creative space.
SHANI: A week of exploring ideas, thinking of process, playing with the thoughts in my head, reading, connecting to creativity, looking to future projects, finding inspiration. It is a magical place, with a special energy that pervades it...Very grateful for this time, space and opportunity.
2022 Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR artists in conversation
Studio Co!Lab members, Jason Richardson (Leeton), Inel Date and Shani Nottingham (both of Cowra) spent 5 days together at Cowra in 2022 as recipients of the Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR program, a partnership with the CORRIDOR project.
They arrived on site with no set idea of what their short, intensive time together would create other than it was expected there be an exchange between them, if not a collaboration. In this Studio Co!Lab Talk they discuss with fellow artist and Orana Arts team member, Kim V. Goldsmith, how they prepared and approached this residency, what needs to be considered when spending time in the company of other creatives, the collaborative generation of ideas, and how to still find your own path in an intensive collaborative environment.
This is an edited version of a 1-hour Residency series talk recorded on 14 June 2023.
2021 Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR artists
Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR performing arts residency, 2021
Stephan de Wit van der Merwe has been working on a new audio/visual production called “My conversation with Lichen and the Stars”, that came from an unrelated residency undertaken at the CORRIDOR project in 2020. He was also successful in gaining an Arts Restart grant through Orana Arts for part of this project. His new work has been selected for an Orange Regional Gallery exhibition in 2022. During his week-long residency in November, Stephan worked on further developing the exhibition component of the project in the form of a performance work that is site-specific to the Corridor project.
Co!Lab@CORRIDOR AIR visual arts residency, 2021
Anna Glynn and her creative collaborator and partner, Peter Dalmazzo, have undertaken many residencies across Australia and overseas. Each residency offers the opportunity to learn something new about the environment and catch glimpses of what makes a particular place special. They talk about their process for working together on a residency and where this work might lead.
Inscribe writing program + residency
In 2021, five writers from across Regional NSW came together with mentor Roanna Gonsalves to craft prose around the theme of Centres & Peripheries. After several months and an on-site residency at the CORRIDOR project, near Cowra, they each produced a short story published by Orana Arts in a limited edition book. The writers were Sam Leah (Gelston Park near Wagga Wagga), Val Clark (Dubbo), Rob Salt (Dubbo), Catherine Moffat (Lake Munmorah) and Helen Pastor (Armidale).
Each story in the book was illustrated by a regional writer. They were Vicki Luke (Albury), Darren Blanch (Wellington), Amanda Donohue (Lake Macquarie), Shani Nottingham (Cowra) and Lachlan Naef (Dubbo). All the writers and illustrators are members of Orana Arts’ Studio Co!Lab.
Two versions of Centres & Peripheries were produced — one a hand-bound, hand-covered version created by Tina Pech (Baradine), gifted to each writer. The second, a softcover version available for purchase through our Shop. The book was launched in Wellington on 24 March 2022. The photos below are from the launch.
This project was proudly supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW, with support from Writing NSW.
What does the future hold for our regions?
A creative conversation led by artists
Regional Futures is a state-wide program of creative development and conversations that places artists at the centre of a dialogue exploring a future vision for the place where they live and create.
Orana Arts and Arts Mid North Coast are having a cross-region conversation in our exploration of what the future holds for the regions. Dubbo Regional Council is also a partner in the project, commissioning one of the four artists.
Artists from across regional NSW have been commissioned to develop creative responses to the prompt about the future. Each artist is undertaking a self-directed residency. The artists in our cross-region conversation are taking the prompt one step further to consider a post-carbon world. They are Allison Reynolds (Coonabarabran), Kit Kelen (Bulahdelah), Ronnie Grammatica (Crescent Head) and Kim V. Goldsmith (Dubbo). FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS
WATCH THE STUDIO CO!LAB ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION WITH OUR REGIONAL FUTURES ARTISTS — NOW ONLINE