Performing Lines WA unveils the impact of the groundbreaking Kolyang Program

Performing Lines WA is pleased to share with colleagues and friends across the arts industry, a suite of resources and materials documenting and evaluating the impact and outcomes of our ground-breaking Kolyang Program.

The signature initiatives of the program are the Kolyang Creative Hub and the Kolyang Artist Lab. Each has been designed and delivered under the custodianship of Performing Lines WA (PLWA), in consultation and partnership with the independent performing arts sector in Western Australia.

Kolyang (pron: kol-yong) is the Noongar name for the Western Australian Golden Wattle. Each Golden Wattle flower head is a bunch of many tiny flowers – symbolic of communities connected to the same tree or place.

Across three years the Kolyang Program has:

Designed, facilitated and presented 73 sessions (including workshops, practice-sharing, cohort conversations and public sessions) to 1,256 participants and attendees.
Paid 163 independent artists and arts-workers in the Kolyang cohorts.
Engaged 1,682 people across the public programs.
Partnered with 21 Western Australian arts organisations.

A large and diverse group of artists gather in a circle, seated on the lush green lawn surrounded by nature outside the Subiaco Arts Centre.

Image by Christophe Canato.

The Resources

We have commissioned and assembled a suite of resource materials that have developed between 2020 and 2022. Our friends at SeeSaw online arts magazine have published this editorial piece to help share these resources, and the Kolyang Program success story with the sector at large.

The centrepieces of our resources are a 44-page evaluation and impact report, and two highlight reels – one for the Creative Hub and one for the Artist Lab. We thank the teams at Tracker Development and Black Iris Consulting for their great work to produce these pieces.

Our website hosts a wealth of other Kolyang reports, videos, podcasts, and general information – please visit and browse.

Thank you

The success of the Kolyang Program would not have been possible without the generous support of the artists, arts workers, partner organisations and funders that opted in.

Performing Lines WA would also like to thank and acknowledge past colleagues who have been part of our custodianship of Kolyang, especially Rachael Whitworth and Zainab Syed who were part of the original team who conceived the program.

This sharing has been made possible through the support of the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts. The three editions of Kolyang have been funded by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, Lotterywest’s COVID Relief Fund, CircuitWest, MyPlace and a cohort of wonderful partner organisations who subsidised places for participating artists. We also appreciate significant in-kind support from our venues the Arts and Culture Trust (Subiaco Arts Centre), Fremantle Arts Centre and The Blue Room Theatre.

We thank the artists and arts workers who have been part of the cohort each year. We remain in awe of your tenacity, your fortitude, your spirit and your congeniality during such an adverse and remarkable period for our industry and broader society. As we emerge from this period, we are excited by the launch of Australia’s new cultural policy Revive which sees the recognition of artists as workers and prioritises ‘Centrality of the Artist’.

Hear, hear!

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