Regions

Tasmanian Artist Residency

The Tasmanian Artist Residency is a core part of the annual program of Performing Lines TAS, creating a space for roughly 20 artists per year to share ideas and develop their professional practice.

This game-changing initiative began in 2012 and is for artists from across Tasmania, from all walks-of-life and at any stage of their career. It allows them to come together and explore new project ideas that often go on to reach the national stage. A range of highly skilled mentors from different arts practices across Australia are invited to inform each project’s development.

In an intensive three-day event, the residency provides an exquisite regional setting, a supportive creative environment to test ideas and push projects to their next level of artistic discovery. After delivering over 10 years of annual residencies, with iterative improvements each time, the Residency affords a highly efficient and inclusive platform for the generation of new works, new networks for artists, and additional resources for the sector.

From 2013-2022 the residency was held at Tarraleah Estate, often being referred to as the Tarraleah Artist Residency. From 2023 the residency will move to new locations, starting with Poatina, allowing it to engage with new artists and communities across lutruwita/Tasmania.

Each residency has at least one First Nations mentor and four First Nations participants.

Performing Lines TAS also has an ongoing partnership with Blue Cow Theatre’s Cow Shed writing program such that a group of writers and their dramaturg are in residence alongside the Artist Residency affording cross over with the other participants for workshops and presentations.

Local and national Festival Directors are also invited as observers, so they can connect with projects early and where aligned, begin conversations with artists about their work.

What Artists Can Expect

The Tasmanian Artist Residency is a 3-day, 2-night residency providing a supportive, creative environment to test ideas, consider new collaborations and explore cross art form possibilities.

A range of highly skilled mentors from different arts practices across Australia are provided to inform project development.

The Residency features:

  • Presentation sessions of participant projects ideas featuring group discussion
  • Professional mentorship in groups and one-on-one,
  • Optional morning warm ups
  • Informal networking and skills workshops.

Whilst the residency is heavily subsidised by Arts Tasmania and the participating venue, each successful applicant will be required to pay a modest contribution to the weekends expenses in the form of a deposit with the difference fully refundable after attendance at the residency and completion of the debrief survey. For more details please follow the link below to our Expression of Interest survey.

Who Can Apply?

The Residency is an opportunity for Tasmanian artists at all points in their career and from all aspects of the performing arts  to come together and explore new performance project ideas. We welcome applications from;

  • People at the start of their artistic practice
  • Senior artists with significant experience
  • Mid-career artists
  • Returning participants exploring new ideas.
  • Writers, directors, makers, dancers, performers, sound designers, choreographers etc – any artist with a project idea they want to work on.
  • Collaborative teams working together on a single concept and should apply under the name of whomever is the lead artist on the project.

We celebrate diversity and welcome all artists to apply including those with diverse abilities, sexualities, genders, age, ethno-cultural and socioeconomic status.

Outcomes

Many residency project proposals have gone on to full creative development and presentation. Performing Lines TAS actively seeks out collaborations with organisations to support residency artists. We have teamed up with the Moonah Arts Centre (MAC) who support up to three residency projects with in-kind venue hire for a week for self funded creative development. Past recipients have included Sinsa Mansell’s solo dance work BACK, which premiered as part of Ten Days On The Island in 2021.

Other projects supported in their development and production include; Hera Direen and Ana Thema’s  Drag Queen Murder Mystery Anna Kidd on her show That Parking Lady with Dramaturg Peter Matheson. In 2020 Anna completed a creative development with Director Maude Davey and Musician Craig Irons working towards a premier production.

Helen Swain brought her solo work Who Cares to the residency and has gone on to work with Director Care McLean.

Jordy Gregg has worked on his first script Park Days. Jordy went on to be selected to participate in New Zealand’s Breaking Ground and Yellamundie as part of Sydney Festival 2019 to further develop this work and has just received further funding from Tim Minchin, The Australia Council and Arts Tasmania.

The Tasmanian Artist Residency has been working with palawa/pakana artists for a number of years and during the residency supports them with specialist First Nations mentors.

Applications

We are now seeking Expressions of Interest from Tasmanian artists for the 2023 Tasmanian Artist Residency in Poatina.

For more information and to make your EOI, please follow this link.

Applications must close 11:59pm Thursday 31 August.

Testimonials

(The residency) connects artists from the north to the south. It broadens the scope of thinking. It creates a concentrated environment to explore an idea. It opens up new connections to bring in to your project. It generates important discussions of the wider arts community & local arts. It gives artists a chance to meet with someone / several people who they look up to in their industry and have multiple chats which would otherwise never exist. – Bec Jones (2018)

I went to the residency to push myself out if my confort zone by starting Les Petites Annonces with Edith Perrenot. We both are new to theatre rules, and we learnt a lot. It was very challenging and confronting to test our project in front of everyone but we felt safe and positively criticised. Concerning my ongoing practice, this residency was highly relevant because the discussion and workshops with other artists and mentors were very encouraging and will help me to push my personal practice more deeply into performance with less apprehension of the stage fear.
The availability and conversation with the mentors were precious because they took time to listen to us, analyse how they could help us with their knowledge and networks. Being exposed to them also forced us to articulate more what we wanted. – Julia Drouhin (2018)

(The Residency) has given the project a clear pathway forward so that it will progress not just stay as an idea. It helps clarify your focus as an individual artist and what your strengths are. – Kirsty Grierson (2017)

How refreshing to be surrounded by colleagues all at different stages in their careers as well as their project formations. I didn’t sense any ego or competition between participants or anyone else, and perhaps it was this diversity and the fact that the art itself was never in question, it was taken for granted that everyone there would take what they had grown on the weekend and bring their own practice to the project to the best of their ability. – Rachel Myers (2017)

The residency has really impacted our understanding of how we should move forward strategically with our project, introduced us to some wonderful artists in Tasmania and it has given us a network to call on to start making the next stage real.  The mentors were incredibly generous with there time and the advice and questions they offered. Being exposed to the mentors has put us in contact with some really exciting artists to collaborate with as well as reconsidering some of our approaches in constructing the work itself. – Caitlin Comerford (2016)

My ideas are usually very scattered so having a weekend to describe my idea to a wider audience and to have assistance in refining and narrowing down what i wanted to do was a really valuable experience. It has especially changed the way I think about approaching new projects and has already started me thinking of next year.  Meeting such a diverse group of experienced mentors has helped me to create and envision works that not only satisfy me as a performer but to also reach an audience, how to experiment outside of the norm and opened a wider world of people to contact for this project and possible future ones. – Zeb Direen (2016)

Past Years

The Tasmanian Artist Residency has been running annually since 2012, offering dedicated time, space and resources to over one hundred artists to develop their ideas and practice.

Click below to see the cohorts of artists and mentors from each residency as well as video testimonials from a selection of participants.

2022

The Performing Lines TAS Artist Residency 2022 was held at Tarraleah, 7 – 9 October.

The weekend at Tarraleah saw 12 artists, working across various projects, supported by 3 mentors.

Mentors:

  • Sally Richardson
  • Nathan Stoneham
  • Nadine Dowd

Participants:

  • Richie Cyngler
  • Rosemary Cann
  • Keia McGrady
  • Amanda Hodder
  • Nicholas Tolputt
  • Feras Shaheen
  • Eri Mullooly-Hill Konishi
  • Billie Rankin
  • Tony Rooke
  • Conor Wilde
  • Josh Santospirito
  • Stevie Cabalzar
2021

The Performing Lines TAS Artist Residency 2021 was held at Tarraleah, 22 – 24 October 2021.

The weekend at Tarraleah (our largest ever) saw 31 artists, working across various projects, supported by 5 mentors and 3 staff.

Mentors:

  • Courtney Gibson
  • Lindy Hume
  • Lucy Forge
  • Paul Selwyn Norton
  • Simon Wellington

Participants:

  • Katarnya Maynard
  • Takani Clark
  • Nunami Sculthorpe Green
  • Felicity Bott
  • Paul Wakelam
  • Bryony Geeves
  • Carrie McLean
  • Cheryl Wheatley
  • Jodie Le Vesconte
  • Amanda Hodder
  • Danni Ashton
  • Mel King
  • Ivano Del Pio
  • Kerri Gay
  • Gabrielle Adkins
  • Emesha Rudolf
  • Edith Perrenot
  • CiCi Xiyue Zhang
  • Moran Wiesel
  • Rose Ottavi-Kokkoris
  • Julia Drouhin
  • Anand Kumar
  • Jem Nicholas
  • Nathan Pritchard
  • Lila Mileisea
  • Nathan Maynard
  • Jordy Gregg
  • Kat Trail
  • Bek Varcoe
2020

The Performing Lines TAS Artist Residency 2020 was held at Tarraleah, 9 – 11 October 202o.

The weekend at Tarraleah (our largest ever) saw 30 artists, working across various projects, supported by 5 mentors.

 

Mentors:

  • Laura Sheedy
  • Lindy Hume
  • Jo Duffy
  • Brian Ritchie
  • Shaun Wilson

Participants:

  • Amanda Hodder
  • Anna Barber
  • Caitlin Berwick
  • Charlie Smith
  • Dean Stevenson
  • Edith Perrenot
  • Felicity Horsley
  • Gabriel Comerford
  • Gerard Lane
  • Glen Murray
  • Indea Quinn
  • Jane Longhurst
  • Jason James
  • Julia Drouhin
  • Julian Pavy
  • Kelly Drummond Cawthorn
  • Laura Watts
  • Lauren Neal
  • Leigh Tesch
  • Luana Towney
  • Nathan Maynard
  • Nicole Robson
  • Nunami Sculthorpe Green
  • Quin Thomson
  • Rod Anderson
  • Rose Kokkaris
  • Sarah Hamilton
  • Stephanie Jack
  • Vivienne Seery
  • Belinda Bradley
  • Stephanie Briarwood
  • Stuart Loone
  • Jane Johnson
2019

The Performing Lines TAS Artist Residency was held at Tarraleah, 11- 13 October 2019.

The weekend at Tarraleah saw 19 artists, working across various projects, supported by 5 mentors and 2 staff.

Mentors:

  • Angharad Wynne-Jones
  • Deborah Pollard
  • Bec Reid
  • Chris Mead
  • Kirk Page

Participants:

  • Nathan Maynard
  • Rob Braslin
  • Felicity Horsley
  • Sinsa Mansell
  • Alison Mann
  • Rhys Gray
  • Sarah Hamilton
  • Rose Ertler
  • Jamie Graham
  • Anita Bacic
  • Gillian English
  • Carmencita Palermo
  • Ivano Del Pio
  • Gabrielle Adkins
  • Robert Jarman
  • Hannah Vermeulen
  • Joel Fenton
  • Luke John Campbell
  • Loren Kronemyer
2018

The Performing Lines TAS Artist Residency 2018 was held at Tarraleah, 26-28 October. The weekend at Tarraleah saw 18 artists, working across 16 projects, supported by 4 mentors, 2 staff and 3 guest producers.

Mentors:

  • Edwina Lunn
  • Isaac Drandic
  • Maude Davey
  • Gideon Obarzanek

Participants

  • Shuangshuang Zhang
  • Zeb Direen
  • Emma Skalicky
  • Bec Jones
  • Helen Swain
  • Andy Vagg
  • Julia Drouhin
  • Edith Perrenot
  • Anna Kidd
  • Jessica Davies
  • Kate Boden
  • Bryony Geeves
  • Carrie McLean
  • Laura Purcell
  • Kartanya Maynard
  • Jordy Gregg
  • Sinsa Mansell
  • Denni Proctor
2017

The Performing Lines Artist Residency 2017 was held at Tarraleah, 27-29 October. The weekend at Tarraleah saw 17  artists, working across 16 projects, supported by 4 mentors, 2 staff and 2 guest producers.

Mentors:

  • Margi Brown Ash
  • Steve Mayhew
  • Kyle J Morrison
  • Deborah Pollard

Participants:

  • Bella Young
  • Chris Love
  • Jamie McCaskill (supported by Creative New Zealand)
  • Kirsty Grierson
  • Leigh Tesch
  • Nathan Maynard
  • Rowan Harris
  • Sara Wright
  • Jordy Gregg
  • Sue Hayes
  • Essie Kruckemeyer
  • Kim Jaeger
  • Jane Longhurst
  • Joce Nettlefold
  • Lucinda Toynbee Wilson
  • Takani Clarke
  • Rachel Meyers
2016

The Performing Lines TAS annual Artist Residency 2016 was  held at Tarraleah from 21-23 October 2016.

In 2016, thanks to the Australia Council for The Arts and Arts Tasmania, Performing Lines TAS were able to additionally host the pakana Writers Residency with mentor Peter Matheson; featuring a group of Aboriginal artists curated by Nathan Maynard, as well as the attendance of our first Maori guest artist, thanks to Creative New Zealand.

The weekend at Tarraleah saw 21 artists, working across 18 projects, supported by 4 mentors, 2 staff and 2 guest producers.

Mentors:

  • Marion Potts
  • Martin Del Amo
  • Sue Giles
  • Peter Matheson

Participants:

  • Essie Kruckemeyer
  • Rosie Grayson
  • Andrea Breen
  • Sara Wright
  • Lucien Simon
  • Marty Spurway-Smith
  • Zeb Direen
  • Caitlin Comerford
  • Gabriel Comerford
  • Nicole Robson
  • Glen Murray
  • Emma Porteus
  • Cassandra Ng
  • Tullia Chung-Tilley
  • Kelsey Schober

pakana Writers Residency:

  • Nathan Maynard
  • Adam Thompson
  • Eva Grace
  • Denni Proctor
  • Michelle Maynard
  • Amber Curreen (NZ)
2015

The Performing Lines Artist Residency 2015 was held at Tarraleah, 16-18 October. The weekend at Tarraleah saw 22  artists, working across various projects, supported by 4 mentors.

Mentors:

  • Catherine Fitzgerald
  • Martin Del Amo
  • Raimondo Cortese
  • Nicola Heywood

Participants:

  • Aleksandra Mirjana Crossan
  • Alison Wilkes
  • Bryony Geeves
  • Dane Hunnerup
  • Fiona Stewart
  • Glen Murray
  • Heath Brown
  • Holli Gipson
  • Ivano Del Pio
  • Jane Longhurst
  • Jason James
  • Jeff Michel
  • Jordy Gregg
  • Justus Neumann
  • Lucy Pitt
  • Maeve Mhairi MacGregor
  • Mel King
  • Nathan Maynard
  • Robert Maxwell
  • Susan Wallace
  • Thomas Pidd
  • Zeke Guest
2014

The 2014 Performing Lines TAS Residency  was held in October at Tarraleah for a collection of artists, supported supported by 4 mentors and 2 special guests.

Mentors:

  • Dr  Julie-Anne Long
  • Pippa Bailey
  • Raimondo Cortese
  • Stephen Armstrong.

Special Guests:

  • Kate Davis (THE RABBLE)
  • Emma Valente (THE RABBLE)
2013

Due to the success of the first Performing Lines TAS Artist Residency in 2012 that saw numerous new collaborations between artists that had not worked together before, the residency was extended to become an annual event.

The Performing Lines Artist Residency was moved to its home base at Tarraleah. The Artist Residency is an opportunity for resident Tasmanian artists to come together to explore new project ideas with the support of skilled mentors.

2012

In April Performing Lines TAS hosted an Artists Residency on the East Coast of Tasmania for 19 artists working across 17 projects. The artists were supported by 4 mentors and one guest speaker.

Mentors:

  • Raimondo Cortese
  • Jo Duffy
  • Sarah Neal
  • Emily Sexton

Guest Speaker:

  • Moira Finucane

Information for Presenters

The Tarraleah Artist Residency is held annually in locations around lutruwita/Tasmania. For inquiries about the residency contact the team at Performing Lines TAS.

Sinsa Mansell Senior Producer
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Project Partners & Acknowledgements

The Tarraleah Artist Residency is supported by the Tasmanian Government through Arts Tasmania.

In everything we do, we acknowledge that we live on Aboriginal land and constantly learn from the wisdom of First Peoples.

Where we are and the history that precedes us informs how we work and how we move forward.