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Interview with Angharad Wynne-Jones, Creative Producer at Arts House
We chat to Angharad Wynne-Jones about her job as Creative Producer and the 2012 Arts House program.
Tell us about your role at Arts House; what does a typical day as a creative producer look like?
I cycle into work on my beautiful fold up bike — so that after a knock out show at Arts House I can hop on tram to go home if it's raining!
I get together with the amazing Arts House team — Olivia Anderson and Jackie Johnston — the Associate Producers, and Bianca Durrant who has just joined us on the audience engagement and communications area and we'll check in on what's in the House this week and what's coming up, adding to our giant To Do list.
We'll share responses to work we've seen (or great food we've eaten, walks we've had, or conversations we've overheard i.e. gossip).
I'll grab a coffee from one of the many fab new places opening up in North Melbourne, without a doubt the undiscovered cool suburb of Melbourne, and hit the web researching artists, partners and, of course, funds.
Then lots of meetings with artists to hear about their next projects and how Arts House can help them with development and presentation support and some of the contexts they might like to think about placing their work in, like Going Nowhere, our international event happening without anyone getting on a plane, or in, maybe, Dance Massive, happening again in March 2013.
And we'll check in with the production and administration teams, on logistics and technical aspects of the program, making sure we making the most the considerable support of the City of Melbourne and our truly iconic venues.
Season 1 2012 is referred to as "woven by many hands"; what does this mean?
Well, the way that the Arts House program gets created involves a number of amazing people and partnerships and whilst all the work is exciting, risky and pushes the boundaries of form. The diversity of the offerings is a celebration of artists collaborating.
For instance this season includes four new works selected by the advisory panel from the presentation grants round and a long term development between Byron Perry and Frontier Dance in Singapore in May. Olivia Anderson, Associate Producer, fell in love worth Dewey Dell at Torino in 2011 and Arts House fell in love (again) with our festival partners Next Wave.
We asked the Brisbane Powerhouse what they were doing this year and Sarah Neal from the World Theatre Festival in Brisbane invited us to consider British artists Il Pixel Russo and we jumped at the opportunity to present the work in our series of intimate adventures (Triage Live Art Collective and Fish and Game) and make the most of that carbon footprint.
What are some of the pieces that you’re most looking forward to this season and why?
Well of course that almost impossible to answer as I am looking forward to everything, but I am really excited to see Ros Warby's new work, which opens our season on Wednesday February 22. She is one of Australia's most extraordinary dance makers, creating work that is technically breathtaking, brilliantly instinctual and with a team of super talented creators (filmmaker and lighting designer Margie Medlin and composer Helen Mountford) who have collaborated together for many years.
We open our new Warehouse space and Rachel Maza will be curating a night of performance on World Environment Day in June and Solstice, the legendary three-minute performance challenge with a host of Melbourne artists to celebrate the longest night.
What drew you to independent performing arts?
I love being surprised, challenged and the feeling that I am part of an experience where culture is being created, where artists are taking on the social and political challenges of the world and really dealing with them in content and or in form - I have the sense that me being there is important to them and to the work.
For those who may be new to this type of performance work, what can they expect in this season's programming?
There's a host of great dance makers — Ros Warby, Anthony Hamilton, Melanie Lane, Tim Darbyshire, Byron Perry — all unearthing something strange and profound. Then a series of very intimate performances to do on your own (when do you get chance to be alone with someone else's imagination?)
The Suitcase Royale are a musical, theatrical romp which will have you laughing, or go behind the scenes with NYID and their collaboration with Korean artists Wuturi.
Next Wave is full to the brim of the next generation of performance makers to shape our worlds, and Liquid Architecture's sound artists get us listening.
So if you are a little bit curious and adventurous, if you like being in the thick of it or on the edges, Season One has plenty to offer...