Instructions - How to win $500...

The ArtsMAP BLOG Competition: supported by the Minter Ellison Youth Arts Foundation is designed for artistic & creative West Australians. If you are 15-25 you are eligible to win $500 if you can creatively answer these three questions:

1. How are you involved in an arts scene/community?
2. What do you like OR what don’t you like about your arts scene?
3. Think big! What arts program would you love to see (for the future)?

You may answer these questions as creatively as you wish by:

Making a Video
Writing a Story
Recording a Song
or Using any other suitable medium

Email your blog entry (with 'ArtsMAP Blog' as subject heading) to suzy@propelarts.org.au by Friday, October 10, 2008. Remember to include your name, age, suburb and email address in the submission. Your blogs will be posted online at www.propelarts.org.au/blog.

Prizes: Winner - $500 cash; two runners up -$250 cash each

Happy Blogging!

ArtsMAP Competition CLOSED!

The ArtsMAP BLOG Competition: supported by the Minter Ellison Youth Arts Foundation is now officially closed.

Thank you to all of you out there across WA who took the time to blog!

Good news is you can still check out the 50 or so best entries below...

We will be announcing the winners by email on the 31st October, 2008.

If you have any further queries about the competition please do not hesitate to contact Suzy via email: suzy@propelarts.org.au

Cheers from the ArtsMAP collective.

Kevin Da Silva, 21, Kardinya

PLAY KEVIN'S SONG NOW!

Composition1new.mp3

Kate Wilson, 21, Bunbury

Nate, 22, Perth

1. How are you involved in an arts scene/community?

In every way and no way. I studied film/performance at Curtin university so I am trained and interested in this field of work. I have written, directed and acted in both film and live performance. Unfortunately it is hard to make any real money this way (why did I study this?! WHY?!) and at present this interest simply remains a 'hobby' in comparison to a 'career' because I can't make a living off it. Luckily my 'actual' (monetary based) jobs are also arts based which keeps me going off the deep end: I am a role-player for Chevron Texaco in their drama based safety programs, I am an actor for Perth Playback Theatre company (who do shows for schools, staff training and development days etc.), I'm a drama tutor for highschool and primary students at Stage Door School of the Arts in Subiaco and I work as bar/front of house staff at the Playhouse Theatre.

2. What do you like & what don't you like about your arts scene?

It's exciting, growing, changing and constantly manifesting upon itself. It's impossible to pin-point and highly unpredictable. This suits me fine because I hate routine. One morning you could be running off to an audition, then work, then another audition ARR! It's a crazy fast paced life style but I love it. The arts scene (more than any other scene I know) greatly reflects and embodies the constant vicissitudes we all face in our lives. At the same time however, what I don't life about the scene is strongly linked to what I do like. Sometimes I think it would be good to have direction. A career. Money. I'm 22 and don't really know what I'm doing at the moment and that worries me. It scares me to think five years from now I could be in the same situation with no real development, yet it remains an ever-growing possibility. I hate the lack of opportinites. Graduate with an engineering/nursing/business degree (etc.) and you will more than likely find a job. Not so in this scene. Upon graduation last year I have found my hard earned double-degree to be completely pointless for creating opportunities as I flounder directionless and spasmic through the Perth arts scene. Maybe next year will be better...

3. Think Big! What arts programs would you love to see in your community?

More mentorship/training programs from industry professionals. The hot bed ensemble and that new artist development program at Deckchair are on the right track but I think every professional theatre company in Perth should be doing this kind of thing (Barking Gecko & Perth Theatre Company for instance). I'm also a keen writer so I think more writing programs/mentorships are a must. For instance hot bed has places for performers and designers but no scriptwriters! (I know they are performing already scripted work but this is an issue they should still address). No wonder there is a distinct lack of new work being produced by young Australian playwrights... I think the Government should support a new program where older, more established playwrights help foster and promote the growth of the new generation. I can tell you from personal experience how soul destroying it is to be stuck behind a desk for months (without pay) only to have your piece promptly rejected without constructive and critical feedback.

Nicole , 24, North Perth

1Dear Perth, stop to think and not deny who you are:
There is a simple life I can know and love
Summer's coming
Invited
Like a long-lost friend returning home
and I can't wait to see.
See how the light's have changed,
how it is now the light of spring?
You can always tell it'll be a warm day
When objects light up before a day begins, and then never seem to end.
The sun's our constant candle that lil' aussies worship.
I would love to wake up early and earlier than that,
To catch the simple glory of a morning after.

Playing hide and seek with the sun
Caught in pockets
Of grand old buildings, applauded by nature.
Trees that could uproot and walk,
thick tousled legs, greeting each other in English Parks.
They shimmy and celebrate when the wind tickles the undercarriage of their boughs,
How they giggle!
I see sunshinin', early morning aura's
Arms around them evening dawning.
Even walls could come alive-
Ol' Panel beaters and Inglewood alleyways
Changing the tome of their bricks in conversation,
Chat chat chatting at the catting-
(Who says they don't feel inspired?)
Beaufort, ML, Leeds and Freo...
grand parks and monster caryards
beach greets
salt lakes and scrublands...

Now we can walk,
Hand in hand
from top to tail of William,
Admiring all that is new and retrofit
In store and on corners,
Everything on the up.
Cranes push through the dirt,
growing like flowers.
Retail, LaLa, Fi+Co, K+L, H+H,
poke your head in and say 'Hello'
Amongst these kids is always someone you know
With a goof-ball smile
Our parents would be proud
some old-school values are still appreciated
Yes Mum, we're getting to know the neighbours.

All we need is more late nights,
to add street value,
because sometimes you don't wanna go home,
you wanna follow the magic of the hours
when the stars flower,
and all those nocturnal follow the Moon...
Do you remember the houseparty
For suburban rockstars only!
Where you sang
The "backstage" room?
You were the only girl...
But the kids were all djs, poets, muso's
Producers of Imagination...

Sometimes restless, Perth,
hearts get agitated
Not on sleeves but on street corners
for something or someone to appear.
Expecting to disappear
to a bigger place, or a better opportunity... where you are either lost or cherished.
I want you to be like that,
It takes a lot of energy sometimes...to quicken the pace.
You are so full of grand ideas,
and I am full of little patience.

The sadness, Dear,
Histories lost, and careless nurture,
So humble, So Fate:
The Nookie,
birth of Bon Scott-
now a retirement village, an era forgot.
Secret gigs,
3 day festivals in Biker's-ville Bindoon
and Rolling Stones spilling into Hay St,
Heritage buildings, The Grosvenor lost
Dear pretty Perth
The youth we are not.

Suzanne Rofe, 24, Nedlands

I write stuff. It is not always great stuff. It’s sometimes funny, it’s sometimes bad, it sometimes makes me reflect that we all have a lot to learn. I write stuff for actors and actresses to say which hopefully makes them look good. I write long and silly descriptions of what a stage should look like. I’ve been known to write Antarctica into the set descriptions. I like to think I keep my poor stage managers on their toes. Keep them challenged. I’m good like that.

ME: You know what? Lets hang chicken coops from the roof!

STAGE MANAGER: You trying to be funny?

I have a thing for self-depreciation and long and involved flights of fancy. The trouble seems to be reining them back enough to avoid ultra-artsy. You know – painting myself red and rolling around on a sheet composed of the outstretched wings of comatose pigeons. Not to say that doesn’t work for some people. Just not me. Ultra-artsy is admirable. And very impressive. But I find myself far too pre-occupied with how this character lisps when they get nervous. And how this character sways a lot more when they think they’re being watched.

I found myself in the middle of the Cultural Centre, not long ago. Being the materialistic consumer that I am, I was on my way down to Keith + Lottie to make little delighted noises at leather journals and babushkas. I passed PICA on the way. There was a picture of a man in a bear suit, out the front, on his hands and knees and doing I don’t know what. I stopped and looked at it, and thought – you know what? That’s an image that grabs me. That is AWEsome. I want to know more about this man in a bear suit. Moving further – I passed the Blue Room. There was a poster out the front – for Duck Duck Goose, featuring a young lady in fifties style underwear with a gas mask and a roast goose. A roast goose, you say? A gas mask, you say? And I stopped and stared, and thought – wow. Who can produce better, more arresting ideas and concepts than this bunch? Who can produce a main image that grabs you by the head and slaps you around the face? I’m a fan of the kind of effort that vies for your attention, instead if sitting back, crossing its fingers across its belly and going, “it’s fine. They’ll turn up.” And it struck me as I wove my way down past the Rechabites Hall – that was it. That’s what’s good about Perth arts. Nothing is lazy, nothing is taken for granted. There’s a kind of devilish recklessness about it all.

I reflected on high school, and how the arts scene had felt like a wasteland for me then. Now, here and looking back, I’ve twigged. Young people – there is stuff happening; there is events, but there isn’t a route of communication to them. So get the teachers in on it, send out the good news to high schools and primary schools everywhere; sing it from the roof – if you want to learn how to walk on stilts and master the trapeze, there are circus schools in Perth. If you want to write theatre, but don’t know how you get them up and running, there are piles of lovely people out there who are happy to tell you how – in Perth. There are bands, there are clubs, and there are opportunities. This city in expanding like an inflating octopus and there are things – things – cropping up everywhere. Things! Who would have thought??

I bought Babushka earrings and a stack of street press publications. I totally recommend the jewelry in there.

SOOP Video Entries

Here are some creative entries from the guys at SOOP.

Port Hedland and South Hedland Video Entries

Here are some more video entries we collected from our trip up North.

ATC South Hedland



Ashwin, 17, South Hedland
Rawson, 16, South Hedland
Laura, 16, South Hedland
Millie, 23, South Hedland

HYLC Port Hedland



Jesse Turner, 15, Port Hedland
Shakira Clanton, 20, Port Hedland
Terence Flowers, 14, South Hedland
Bradley Holder, 17, Port Hedland

Hedland Senior High School



Tay Rusdy, 17, South Hedland
Lisa Nakaora, 17, Port Hedland
Nash Westley, 17, South Hedland
Sandrine Mootoo, 17, Port Hedland



Rachel Dziombak, 17, Port Hedland
Katherine Granquist, 17, Port Hedland
Sarah Denham, 17, Port Hedland
Chloe Hooper, 16, Port Hedland

Laura Williams, 21, Fremantle

I am an artist living in Fremantle, Western Australia. I like to work in a range of mediums - filmmaking, drawing, painting, mixed media and often a combination of all of these. So far I've been involved in markets, exhibitions and competitions - I figure the more I do the better.

The hardest thing I've found so far is that making work and trying to get it out there requires not only a lot of time spent by yourself but also a lot of self-motivation. Without someone telling me what to do and how to do it, it took me a long time to realise that often you just have to throw yourself into things (even when you don't really know what you're doing). Its a situation where every event i've been involved in has been a major learning curve and provided me with a greater understanding of not only how to approach things but also of my own strengths and weaknesses.

I studied Fine Arts, graduating in 2006 and while I loved my experience at University and learnt so much, I think you can encounter a lot of negativity about trying to be an artist often imposed by people not involved in Fine Arts ie. its not realistic, your never going to make any money out of it etc. There were also a lot of practical gaps - how to apply for grants, how to write an exhibition proposal, where to look for employment. At first I found it really easy to give up, thinking it was all too hard and it was only through going to the Hatched Symposium (very much reccomended) and listening to the possibilities as well as the challenges facing practicing artists that I actually realised it could be possible.

I'm certainly not a full-time artist but I've managed to make a bit of money with my work and have definitely sold a lot more than I thought possible 12 months ago. I've also found that if you believe in what you do and really be open to whatever comes your way you can have some pretty amazing experiences and opportunities and aside from the general consensus (of artists having to go over east), people in Perth are really interested in local work.

Something I think that would really benefit young artists in WA is the formation of a group of emerging artists/makers/creative people - to exchange ideas and information, get events happening, act as a support network and as a way of really helping each other get off the ground and creating a really optimistic and encouraging environment to work in.

There is still so much to learn and so many things on my to do list but the most important thing I've realised is that if you want things to happen, no one is going to do it for you but when you start reaping the benefits, the hard work is definitely worth it.

Bree Clarke, 18, Cottesloe

Once upon a time in a kingdom not so far away there was a wanderer who stumbled onto a castle...

But this was not a Disney castle, inane in its perfection. This castle was big and metallic, a castle where the velvet of old theatres met the wrought iron of industrialisation, where on the stage Shakespeare crossed paths with burlesque dance. This castle had no moat, in fact it welcomed anyone inspired to enter, and enter they did, for this space was sacred. Our weary wanderer walked inside.

He found that this castle had many floors above and below, each floor was a space where the arts cooked and stewed, where ideas boiled over. A stage came alive in the basement through the words of plays; old and new... where voiced echoed and rebounded in the dark theatre. Not to be disturbed by the classes above of pottery, and the lounges where the devotees talked and the spurt of the coffee machine sang. Music washed over those who caused the murmur as did the laughter of the musicians. A flute and guitar, the inconsistent rap of drums and shake of a tambourine, drifting down to the people below, in fact as the wanderer climbed the spiral staircase all manner of things could be seen and heard.

Energy existed, pure electricity jumping across the ground and up the walls! Not to be forgotten was the next floor, full of bookcases laden with books and music. And finally after travelling through the levels, entertained and inspired, the stairs lead through the roof. There a stage for loud live music stood. As the distortion flooded through the speakers, people cheered for they were enjoying music in the sky.

Back inside the pleasure did not stop as every sense was catered to, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch were all delighted. Walls and floors were covered with paint and sculptures stood in corners. The movement and rhythm constantly pulsed proving that the castle had a life and soul of its own. So our weary wanderer had found his place, welcomed and warm and he settled down between the bookshelves to read a story beginning with ‘once upon a time…'

Tomás Ford, 25, Fremantle

My electro beats
And hyperactive “antics”
Have gained attention

I make theatre too
And help put on Cottonmouth
For spoken word kids

I like knowing folk
When I talk to arts bodies
They smile and welcome

This city is mine
All my friends and family
My community

Sydney don’t like Perth
No-one hears about our stuff
Like we’re like Hobart

There’s a mining boom
Awesome for suits and bogans
i.e. not my friends

The Man don’t fund us
In any real, helpful way
So it’s hard to eat

Can they give funding
To small companies/artists
To nurture their growth?

Options and chances
Beckon from sunny Melbourne
Chances I could take.

Who am I kidding?
This city is part of me
I can’t divorce it.

I sit in Freo
Comfortable and creating
I’ll stay here I think.

Michale Khouri, 20, Perth

1) My involvement in the art scenes is fairly back seated, I've published a few strips in my University magazine, have a few of my works on display in a building somewhere. My contributions are limited, as while illustrations come easy I have difficulty translating it to digital media.

2) My art type is damn near non existent, for one I've heard of only two people in this state who work in the comic book medium and then its with a company in America. Even with Children's books the art falls more to paint work than the pencil and ink. I like how it's possible to compete using my art style in the foreign market, I just wish there was an Australian market for it.

3) I'd like to see programs dealing with the transition from classic illustratrion to the digital medium. From my own experience, it appears the only options for those of a illustrative mind their only options are to bend to painted mediums, or even less interactive art forms, including computer generated art. What I have learnt about my chosen medium, has mostly been through trial and error.

Briony Barabas, 16, Balga

Everything on this list has happened to either myself or other percussionists in my school’s Concert Band. We’ve recently been to New Zealand and received a Gold Achievement Award. We’ve also recently received an ‘Outstanding’ at the Western Australian School’s Concert Band Festival. Overall, I love being in the Concert Band, and am going to miss it greatly when I leave school.

You know you’re a percussion band geek when…

• You hang out for that one time a week you have permission to beat the crap out of things
• You try to sleep on the xylophone during Presentation Night when you should really be listening to the incredibly boring speeches
• You have fun threatening to hit people with mallets/tambourines/crash cymbals etc…
• You are capable of unscrewing and dropping a suspended cymbal, without realising what you were doing
• You drop the crash cymbals by pushing the stand, and the roll out because they’re round…
• You join the band not being able to read music, and two years later, you still can’t read music
• You love the xylophone but can’t play it due to being unable to read music…
• You stalk your conductor to see his new moustache
• You play the tympani out of tune, but don’t care
• You ignore the band when they’re playing a piece of music that doesn’t involve percussion
• You get jealous seeing someone else using the school’s percussion gear
• You think of the school’s percussion gear as your own
• You name the tympani Tim and Annie
• You spend a year complaining about dodgy mallets, but still use them when you get new ones
• People call you ‘cymbal girl’

• You talk non-stop about percussion to people who don’t care
• The tympani part from ‘The Pines of Rome’ gets stick in your head, which is annoying seeing as it’s the same all the way through
• You listen to music just to point out the percussion instruments
• Before you joined the band you couldn’t tell the difference between a snare drum and a bass drum, and now you kick yourself for being so stupid
• You make jokes to do with percussion
• You name your market stall Noissucrep
• You make shirts with Noissucrep written on them
• You want all your instruments printed on the back of your band jacket, not just ‘percussion’
• You fold pieces of music up into smecksy/smexy hats
• The conductor gives you a name to do with your instrument (e.g Timps, Glock, or if you’re me, Flossy, which doesn’t actually have anything to do with percussion. He just didn’t know my name.)
• You get overly excited at the prospect of sitting behind the tympani
• You believe that the band could not function without you
• You consider yourself to be a metronome
• You have a ‘percussion uniform’ – consisting of your band jacket, fishnet gloves and bright red sunglasses bought at a Rotorua $2 shop
• You have sheet music strewn across your bedroom floor
• You refer to any drum by its proper name – snare, toms, bass
• You pick band over choir any day, much to the displeasure of the choir director, who also used to be Concert Band conductor
• As a thank you present to your conductor for a great trip in New Zealand, you buy him two plastic tambourines and a plastic guitar, and put them in a gift bag that has music on it
• You don’t know how you’ll cope not having band for four weeks in a row
• You watch ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and spend all the time watching the band to see if they have tympani, rather than watching the dancers
• Your conductor is one of your favourite teachers, despite the fact you’ve never had him as a teacher before
• People just don’t understand your obsession with band
• You would never miss after school band practise, even though you have two tests and an assignment due the next day… and you’re going out for dinner, giving you maybe three hours to finish the assignment AND study for the tests
• Crash cymbals hurt your thumbs!!!
• You get told to use a mallet in Woodwork and you immediately think of the fluffy-headed mallets you use on the suspended cymbal
• The choir conductor mentions a ‘percussive effect’ and you think ‘hmm, percussion. Can’t wait ‘til band next week.’
• Your favourite picture in the Interhouse chalk drawing competition is the Durham Knight sitting behind a drum kit drawn by a drummer in the band
• You get bored at school, so start tapping a tympani part in a piece of music you very rarely, if ever, play anymore
• Your favourite instrument in the world is the tympani
• You look at someone, know they’re in the band, know what they play, but don’t know their name
• You fall asleep when the conductor spends 15 minutes working with the clarinet section
• You drop a mallet in a performance and just stand and look at it in shock, thinking, ‘Oh shit.’ Then ‘I really should pick that up.’
• You wear your band jacket everywhere
• You can’t wait ‘til music camp next year
• The best trip you’ve been on was the Concert Band trip to New Zealand
• You’re going to cry when you leave school, because you’re leaving school, gonna miss your friends, and you won’t be in the Concert Band anymore
• You write lists like this chronicling why you’re a percussion band geek!

MORE Hyper Blogs

Cheryl, 19, Coogee
Rebecca Jack, 16, Wanneroo
Liz Day, 24, Maylands
James MacNeil, 24, Inglewood
Nic Westaway, 19, Leederville

Realz Schepis, 17, Busselton

WE ARE THE NEXT GENERATION


Youth

Out There

Unique

Talented

Head on their shoulders

Jordan Nix, 18, Boyup Brook

There was a boy who liked to act
He also liked to write
However since his schooling ended
He got a scary fright.

With a lack of drama in his home town
His drama passions halted
Dreams of lights, stages, camera
The chance had surely bolted.

There was a country music club
Whose festival were the best
he cut his teeth on writing & Rhyming
So he decided to join the rest

He kept his writing fresh
He kept the passion for rhyme
Then the day he gets published
Was only a matter of time.

He ahd success in writing
But the dramatic passion remained
What chances in a country town?
To fit in was to refrain.

But a wish, it could come true
A drama club it would be
A group to write, to act, to bond
To rewrite history.

Other towns had rich acting
The audience cried and jeered
To have that in this country town
For the boy would be revered.

To write, to act, to yell ACTION!
would be an awesome dream
But a place is needed to host
The Boyup Drama Scene!

Ashlee Milkins, 15, Capel

A Reality Not Just a Dream


The curtains open.
Breathe in. Sharp. Quick.
Feel the heat of the spotlight.
Burning Bright
Your painted face makes the scene.
Listen to your voice echo through the hall.
Disembodied from your words.

Eyes flash in the mirror.
Black eyes, rouged cheeks.
Recite the words again.
No audience to tend
Unheard.
Unnoticed.

The spotlight burns once again
Words reverberate through your being,
Surging out into the crowded space.
Breathe in. Take a bow. Exhale.
Stand proud and strong.
Hear applause. Feel applause.

Jacob Evans, 20, Bridgetown

I am involved in my arts scene my joining the local theatre, in the pantomime. I am also going to a drawing and painting night class. With my visual art I have managed to create a few designs which I sell at local shops and markets.

I enjoy painting and drawing as it is totaly different to my job (it is relaxing). With the theatre, after being out of it for a few years, it is a great buzz to be back on stage. You also get to meet a great range of people.

In my local town I would like to see more classes teaching traditional painting eg. landscapes, portraits etc. In regards to the theatre it would be great to know how I could continue to act full time. Plus I would like to see more dancing and singing programs where you could learn all different styles.

Hyper Festival Blog Entries...

Charni, 20, Innaloo
Nathaniel, 24, South Perth
Katie, 15, Perth
Mark, 16, Mandurah
Sarah, 25, Joondanna

More Hyper Festival Blog Entries

More great blog entries from Hyper Festival 08!

Remember you don't have to make a video entry to enter - you can supply written answer, song or even script!




Aidan Edwards, 18, Shenton Park
Fiona McCheyne, 17, Beechboro
Travis Coyle, 19, Kingsley
Rachel, 16, Craigie
Lilli, 16, Craigie

Kyle, 17, Rossmoyne

I am part of a circus crew and we do flips and flop, hipping to the hop. I want to see more inspiration, aspiration, a better nation of ART. I want to get new things to START, I want people like me to see, how E-Z it can B. That there is Cre-8-iv-it-E in every space, that all you need is a place and a CHANCE. I want a mentor to look up to and I want someone to follow me. I want side-by-side assistance, I want productivity. If I had all the money in the world I'd give it back, it's just your attitude that matters. And sure, when people like my skills that flatters, but what I really need is an audience to see, just what we all could B, with Cre-8-iv-it-E.

Tameka, 20. Perth

I have grown up in dancing and drama classes. Since leaving school I have no longer pursued these classes or jobs. I feel that Perth lacks the 'accessibility' of dance and drama performances. Very rarely are plays and productions made known and accessible to the wider public.

Melissa, 22, Cunderdin

When i go outside i see the stars twinkling for miles around me. I hear the sounds of the crickets and mosquitoes in the tree's and the thump of the cat across the street landing on the shed roof. All around me is all consuming darkness because a streetlight is not to be found on this street, even a torch offers little pathway through the night. Country night life is a beautiful, empty thing. There is no colour, no variation and no interaction save for the local watering hole. No bands, no music, no art, no experimentation, no alternativism. Nothing but the day to day monotony of work, eat and sleep - a monotony that continues into the weekends. To seek adventure and variety we drive for hours to the place of light, love and languid lines where the galleries, museums, streets and performances feed our souls.

Alone in the country, alienated from art. I feel like I'm missing out at some point, of the world and its depression, brightness, sadness and shine.

Gary, 25. Marangaroo

Its the art, not the exhibition, whats written not read, frozen on the doorstep of your beloved. I cycle into town and the freewheels sing like crickets. the sunset in Hyde Park and that twilight airport feeling, had to collapse, i'd been up a mountain too long, sweating fever, the sweetheart fever, that after head space where your bones dissolve and mornings swell in the mantra of sun lit curtains. beside the water i lit up and dreamt of asking Sarah, flux you fly girl from years back ,just what becomes of these dreams built on scenes? With a thick Glasgow accent she tells me that even our dying is narcissistic, - don't think of it as a popularity contest. Try and witness yourself. If you are true to yourself you will be special in your own way.' I feel the affirmation push out my chest and I head onwards to Spectrum, down Beaufort street that beautiful 80's airbrushed boulevard of broken dreams.

Inside I meet Brad, another friend from days of the beautifully ram shackled spirit of the painting sheds at SOCA, a school that's got it right, that puts play before polish. Its a Broken Sound night and he's backing on cello for rabbit island, who pull out a rare bedroom-baked warmth that captures like an over-exposed Polaroid. Later I'm introduced to the singer, the beautiful Amber. I confess to goosebumps and the boys are cheeky and rip air guitars behind her back. i know everyone would agree if not hiding behind black sunglasses.

A drone outfit follow and proceed in mashing our heads into a fine paste. I see watery people around me dilating in their own secret aural sex and i suddenly feel so privileged to be part of this great show of uncommercial genius. It feels almost like it's ours, secret, but its not, its just not popular, because the best things about it, the really beautiful parts, are totally unmarketable!' -I'm bellowing into Brads ear. He agrees, 'the middle class goes to paradise!' he shouts back, hands cusped together and opening like a flower.

I find five bucks in my pocket and get another cup of wine. Ben floats in favourite uncle styles and we contemplate the shack next door, covered in some demented graf like acid fungal blooms. the bands are packing and I'm flirting on the verges of people I don't know, feeling a little monosyllabic. I drift off thinking of the consistent sweet ones Ive had at Spectrum over the years and what a space like this represents as an uncharted realm of the academy, breaking a widely held taboo by including people not yet out of art school, avoiding the worthy in favor for the wacky and giving young artists the breathing space to think out-loud and make footholds (however lofty) outside the prevailing sprawl of cookie-cutter ommercial galleries. Then I think of the new breed of 'urban gallery' you see all around William street now who rightly do connect street art and fashion to the wider arts scene to some degree but which seem stuck on reevaluating the decorative as a kind of modest formalism - something starting to seem an overplayed line by now in the worst sense.

the Kuta she once knew as paradise, sunsets which lingered on seventies string bikinis and blow wave hairstyles, now a tourist resort for westerners who wear '10 things not to do in Bali' t-shirts.

Back to the smutty, cut-throat, Qantas media-award winning local journalism, of course then there's those galleries like Breadbox and Pica, the muscle of the more conceptual, politically conscious, more worked-out end of the scale. Reliably rut-a-tut-tut, both these galleries have a standard they keep consistent, progressive but invariably narrowed to nationalistic themes. I wasn't surprised when past applications to both of these spaces were rejected, man sometimes you just wish they'd show the kind of work that doesn't belong there, the kind that don't-quite-know-where-I'm-going-with-this.


ah finally jay and we're at Brad's on the rooftop with a neon steeple near. We laugh of the songs that keep coming and how the grit will someday make pearl. Some random sake enters the equation and for some time we poke at all this pinnacle bullshit in the art scene lately. I tell him i like it when its animal nature and humble like tonight, closer to the earth and out running the duke.

Katherine, 21. Coolbinia

Me? My art is baking
the simple art of creating
divine concoctions
That is my life's dedication

And these are no humble cakes!

chocolate vanilla banana or berry
gateau tart cheesecake torte pudding or pie,
eclair brownie cupcake muffin: I give them all a try

Mes gateaux will well treat
any tooth whose preference is sweet

Yes I love the art of Caking It Up
icing the top
plain, my cakes are not:
introducing the sprinkles, the cachous, the lettered piping
colourful and beautiful and perfect

Ready for what comes next:

The eating!
Oh happy day

But you see the only thing is,

It's only me who strongly believes
the fine line of how the is "art"

I's love to see
more chances to bake my part
some comps, cool courses?
...and where can I exhibit my edible art?

Hyper Festival - Video Blogs, 31st August

Here are the first round of entries for the ArtsMAP competition, taking by our roving cameras at Hyper Festival! Remember you don't have to make a video entry to enter - you can supply written answer, song or even script!




Nick Pendergrast, 24, East Victoria Park
Jo Harvey, 17, Busselton
Ernesto Elias, 17, High Wycombe
Ryan Lake, 21, Mandurah
Katelyn Brandenberg, 17, Connolly