The Adelaide Festival Corporation and the Helpmann Academy for the Visual & Performing Arts have created a partnership to provide an outstanding opportunity for emerging artists during the Adelaide Festival 2010 Artists’ Week. Applications are now open for the Adelaide Festival 2010 Artists Week/Helpmann Academy workshop program.

The program offers up to 36 emerging artists the chance to take part in professional workshops with major international artists presented in the Visual Arts Program of the 2010 Adelaide Festival.

Emerging artists selected by the Helpmann Academy for the program will be given the opportunity to engage with international artists Lucy + Jorge Orta, Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani, Tara Donovan Studio and theorist and critic Geert Lovink. These once-in-a-lifetime workshops will focus on current practice in the contemporary visual arts and culture.

“One of the Academy’s initiatives is our international residency program, enriching the work of emerging South Australian artists by exposing them to different cultures and arts practices, particularly in India and China,” says Alison Dunn, Helpmann Academy CEO. “Through the Artists’ Week workshop program emerging artists will be given that cross-cultural experience with leading artists, right in the centre of one of Australia’s flagship cultural events. We are delighted the Adelaide Festival has worked with us to make this program possible, as we know the effects are likely to be long term and very powerful, both for the individual artists and for the creative future of South Australia.”

“In celebration of the Adelaide Festival’s 50th year, 2010 marks a new direction for the Visual Arts Program. With a substantial exhibition program and the new look Artists’ Week 2010, the Festival will bring over 80 international and Australian artists and speakers to Adelaide. This workshop program is a unique opportunity for emerging artists to gain invaluable experience with internationally acclaimed artists during their visits,” says Victoria Lynn, Visual Arts Curator of the 2010 Adelaide Festival.

The Artists’ Week workshop program is open to final-year students and artists within three years of graduation from a Helpmann Academy partner school and all current JamFactory Associates. Students from Australian equivalents of a Helpmann Academy partner school will be eligible to apply for the Geert Lovink workshop. Artists engaged in stage design, jewellery, stage/costume design and cinematography will also be encouraged to apply for these highly sought-after workshops.  

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