Making Brown’s Mart and the surrounding Civic Park a home for an eclectic range of activities and events has been no easy undertaking. It’s not all YouTube, joining facebook groups and debates on the latest mash up of Demis Roussos and Lady Gaga singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with a well timed cameo by an ever interrupting Kayne West. This dedicated group of young people hope that EPIC CENTRAL sets a trend that will see more central public spaces made available for activities by young people for young people.

Chantelle Dobunaba, a 16 years old student from Kormilda College, is balancing the heavy commitments of the final year of the International Baccalaureate (IB) with both YAG and EPIC CENTRAL. Chantelle says “we were inspired by Fringe at the Bank, at last year’s Darwin Festival. We want to create a fun space for young people, by young people, where we can hang out with our friends and do … stuff”.

Chantelle is particularly proud of creating Darwin’s first youth Swap Meet happening on Sunday 12 April where people are encouraged to “bring in stuff they want to swap and swap it with other people who have stuff to swap. It is not just for guys in green cardigans with boxes of rare German, small gauge train sets – but they are welcome too”.

Supported by professional staff at CIYA and Darwin City Council the young production team are providing a program that encourages the public to get involved. Jane Tonkin of Corrugated Iron says “EPIC CENTRAL is not a passive space; we want young people to come in and create music, art, leave a video message on the issue of the day or just bake a cake”. Kadek, 22, says “It really gives an opportunity in a cost effective way for young people to show what they can do without the hassle of organising a venue by themselves”.

Every aspect of EPIC CENTRAL has been driven by young people. The young people involved have done everything from design the badges, program the activities on the best nights and educated the slightly older youth workers on shuffling. Don’t know what it is? Put “shuffling” into a YouTube search engine; it is crazy awesome. The kind of thing Michael Jackson might have done if he had spare time, a handy-cam, a baggy tracksuit and a paved backyard in Wagaman.

Offering a raft of activities over the entire week of National Youth Week, EPIC CENTRAL will open everyday from 3 pm with live music, arts activities, film nights, MC battles and a café. Culminating with the BIG GIG on Saturday 17 April, this year featuring animation workshops, local bands Crassic Park, Enth Degree and fresh from the Big Day Out Queensland group Black Market Rhythm Company. A collaboration between CIYA and Darwin City Council, EPIC CENTRAL & THE BIG GIG has been made possible through significant funding from beyondblue, the Northern Territory Government’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and the Office of Youth Affairs. All participation at EPIC CENTRAL is free and open to all young people.

When: 3pm EVERYDAY 10 – 17 Apr.
Where: Brown’s Mart & surrounding civic park.

with Aly de Groot and the Beautiful Beasts

Aly de Groot takes the clichéd sentiment “art is what you make of it”, and turns it on its head: art is what you make it from.

Aly’s art is made of stuff. Lots of stuff. Natural pigments, plant fibres, fishing line, old tyres – in fact, just about anything that can be found or harvested, whether it’s from a tree, a rock, a junk pile or a kitchen sink. Aly uses anything and everything she can to create and design art of both aesthetic and functional beauty. From sculptures to clothing to handbags to abstract photographic experiments, which, she claims, “reflect upon the social, political and personal to mourn the overlooked and celebrate the discarded.”

Aly recalls how she got started, weaving natural plant fibres.

“A broken-down vehicle in 1994 at the Merrepen Arts Festival in Daly River serendipitously made this visit a longer stay. It was in this ‘slow down’ time that my eyes were first opened to the remarkable skill possessed by Indigenous basket makers from the Top End who use a myriad of plant dyes and fibres to make mats, sculpture, bags and baskets.”

In a solo exhibition called “Signs”, Aly used box jellyfish as a metaphor for the fragility of marine ecosystems.

“The object was a direct response to my surroundings and what was happening in my life at the time,” she explains. “I made it as I had just bought a house and was experiencing mixed emotions of excitement and apprehension of my new found domesticity. I had spent most of my life previous to that living on the outskirts of the city or travelling. Dish Pig questions human concepts of security and our inclination to overlook the magnificence of the mundane – not to forget the endless joy found in washing the dishes which themselves seem endless,” she laughs.

Aly is becoming increasingly celebrated for her work, and since completing her Masters in Visual Art in February has become an art teacher at Darwin Corrections Centre. She has also won numerous prestigious awards including third prize in the “object and sculpture” category of the Waterhouse Natural History Art Award at the South Australia Museum in July, and was selected to represent the Territory at the “Design Island” art and design sustainability conference in Tasmania this year.

Aly’s Dish Pig now resides in the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s permanent collection, and features in the current “Beautiful Beasts” exhibition, which celebrates the animal world through artwork. The pieces on show all come from the Museum’s own archive.

Beautiful Beasts is drawn entirely from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s permanent collection, including works by Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian artists, as well as Indonesian and Papua New Guinean artists. The Museum hopes to “create a conversation between artworks and across cultures.”

MAGNT will be hosting a variety of activities for all ages over the wet season, including the “Children’s Trail”, a self-guided family activity. Thursdays will host the “Outback Art Tour” through the Beautiful Beasts and Supercrocodilians exhibits, and on Friday mornings, toddlers can get involved in the “Little Explorers” for story time and hands-on activities.

Date and times for all these activities can be found through the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory’s website at www.magnt.nt.gov.au.

I met the band at a bar in town to have a chat about their experiences in getting to this point. Fliz, Gus and ‘O’ Zee – all vocalists and producers of Pott Street’s music (along with instrumentalist and vocalist Mandy ‘Dizzle’ Garling, who wasn’t able to make it) – were obviously still riding high on the wave of their recent successes.

“Winning those awards was just fantastic,” explains Gus. “It’s one thing to be nominated and to be there. But to win – I mean, there was some great competition, and we got to see some of the competition perform – they were just fantastic. But to win that award in that category, just blew our minds. We were so surprised after the Emerging Act Award that we were off out the back celebrating when they called out the Touring Award – we totally missed it.”

It is sheer persistence that has brought them to this point. “The name Pott Street came from the street itself in Moil, that’s where we grew up,” remembers Fliz fondly. “We were friends first, all of us big hip hop fans, and we just grew into a band after a while. When the digital revolution allowed us to start recording stuff on our computers – that pushed us to start creating for ourselves and our friends.”

And from creation to promotion, they’ve always been on the cutting edge, using technology the best that they can to get their name out there. Gus sums up how important and useful it can be.

“The internet is an ever-changing platform that allows you to promote yourself, whatever new tools come up, we’ll use them. One minute it’ll be Twitter, the next minute it’ll be something else. We just like to keep in touch with people however we can. Pott Street has family all over the place, and we like to communicate with them however we can.”

Pott Street group shot

And supporting the younger generation of hip-hop artists is also something that falls under family responsibility. “I think there’s a lot more local and indigenous music that people can look up to these days. There’s bigger groups having success, so younger bands who are starting out can see there’s successes to be had. And we’re doing our best to help them – whether it’s sharing beats, remixing songs, getting them up onto the same stage as us – whatever helps.”

Right now though, the band is just enjoying the exposure.

“We’re gonna keep paddling, waiting for the big wave. The album should be out by the end of the year. We’ll keep going with the momentum from the Indigenous Music Awards, and we’re looking forward to the tour next year through Artback NT.”

Artists: David Collins, Daniel Roque Lee (Gullawan), Walter Barrett and Donovan Fantasia; © Photo: Jacqui Sneddon

A sign by Larrakia traditional owners welcomes visitors to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) on Bullocky Point.

It is the words of Gary Lee, an academic and artist whose cultural heritage gives a succinct snapshot of Top End history over the past 150 years – and beyond.
Born in 1952, he is one of eleven children who grew up immersed in a diverse artistic and culinary lifestyle, at a time when most Australians considered spaghetti bolognaise a rather exotic dish.

The ethnic mix includes Larrakia, Filipino, Japanese, Scottish, Chinese and Wardaman backgrounds.

“From each of our grandparents we gained a love of food,” enthuses Lee. “We would be out bush eating kangaroo, the next day, sushi … we had separate Chinese bowls and Japanese bowls for eating.”

His ten siblings include Billawara, the eldest, who headed the NT Indigenous Arts Unit; Roque, an artist who has work exhibited in MAGNT and the National Museum; artists Tony and Ian, the 2008 NAIDOC art award winners for their collaborative work; cook Danella; artist Jason; and sister Tina (Lee) Baum, a current curator at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

Gary & Mary Lee, photo by Francine Chinn

“We got our artistic streak from our father, and our mother is also very creative,” Gary Lee muses. “Both parents really.”

“Father was well known around Darwin for his graphic designs and logos which he did in his spare time.”

These apparently included signs on the outside of the original Darwin Fire Service, now lost, and many other businesses.

After studying fashion in Sydney, Gary Lee returned to the Northern Territory and became a trainee Aboriginal arts advisor with Chips Mackinolty at Mimi Arts in Katherine in the mid 1980’s.

This was the beginnings of his career as curator and anthropologist.

“We used to travel and work with artists from the Kimberley, down to Lajamanu, across to Borroloola, Numbulwar, out to Bulman (Wugularr) and north to Pine Creek,” says Mackinolty. “It was an area bigger than Victoria.”

“Gary was a really skilled arts advisor with a fantastic rapport with artists. They would come from the desert, all the way to the Gulf.”

During this time Lee and Mackinolty co-curated a ground breaking 1984 exhibition titled Bukngarru: An exhibition of Aboriginal feathered craft featuring around 200 pieces of Top End fibre and body adornment art which ‘took Sydney by storm’. In the following year they again collaborated on Aboriginal Artists of the Katherine Region, held at the Aboriginal Arts Australia Gallery, Sydney.

In 1993 Gary wrote a play ‘Keep Him My Heart: A Larrakia-Filipino Love Story’ about his great-grandparents, which was performed in the Tank at Darwin High School and is still well remembered by local audiences.

Asked if growing up in the Darwin environment helped nurture these artistic tendencies, Lee does not hesitate.

“Absolutely,” he says.

“As kids we were encouraged to draw, and with the environment, you didn’t need much inspiration. Everything was around you. “We took it for granted.”

“But looking back, I see how fortunate we were.”

Mackinolty puts it in his usual style, “When you look at the Lee family, it’s the rhetoric of multiculturalism made real.”

“They embody what it is to be a Darwinite.”

So you’re spending a week in Darwin doing some shows and workshops in early September before heading down to NSW for a week and then back up to Darwin again before you start your community tour on the 14th. It must be a fairly hectic lifestyle – how do you feel about it?

Life is full and we have got what we asked for so the best thing is to just embrace it! It is a grand task maintaining a long term sustainable career creating only original music while continually raising the bar both professionally and personally… keeping our eye on the prize takes commitment to our ‘busyness’ and it sure helps to be drug and alcohol free. It’s fulfilling because we get fed on many levels doing exactly what we love and that’s living by the creative process.

How did you get started touring and doing workshops in remote and regional towns and communities?

Touring our music is something we have always done and workshops grew out of our desire for a sustainable musical career. We have years of experience now , so working in remote communities is for us another opportunity to share the skills we have to offer.

We actually live ‘with’ community as Kaeleen’s children come from the Djabugay Community in Kuranda in far north QLD on the Atherton Tablelands. We have moved in and out of this community for almost 30 years so living and working with mob is part of our life style. The opportunity for this NT tour came from connecting with the crew at Artback NT and seriously they have just been awesome at making this next tour happen.

Mettaphor: Kaeleen Hunter and Angelika Heinrich

Live Vibe Music is our workshop tag and really our aim at every workshop is to create a vibey live thing! Our intention is to facilitate workshop participants to do their thing so there are no limits really – whatever they create is all go regardless of participant base, using Logic 8 and the whole loops thing means it doesn’t matter if you are a gifted musician or not – the pallette is full!

In an average year, how long do you think you spend out-and-about on the road?

We tend to spend 4-6 months on the road in a year, and this is actually just growing having now discovered the Top End touring over the last couple of years – luvit. Even when we are home on the east coast we are often moving up and down so travelling and playing is our thing.

Where will your workshops be held this tour? I understand you are working especially with women in these communities?

Our workshops are being held in seven communities, Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Minyerri, Yirrkala, Nhulunbuy, Maningrida and Groote Eylandt.

This is a women centred project – focused on women and facilitated by women creating the opportunity to access technology in a musical context.

Off the Leash Cover Image, Mary-Anne Butler

Harriet has been holed up in Half Way – a town which is 200km either side of anything. “You can drive that way for a day and not meet another vehicle,” explains Mary Anne, who was influenced to write the play based on a night spent in a regional homestead. “I became intrigued about what would motivate anyone to live so remotely, and in such a small place. And my answer to that is that Harriet is hiding from something. In this case, her past, which has locked her down in grief.” Yet Half Way There is a comedy.

“It’s about how we move through grief,” Mary Anne surmises. “How some people get stuck in grief for half a lifetime, and – ultimately – it’s a story of hope, in terms of there being something moving us on”.

Cast of Half Way There

Half Way There is a collaborative production between Darwin’s Knock-em-Down Theatre, JUTE Theatre in Cairns, Darwin Theatre Company and the Darwin Festival. All four partners have committed considerable funds and ‘in-kind’ support towards the production. “This has been fabulous for me as a local writer, because there is no way that such things can happen up here without this sort of collaboration. The combined resources mean that as well as being part of Darwin Festival, the play gets an interstate 9-week tour, and that’s just wicked. It has also been shortlisted for some national initiatives – which has given me a big boost, and fed into my confidence in terms of my belief in Half way There, and also in terms of writing the next one!”