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Varuna: $815K for new ‘accessible venue’; Arts NT fellowship recipients

Varuna will add a new multi-purpose building to its grounds after receiving $815,827 funding for the project as part of the NSW government WestInvest Community Grants Project.

Varuna said the new building will provide ‘an accessible venue, workshop, and office space as part of Varuna’s commitment to increased community engagement, diversity and inclusivity’, and that there would be no changes to the existing buildings at Varuna.

Varuna executive director Veechi Stuart told Books+Publishing the impetus for the new building ‘came from wanting to connect more with community for events such as readings and book launches, while preserving the quiet space of the house for writers in residence’.

‘We also really needed an accessible bathroom for visitors and staff, as well as more office space (the staff of Varuna currently work from the old garden shed, which is not only very small but can be bitterly cold in winter).’

Stuart said the grant was one-off infrastructure funding for the building and that Varuna’s ongoing operational funding would continue to come from a combination of government funding via Create NSW and Australia Council, project funding, residency and program income, donations and box office income.

‘We foresee that this project will build on the existing cultural wealth of Varuna from being a residential asset enjoyed by relatively few, to being a place that all members of the community can enjoy,’ said the organisation. ‘It marks the next exciting phase in Varuna’s contribution to a vibrant future for Australian literature alongside the Writer’s Festival in October.’

Varuna anticipates building will start late this year and be completed by mid-2024.

Arts NT & Varuna Fellowships announced

In related news, the nine recipients of its Arts NT & Varuna Fellowships, chosen from 34 applications, have been announced. Three will take place in-house at Varuna, with six residencies undertaken online by way of virtual programming and mentorship.

The in-house residency recipients and their works are:

  • Dani Powell, with ‘The Weight of Birds’, ‘a literary fiction that follows a boy, his mother, and the plight of birds, as they try to put the world back together again’
  • Kalem Murray, with ‘Frayed Threads’, ‘a fantasy novel taking place in the city of Deadmanning, where a young Aboriginal man caught up in the underworld must face his own demons while shedding light on the creatures from the dark’
  • Leah Ginnivan, with ‘Delicate Tropical Flower’, ‘an experimental work of narrative nonfiction/memoir exploring the landscape of grief, care, culture and the natural world’

The virtual/online residency recipients and their works are:

  • Alex Eve, with ‘On Being Lotus and Crow’, ‘a memoir reflecting on the dark chaos of burnouts, breakdowns and alcoholic rock bottom, where a woman confronts her long-forgotten childhood and uncovers a truth that saves her’
  • Dave Clark, with ‘Equipped for Grief’, ‘a narrative nonfiction work looking for better ways to cope with grief by wrestling through the author’s sorrows after his dad dies of cancer’
  • Emma Trenorden, with ‘high fire danger’, ‘poems that respond to photos of the 2019/2020 Australian bush fires’
  • Kylie Stevenson, with ‘Confrontation’, ‘a historical novel about a journalist who stumbles upon information about her father’s involvement in a top-secret war in Malaysia in the 1960s’
  • Leonie Norrington, with ‘A Piece of Red Cloth’, a pre-colonial work of fiction set in Arnhem Land in the 1600s written at the request and under the supervision of the Yolngu story custodians
  • Prasha Sooful, with ‘Life on this Planet’, a young adult novel where a young girl must bring two worlds together before the past catches up with the present’.

Funding from Arts NT provides the three in-house writers with support for travel, accommodation and manuscript consultations, and all writers will receive mentoring and one-on-one consultations to develop and progress their new works.

 

Category: Local news