Leading figures in the creative life of Alice Springs will share their experiences with national and international speakers in Charles Darwin University’s Creative Citizenship symposium at the Araluen Centre this month.
Violinist Jane Coleman, who moved to Alice Springs in 2003, will lead more than two dozen of her students from the Alice Springs Strings chamber orchestra in musical selections as part of the symposium.
Ms Coleman will then team up with guitarist Adrian Walter and cellist Therese O’Brien to present the world premiere of Darwin composer Cathy Applegate’s Rhapsody for a Painted Desert, commissioned by Charles Darwin University.
Alice Springs film-maker Dr David Curl, whose films on landscape and culture in the Top End have been shown around the world, will talk on Creative Economics in the Film Industry. He is also NT president of the Australian Cinematographers’ Society.
Dr Curl will argue that film and television are such powerful forces in shaping our lives, yet governments still tend to regard them as ‘cultural hobbies’ rather than economic powerhouses.
The film theme will continue with panel sessions involving Alice Springs film-maker and production manager Barbara Clifford, Indigenous culture custodian Simon Japanangardi Fisher and Penelope McDonald, the inaugural director of the Northern Territory Film Office.
Experts in the emerging field of study called the Creative Industries will spend two days in the Alice discussing the nature of creativity and the economic and social benefits of unleashing the creative potential of communities.
The seminar is free, although it is preferable to register, either on www.cdu.edu.au/cdss, or email cdss@cdu.edu.au or phone 08 8946 6529.