GEELONG COVID-19 ARTS RECOVERY ADVISORY PANEL (G-CAR) ANNOUNCED

Posted 14 May 2020

GEELONG COVID-19 ARTS RECOVERY ADVISORY PANEL (G-CAR) ANNOUNCED

Individual artists and arts sector representatives were invited to register their interest to participate as members of a new advisory committee for the City of Greater Geelong: the COVID-19 Arts Recovery Advisory Panel (G-CAR).

Geelong COVID-19 Arts Recovery (G-CAR) has been established by the City of Greater Geelong to hear first-hand from the panel, who all work across the arts, cultural, entertainment and heritage sectors to understand how the pandemic is affecting professional practices.

The recovery panel will help the City respond with new insights and programs designed to support the healing, strengthening and future evolution of our creative communities.

As the City of Greater Geelong continues in its efforts to help residents and the broader community impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19), the City has appointed twenty-one leading cultural and creative practitioners to the Geelong COVID-19 Arts Recovery (G-CAR) Advisory Panel. The decision to support the Arts community was taken by Council at the 14 April meeting by allocating $20,000 towards the new committee’s operations.

The panel represent a broad cross-section of the arts sector including a mix of:

Artists & arts workers
Gender balance
First Nations representation
Industry expertise & experience
Regional Representation (Geographic and Arts Sector)
Professionals, NFPs and Institutions
Demographics
Diversity

“Thank-you to everyone who has put their hand up to join G-CAR and help shape the arts and culture industry’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic at a local level. The panel contains a lot of experience and knowledge, and together will be well placed to come up with ideas to help the sector bounce back.

We look forward to receiving G-CAR’s recommendations and continuing to work with the sector to help support the many wonderful creatives in our region as they look to get back up and running.” – City of Greater Geelong, Acting Mayor, Kylie Grzybek.

“The impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on the arts and culture industry has been absolutely devastating. Here in Geelong, our performance venues, art galleries, libraries, and live music venues have all been forced to close, and the cancellation of major events such as Geelong After Dark have also hit hard.

The council is determined to support the arts and culture community as they begin the process of re-establishing their businesses and livelihoods. The formation of G-CAR is an important first step, and with the quality and variety of people appointed I’m sure they’ll help us gain a strong understanding of how we can best assist from here.” – Cr Trent Sullivan, Chair – Arts, Culture and Heritage portfolio.

The Panel is as follows:

Hugo Armstrong – Bay City Events/ The Blues Train

Mark Beasley – Geelong Heritage Centre Collection & Services

Michael Chan – Performance Artist

Christine Davey – Skin Of Our Teeth Productions

Corinna Eccles – Wadawurrung Elder

Cormach Evans – Strong Brother Strong Sister/Ngarrimili

Matthew Gardiner – Ars Electronica Futurelab

Ren Inei – Boom Gallery

Esther Koning Oakes – Community Artist

Luisa LaFornara – Pako Festa

Bronwyn Lawson – Blue Bird Foundation