ARTS QUEENSLAND ANNOUNCES TOPOLOGY AS RASN PROVIDER FOR NORTH QUEENSLAND 2022-2025
Arts organisation Topology will produce artistic projects and develop engagement strategies in remote areas of Queensland as part of RASN.
The Regional Arts Services Network (RASN) is a network of regional arts service providers who, supported by Arts Queensland, will work in collaboration to deliver on-the-ground arts services in communities throughout regional Queensland.
The Queensland government through Arts Queensland has recently announced Topology as the new Regional Arts Services Network provider for North Queensland.
Four new Queensland-based service providers will lead the way in delivering arts-led initiatives across the state through the Regional Arts Services Network (RASN) 2022 – 2025, boosting opportunities for regional communities to access high quality arts and cultural engagement. Joining Topology as Queensland’s new RASN providers are Empire Theatre Toowoomba, Central Queensland University, and Regional Development Australia Tropical North in consortium with Cook Shire Council.
As leaders in the defining aspects of creativity in Australia, Topology has toured internationally, nationally and regionally throughout Queensland for over 25 years, bringing a range of performances, cross artform collaborations and creative programs. Topology’s work is driven by the ethos that everyone has the power to be creative and supports this with their Creative Academy and Growing Creative Communities Programs.
In consultation with regional stakeholders and community members, Topology will service the North Queensland catchment from 2022 to 2025. This will include far and north west communities such as Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Doomadgee and Boulia and as far north as Normanton, Mornington Island, and across the state east to Burdekin, Townsville and Palm Island.
Topology’s relationships with regional communities are at the forefront of everything they do:
“It is always rewarding to spend time in remote communities sharing ideas, creating new works, and at the end just having fun collaborating in performance,” said Topology founder, composer and saxophonist John Babbage. “These relationships with communities, strengthened by ongoing visits, have been our driving force.”
“As a RASN provider we will be building on our resources to expand and deepen the impact of our regional activities.”
“In consultation with regional stakeholders, we will develop a detailed set of goals and objectives to address a range of issues faced by our RASN communities. Our goal is to build from the relationships we’ve made over the last 25 years and develop a vibrant arts sector of regional artists, and to integrate the creative industries to provide connections between communities and solutions to their needs,” said Creative Director and founder Christa Powell. “We will strive to develop initiatives that champion social inclusion, community building and well-being as priorities for community arts”.
Over the 3-year partnership Topology will develop a framework of projects with regional communities, utilising connections to the land through physical pathways. Utilising corridors based on geography, traditional pathways, and transport corridors these physical assets are the links between the communities. Communities that over time have been more connected than ever through technology, and yet disconnected physically and emotionally at the same time. Reconnecting communities through artistic projects will be a key goal.
With beginnings as a contemporary music band performing in Brisbane in 1997, Topology has become established leaders in the arts driving their inclusive creative ethos through adventurous programming, cross artform collaborations and exciting, thought-provoking experiences. Topology’s consistent regional work affirms that regional artists are critical to a vibrant arts sector and a community’s well-being, and to a wholly inclusive arts sector.
More information on Topology’s RASN projects to come soon. To stay updated on our projects, follow us on social media or sign up to our mailing list.
