MIX IT UP
Sing Sing
MIX IT UP
Our Backyard
Sing Sing
MC Momo from DiafrixCome and join us MIX IT UP!
MIX IT UP is a unique partnership project of Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV) and the Arts Centre designed to stimulate new work, to reach potential new audiences in non English speaking background communities and to attract existing mainstream Arts Centre audiences to quality culturally diverse product.
View MIX IT UP Slideshow of events Multicultural Arts Victoria & The Arts Centre win Melbourne Award 2007 for MIX IT UP!
Multicultural Arts Victoria and the Arts Centre won the Melbourne Award in the Corporation Division, for contribution to community, for our unique and significant MIX IT UP! program. The Melbourne Awards identify and celebrate significant contributions which shape the future of Melbourne and inspires others. The awards are coordinated by the City of Melbourne...more.
Leadership & Excellence Awards
Arts Portfolio Leadership Award
Excellence in Multicultural AffarsThe Mix It Up Program has won an Arts Portfolio Leadership Award in the category of Leadership in Public Programs. The Award was presented by the Hon Lynne Kosky, Minister for the Arts. This is third award the program has received , the Victorian Government recognised Mix It Up for Excellence in Multicultural Affairs at a ceremony held at Government House.
What is Mix It Up?
Multicultural Arts Victoria and the Arts Centre developed the unique partnership during 2006 to create and deliver the inaugural MIX IT UP program. The planned continuation of the MIX IT UP program over the next three years will produce and present a multi-layered high quality program that is inclusive of all and celebrates Australia’s rich diversity. As part of this evolution, MIX IT UP will engage with other strategic partners to achieve the optimal outcomes for the program.
The Mix It Up program was devised specifically to celebrate Victoria’s cultural diversity and shared heritage. The pilot project in 2006 employed and presented an extra-ordinary range of local, national and international artists (800 in total) from 23 nationalities over 96 events and attracted a total attendance to major events of 47,000 plus a further 113,000 to the Meeting Place Keeping Place Exhibition - a total attendance of 160,000.
From the outset, it was the intention to collaborate extensively with Multicultural Arts Victoria and to establish a successful audience development and partnership model that has potential nationally.
Mix It Up programming explored contemporary interpretations of performing arts from a range of traditions and influences. It aimed to engage Victorian artists and communities with key national and international artists in creating vibrant and culturally rich events through the year.
Mix It Up particularly focussed on performing arts which crossed language and cultural boundaries and offered new pathways for audiences to engage with the Arts Centre. It was a multi-layered program to build connections with communities and creating many entry points to the arts for artists, communities and audiences.
The program featured artists in a mix of ticketed and free events surrounded by a unique opportunity for visitors to the Arts Centre to experience the sights, sounds and taste of different cultures through an extensive range of public programs such as performances, classes, demonstrations, culinary experiences, exhibitions, workshops, master classes, forums, and post-show talks. Mix It Up comprised:
A Mainstage Theatre Program
Presentation of major international performing arts companies featuring dance, contemporary ballet, physical theatre and circus: Dance Brazil, Cloudgate Dance Theatre (Taiwan), Complexions Contemporary Ballet (New York) and Les Sept Doights de La Main (7 Fingers) (Montreal). Public programs associated with this program were: master classes and a workshop assisted by a partnership with Ausdance; post show talks and education performances.
A Music Program
Seven specially curated events featuring international and local artists presented in a range of venues including Hamer Hall, Spiegeltent, Fairfax Studio, Playhouse and Blackbox also utilising foyers and exhibition spaces. Key projects included: Africa, Sing Sing, Pulse Heartbeat, Vive La Fiesta, Visible, Cariba, Our Backyard.
Extensive free public programs were associated with these events throughout foyers and ancillary spaces - foyer performances and activities, workshops, demonstrations, exhibitions, marketplace.
A Major Exhibition
Meeting Place Keeping Place - featured the commissioned work of local cultural diverse artists exploring issues of identity and place. The exhibition was attended by 113,212 people.
An Artist in Residence program included in the Arts Centre’s Full Tilt program, five groups of emerging artists from diverse cultural backgrounds explore and develop their work in a supportive environment: 15 Scenes/15 Songs, Xing, True Story of Toto Nakamura, Rice Trilogy, 3-A, The Call.
An Education program Dedicated Mix It Up schools performances were held by Hinepau, Dance Brazil and 7 Fingers.
What Mix It Up did
Established a unique multi-layered, public program format offering a rich visitor experience that will continue to be part of the Arts Centre’s program mix in the future Achieved better than projected attendance of 46,788 (against a target of 43,500) plus another 113,212 attendance at the Meeting Place Keeping Place exhibition.
Established a very successful collaboration with Multicultural Arts Victoria resulting in an audience development and partnership model with national potential.
Attracted funding from the Australia Council for an extensive audience research project Successfully collaborated with Ausdance Attracted major sponsorship from Dr LeWinn Achieved philanthropic support from the Clemenger Foundation Achieved significant public and media recognition Attracted significant new and diverse audience and visitors: Significant increase in attendance by non-english speaking visitors from the general Arts Centre attendance of 14% to 24% Twice the normal attendance at the Arts Centre in the 25-44 age-group Significant increase (from 16% to 31%) of attendance by young households of families without children as well as families with children (from 32% - 40%) Significant increase in attendance by infrequent visitors to the Arts Centre - up from 27% to 37% Supported and presented an extra-ordinary range of local, national and international artists (800 in total) from 23 nationalities over 96 events Extensively documented all events for publicity & marketing, as well as future collections and exhibitions purposes Worked collaboratively across all units of the Arts Centre to achieve an all-of-Centre multi-layered approach
Media Quotes
Vive La Fiesta! sells out Hamer Hall, the Arts Centre’s superb Mix It Up music program (The Age 26/8)
utterly entrancing (The Age August 11, 2006 ) The 7 Fingers.
Hallmark of Great Entertainment (the Age August 3, 2006) Complexions Contemporary Ballet.Sample Artist Quotes
A big thanks to the Arts Centre and MAV - being part of MIX IT UP has given my group Diafrix a great deal of confidence- we had never imagined we would get the opportunity to perform at the Arts Centre. Being commissioned to create new work was unreal- we bought the traditional African sounds of Jali Buba Kuyateh and King Marong and mixed them with hip hop. The music and partnerships created through MIX IT UP has opened many doors for us ...Khaled Abdulwhab Diafrix Thanks for the opportunity to been part of Our Back Yard... People like me and many others are fighting to maintain alive our traditions, against all odds. We get disappointed, sad, but I believe that events like the one you organized give us hope to continue with our work. Thanks again for your support . Thankfully - Paulina Fuentes
MIX IT UP Research
MAV and the Arts Centre worked in partnership with Deakin University to research and evaluate the MIX IT UP program.
Download MIX IT UP Project Report: Building New Audiences MIX IT UP
Read about the MIX IT UP program between The Arts Centre and Multicultural Arts Victoria at www.theartscentre.net.au/mixitup MORE INFORMATION
www.multiculturalarts.com.au www.theartscentre.net.au
