Entries for Moreton Bay Arts Prize opening soon

If you are an artist or someone who loves to be creative, you won’t want to miss out on array of cultural events happening across the region this month.

As we ring in the New Year, that means the Moreton Bay Regional Art Prize is upon us again, with nominations opening soon!

In addition, Council’s Our Joy Connection program is back for the month of January, offering residents the chance to try their hand at something new that will help boost their health and wellbeing.

Be sure to add these great events to your diary.

All events can be found by logging onto Council’s What’s On events page.

Start working on your entry for the region’s biggest art prize

Whether you are an established artist or a beginner, everyone is welcome to submit their pieces for the upcoming Moreton Bay Region Art Prize competition.

The Moreton Bay Region Art Prize is an annual exhibition and prize that builds on the strong foundation and legacy of the Moreton Bay Region Art Awards, to support and celebrate local artists.

Entry is free for residents.

There will also be cash prizes up for grabs. The prize pool totals $10,000 with a non-acquisitive prize of $5,000 for first place, $3000 for second place, $1500 for third place and $500 for the people’s choice.

There is still time to complete your masterpiece, with nominations opening on Tuesday, January 11 and closing on Thursday, March 10, 2022.

This award is for entrants over 18 years old. Artists under 18 are encouraged to check out the Moreton Bay Region Youth Art Awards.

Take your art out of your studio and onto bigger things

If you would like to enter the art prize, but are having trouble with your ideas or design, sign up to the Make Your Art Public discussion panel and workshop, where you can learn some handy tips from a number of established artists.

Multi-disciplinary artists Libby Harward, Simon Degroot and Hannah Brontë will take part in a one-hour panel discussion facilitated by public art curator Beth Jackson (Artfully), followed by a small group workshop session between the attendees and panelists

You are welcome to bring an idea or a concept you have for the public realm so the panelists can provide feedback on your approach and ideas based on their public art experience.

With the Moreton Bay Region Art Prize set to introduce a new Outdoor Gallery opportunity this year, this is a great time to think about your entry.

The Make Your Art Public event will be held on Thursday, January 27 from 6-8.30pm at the Pine Rivers Art Gallery, located at 130-143 Gympie Rd, Strathpine.

Learn to drum

If you love music and are interested in learning to play an instrument, why not join a Drum Beat workshop.

During this session, participants will get to enjoy an exhilarating rhythmic adventure as you beat along on your drum or percussion instrument, which will be provided to you during the workshop.

Hit the high notes

If singing is more your passion, there are two singing workshops available for you to try throughout the month.

The first one is acapella singing, where participants will have the opportunity to sing a wide variety of acapella songs from across the world.

Facilitators will gently guide you through a series of simple and effective tunes you can learn and take with you through the year.

No previous singing ability is required.

Learn some new tunes

You don’t need to be a singer to join an improv choir workshop, you just need to love to sing!

Participants will join professional musician and improviser Lindsay Drummond, who will give you the tools techniques and skills to improvise songs in the moment with a group to create a spontaneous joyful choir!

All skill levels are welcome, and no experience is necessary.

Contribute to the One Billion Stars initiative

The Weaving for Joy workshop will see participants join expert weaver and co-founder of One Billion Stars (formerly One Million Stars to End Violence) Maryann Talia Pau and discover star-weaving at this fun workshop.

Maryann will be teaching you how to weave an eight-point star, and she will also share with you some rich cultural stories.

This workshop is suitable for people of all ages.

Move your hips with hula dance fitness

Join in on this fun, low impact dance class where you can learn more about the basics of Polynesian dance.

Traditional dances tell a story to the audience, by using hand and hip motions to honour their ancestors.

Bee Gees Dance

You too can move like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever by joining in the fun of a Bee Gees dance workshop.

Sign up for this workshop and lose yourself in the simple joy of dancing to Bee Gees classics.

No previous dance experience is required.

Panel discussion: Accessibility in the arts

This event is for artists, gallery and museum professionals who are interested in how to make their venues and exhibitions more accessible to audiences, just like how artist Michelle Vine (pictured) incorporated inclusion in her latest exhibition, titled Soft Touch.

The discussion will centre around:

• How artists and artworkers can become changemakers in the access space by embedding inclusion as part of their artistic and curatorial practices.
• Disrupting the dominance of sight - challenging the usual hierarchy of how we experience art in galleries that centres sight as the dominant, and often only sense.
• Radical inclusion in art - developing programming that radically advances the inclusion of community members who are historically the most marginalised and excluded from meaningful participation in art galleries.
• The benefits of providing employment opportunities for artists with disabilities and/or chronic illness.

The discussion will be held on Saturday, January 22 from 1.30-2.20pm at Level 1 - Caboolture Hub Seminar Room, 4 Hasking Street, Caboolture.