Program Area
Arts
The Ian Potter Foundation has a commitment to nurturing the creative talents of Australia. The Arts help us reflect who we are as individuals, local communities and as a nation. A dynamic and well resourced Arts sector contributes to our quality of life, both as artists ourselves and as audiences.
Sir Ian Potter was deeply involved in the visual and performing arts, and used his entrepreneurial skills to develop key Arts organisations in Australia. With Dr H.C "Nugget" Coombs, he established the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. In turn, the Trust created the Australian Ballet and the Australian Opera and gave support to many individuals and organisations working in all aspects of the Arts. Sir Ian Potter was Chairman of all three organisations at various times.
Grants in this program area currently focus on education, audience development, and the arts as a vehicle for building a sense of community.
In addition to the above interests, the Foundation makes grants to individuals through The Ian Potter Cultural Trust which is a separate legal entity. Small grants from the Cultural Trust support emerging Australian artists to pursue further studies and nurture their careers in their chosen cultural fields.
FUNDING OBJECTIVES
- to support cultural institutions and organisations in Australia, which are distinctive in performance, imagination and innovation, and through them to encourage, in particular, young people of talent and individuality.
- to support the linking of education and the arts.
- to extend cultural opportunities to regional centres, and encourage the development of arts programs at a local level.
EXCLUSIONS
The Foundation does not support performances, exhibitions or festivals unless there is a special educational focus.
It is important to read each section prior to downloading the form.
Download Application Form
Case Study
Australian Print Workshop, VIC
$100,000 in June 2006
Towards the purchase of the Gertrude Street, Fitzroy premises.
Pictured: Printer Martin King and Artist Aleks Danko printing an etching.
"…..On 26 October 2006, as
I turned the key in the lock and opened the door to Australian Print Workshop
(APW) I knew that the future of the workshop was secured. It was a very special
moment. An amazing feeling knowing that APW was now the owner of its Fitzroy
building and that in the short space of just over six months we had
accomplished what many had said would be impossible..."
Anne Virgo,
Director
For Australian Print Workshop to be able to purchase their building after only six months of fundraising is a great story of the determination of their Director and the collaboration between a number of Trusts and Foundations.
Australian Print Workshop, Australia’s leading centre for fine art printmaking, has been at its current premises for the past 15 years and has been in existence for 25 years. It not only collaborates with Australia’s leading artists to produce fine art limited edition prints, it also provides important early career support and encouragement for emerging artists. It offers community access to printmaking services and facilities, education programs, outreach programs with indigenous communities and a public gallery and exhibitions program.
A permanent home gives Australian Print Workshop an opportunity to ‘think big’, look to the future with confidence and to build on its successes.
Previous
Grant Summaries
Australian Art
Orchestra, VIC
$20,000 in June 2006
To Crossing
Roper Bar - Breaking the Sound Barrier – workshops ($10,000 per workshop),
Melbourne and Brisbane
Since mid-2005 the Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) has been working with musicians who are the keepers of traditional songs belonging to the Wagilak people who live in the remote town of Ngukurr, Northern Territory, which is isolated by the Wet from November to April each year when the Roper River engulfs all but the highest land.
Crossing Roper Bar is about the two-way learning of traditional Aboriginal Manikay (song) and western improvisation techniques.
Through the first series of workshops held in March 2007 traditional songs were shared by Benjamin Wilfred, Roy Natilma, Johnston Hall and Rex Wilfred with the musicians from the AAO. This was done with permission of the elders from Ngukurr. The teaching of the songs aims to create a deeper understanding of the cultural customs, as well as the exchange of musical ideas and strengthening of goodwill and respect between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The work being undertaken is new and as such, methods have had to be developed to facilitate communication and the learning process. During the workshops different songs were taught by the Wagilak group, which were then taken up by the AAO musicians and interpreted within the context of western instrumentation.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, VIC
$150,000 in November 2006
To the Centenary
Tour to Europe
"Excellence, versatility and perfection united together on the stage." El Periodico Mediterraneo (Castellon) 23 January 2007
In January and February of 2007, as a highlight of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) Centenary celebrations an orchestra of 107 musicians, MSO staff and supporters travelled through Europe with five tonnes of freight under the baton of its Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Oleg Caetani. The eight-concert tour included performances in Castellon, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Pamplona, Madrid, Paris, Berlin and Milan. This was also the first time a professional Australian orchestra had performed in Paris.
The European tour was an opportunity to showcase the talent of the MSO. The orchestra performed works by Rachmaninov, Stravinsky and one of Australia’s pre-eminent composers, Brett Dean. The tour also featured acclaimed international violinists, Vadim Repin and Sarah Chang performing concertos by composers such as Sibelius, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.
The concerts were well received and the reviews positive. The tour cemented the reputation of Melbourne as a place of cultural significance and the MSO as a fine orchestra.
La Luna Youth Arts, QLD
$5,000 in March 2007
For the Come Home project
"discover where you come from and you’ll find where you are going…."
Come home was an arts project for young people aged 9 - 12 from Townsville linking them in with their grandparents or significant elder in their lives to tell stories of place, family and home.
Conversations and connections were provoked by Come Home – between young people and their elders, regional and metropolitan artists and Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Seventy young people from three primary schools worked with 12 artists to produce the breathing house exhibition, which was seen by over 500 people during the open house week.
Come Home brought together arts and education and was a project about faith, generosity and possibility.
