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Get to know Season 2

Risk-taking.  Failure.  Great art.  The state of the world.  Arts House Artistic Director Angharad Wynne-Jones has something to say about Season 2 at Arts House.

The arts sector has been ticked off by some observers for overuse of superlatives in describing the work they do. It seems a fair call, particularly in these times, so here’s the plain speaking version of what’s ahead in Season 2.

We begin with a clutch of works that explore the always complex, sometimes divisive concept of place and displacement head on. Then two of Melbourne’s established choreographers, Stephanie Lake and Melanie Lane, followed by Speak Percussion, each present premieres of new works that aurally and physically reveal both their narratives and their politics.

Our collaboration with Melbourne Fringe on The Children’s Party aims to critically empower young people, while Survival Skills for Desperate Times, our collaboration with Melbourne Festival, is m ore fun than it sounds and showcases the living (and dying) skills of 18 artists.

In November we will seek Refuge, when we transform the North Melbourne Town Hall into a designated emergency relief centre. Our ongoing investigation into the role of artists and cultural institutions in times of climate change will involve a series of installations and investigations and culminates with a 24-hour sleepover rehearsing the impacts of extreme heat.

Not that we’re glum – there’s just a lot at stake!

In November we can dream a little with multidisciplinary artist Fleur Elise Noble, before ending the year in song with Sam Halmarack and JOF. TextaQueen takes over the Arts House windows in December with bold superhero scenarios.

Risk taking and failure are a critical part of the creative process, and Arts House continues to offers a platform to allow this to happen through our CultureLAB and Artist-in-Residence programs, while The Listening Program and our podcast series offers insights from the artists in conversation with each other on why they make the work they do.

In Season 2 we invite you to come and visit during North Melbourne Spring Fling to meet Artist-in-Residence, Jen Rae, who will entice you into conversation with the offer of a locally brewed cuppa.

Works that explore urgent social issues and experiment with form can take us to unfamiliar places, but combined with each other and the energy of our audiences, they also offer new, inspiring worlds of thinking, feeling and acting.

There it is. Season 2. Come if you can.

(Beside ourselves with excitement – but playing it down.)

Angharad Wynne-Jones
Artistic Director