Media Release: $1.6 million for regional performing arts touring

The Morrison Government is pleased to announce more than $1.6 million for 11 projects through the latest round of the Playing Australia national touring program.

The program supports organisations to tour music, theatre, dance and other performing arts projects across regional and remote Australia.

Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said the tours supported through this funding will reach 130 locations across all Australian states and territories, two thirds of which are in regional and remote areas. 

“Thanks to tours supported by Playing Australia, audiences across the country will be able to experience performances in a diverse range of forms,” Minister Fletcher said.

Australia Council CEO Adrian Collette AM said the Australia Council is proud to administer this Australian Government initiative to provide artists and performing arts organisations the opportunity to take their work around the country. 

“The Australia Council aims to connect audiences to inspiring performing arts, and by delivering the Government’s investment through Playing Australia, we can increase the variety and reach of these experiences,” Mr Collette AM said.

Some of the recipients include:

• $220,297 for CDP Theatre Producers to tour an original adaptation of Alison Lester’s classic Australian picture book ‘Magic Beach’ to regional Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland and more. 
• $190,549 for HIT Productions to tour a concert and artist-led youth outreach project featuring 2016 X Factor winner Yorta Yorta singer and performer Isaiah Firebrace, reaching Western Australian, the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.   
• $174,774 for Performing Lines Limited WA to tour Sensorium Theatre’s ‘Whoosh’, an interactive performance is aimed at young audiences with disabilities, across regional Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. 
• $73,780 for Australia's only Indigenous circus ensemble, Chasing Smoke, to tour the cabaret performance 'We Are Lamingtons' across regional New South Wales and Victoria.

The program has three grant rounds each year and the recipients are selected by the Australia Council through peer review. The next funding round is now open and will close on 1 October 2019 for projects starting after 1 January 2020. 

For the full list of recipients and more information visit: https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/funding/funding-index/playing-australia-regional-performing-arts-touring-fund/