Cardinia Arts Grants recipient announcement

The grant program aims to encourage local artists to connect their artistic practice with local communities in new ways. 

It provides financial assistance to local artists for initiatives that utilise, expand, and promote the arts within Cardinia Shire.  

The 2023 recipients are:

• Olivia Watson (performing as Olivia Mae) is a local musician who will produce a music video for the first single on her debut EP. Olivia plans to stay local by shooting the video in the Cardinia Shire hills, using a local videography company, and hosting a launch event at the Hills Hub, Emerald.
• Nicola Blackmore is a local filmmaker who will deliver a multi-modal exhibition. Nicola aims to create an immersive display exploring a surreal far future. The exhibition will consist of projected short films cast over downlit sculptures.
• Julie Konda (business name Festive Tribe) aims to create a temporary inter-generational landscape art project called Snow Drift, which will involve large-scale snow-coloured pieces that can be formulated into custom snowflakes. This will be an outdoor activation that will pop-up at Cardinia Cultural Centre.
• Sesuraj Michaelraj has received funding for his music group, Sangaththamizh Kalaiyagam Inc to purchase new traditional instruments crafted in India. The new instruments will enable the Tamil music group to increase their offering and perform at more local events.
• Lana de Jager will deliver an artist’s ‘game’ called Superimposed. The project involves a series of local hills-based printmakers who will remix one another’s discarded artworks. Throughout the project, the artists will be unknown to each other up until the exhibition when they will finally meet and connect.
• Stephanie O’Connell (artist name Figgy O’Connell) has been funded to deliver local digital art workshops. Figgy is a talented digital artist passionate about empowering individuals to access a modern form of art making.