Project Overview (2minutes)
Artist Biographies
Alysha
50 word
Alysha Herrmann lives, loves and creates from regional South Australia. She is an award-winning independent creative producer, writer, performance-maker and community organiser, and the founder of Part of Things. Alysha makes installations, experiences, presentations, poetry, digital exchanges, performances and other creative things in all kinds of strange places, including real-life loungerooms, train stations and backyards.
100 words
Alysha Herrmann lives, loves and creates from regional South Australia. She is an independent creative producer, writer, performance-maker and community organiser, and the founder of Part of Things. Alysha makes installations, experiences, presentations, poetry, digital exchanges, performances and other creative things in all kinds of strange places, including real-life loungerooms, train stations and backyards.
Her work in the arts and community has won multiple awards including the 2022 Arts South Australia Ruby Award for Outstanding Regional Event or Project (for No Limits at Writers SA), the 2017 Arts South Australia Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award and 2015 Australia Council Kirk Robson Award. She is also a Regional Arts Australia Fellow and an Australian Rural Leadership Foundation Fellow.
Kirste
50 word
Kirste is a writer, digital illustrator, and producer. Kirste worked with the Ruby Award winning No Limits: Young Regional Writers team and feels strongly about supporting and guiding young regional creatives. She lives for all things magical and ensures her work reflects that love.
100 word
Kirste Vandergiessen (she/her) is a writer, digital illustrator and producer from the Riverland, South Australia. With a Bachelor of Creative Writing under her belt, Kirste has developed creative projects like Letters to Blue (2020) and produced Portal: Fantasy Workshop Festival (2022).
Kirste worked with the Ruby Award winning No Limits: Young Regional Writers team and feels strongly about providing support and guidance to young regional creatives.
From writing about mermaids, forest witches and psychics, to drawing her favourite over-powered anime characters and developing Portal, she lives for all things magical and ensures all areas of her work reflect that love.
Eliza
50 word
Eliza Wuttke is a multi-disciplinary artist and creative producer based in Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. A thinker and dreamer, Eliza ‘s practice is guided by a deeply held sense of responsibility towards planet and people. Her work is inspired by place and holds community and at its core.
100 word
Eliza Wuttke is a writer, maker and creative producer based in Port Lincoln on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. A thinker and dreamer, Eliza ‘s creative practice is guided by a deeply held sense of responsibility towards planet and people. Her work is inspired by place and holds community at its core.
Eliza currently works as a freelance creative producer, supporting projects across regional SA. She has previously worked on the Ruby Award winning No Limit program for young regional writers at Writers SA and coordinated the much-loved 2021 and 2022 SALT Festivals celebrating creativity, innovation, and culture in her community.
Collaborating Artists
Portal
Artists have not been officially invited (until funding is confirmed). Lyndall and Stuart were both involved in Portal 2022 and keen to support any future events. Sean and Lisa have worked with Writers SA in 2022/2023. Teen Takeover team are young people who Kirste has worked with previously on Writers SA projects and outside of Writers SA.
Workshop Facilitators
Stuart Watkinson is an educator, writer, and gamer. He usually writes science fiction and fantasy, however not always. Sometimes he writes poetry about life, sometimes he writes about writing, and lately, he has been writing a lot of tabletop games.
Lyndall Clipstone writes about monsters and the girls who like to kiss them. The YA author grew up in the Barossa Ranges of South Australia and now resides in Adelaide. Lyndall studied at the University of Adelaide, achieving a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Creative Writing. In 2019, she accomplished a feat many emerging writers dream about, and signed with an international literary agent. The New York-based Jill Grinberg Literary Management agency saw the potential in the young Australian writer, and allowed Lyndall to once again achieve a new author’s dream; an international publishing deal for her debut title, Lakesedge.
Number one New York Times-bestselling author, Sean Williams has been called ‘the premier Australian speculative fiction writer of the age’ for the diversity of his output, which spans fantasy, science fiction, horror and even the odd poem. He has published thirty-five novels and seventy-five short stories. These include works for adults (Philip K Dick Award-nominated Saturn Returns, Ditmar and Aurealis Award-winning The Crooked Letter), young adults (Locus-recommended The Storm Weaver & the Sand) and children (multiple award-nominee The Changeling, and the Troubletwister series co-written with Garth Nix).
Lisa L. Hannett has had over 75 short stories appear in venues including Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Weird Tales, Apex, The Dark and Year’s Best anthologies in Australia, Canada and the US. She has won four Aurealis Awards, including Best Collection for her first book, Bluegrass Symphony, which was also nominated for a World Fantasy Award. Her new collection, Songs for Dark Seasons, is out now. You can find her online at http://lisahannett.com and on Instagram @LisaLHannett.
Teen Takeover team
Ruby Altschwager is a talented teen writer and illustrator based in Loxton in the Riverland region of South Australia. Ruby has performed in recent productions by Loxton High School, Riverland Musical Society and Riverland Youth Theatre and been part of the Writers SA “Creative Response Crew”. She is creating books, illustrations, hand-crafted plushies and video-games.
Rowen Hurrell is a trans 15-year-old from Renmark. They write a combination of short horror and fantasy stories, and slam poetry mainly focused around being queer. They are also in the process of writing a fantasy novel including accurate queer representation. Rowen enjoys and participates in other creative activities, such as drawing, painting, music, cross stitch, embroidery, and theatre. They are also a member of the Riverland Youth Theatre’s Teen Ensemble.
Levi Button (they/them or he/him) is a 15-year-old from Berri in the Riverland of South Australia. They are a fantasy and horror writer. They are currently working on a young adult fantasy novel that is yet to be named. Levi has been working on it since 2022. Levi has attended multiple writing workshops, a few events and was commissioned to write two pieces for Writer’s SA through 2022. One of the commissions was for Writers SA’s “Portal: Fantasy Workshop Festival” in September. They were also invited to be a part of the “Voiceworks Launch: Grain” in December. Levi feels very lucky to have been invited to these commissions, as they have helped them to discover their writing style and improve the way they structure their work.
Poetry on my Porch
*Alysha note – I have not invited any of these writers (except Josh – see support letter) until we have confirmation of successful funding however we have all worked together in the past through other projects and they are all keen for future collaborations. I have deliberately identified 6 writers for initial commission, with space for another 6 writers to be identified.
Josh King is a writer, singer-songwriter, and beginning filmmaker from Mount Gambier in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia. Josh is a great fan of experimental art and enjoys expressing the motion of everyday life in new and exciting ways to reveal how strange our lives really are, whether that be in poetry, prose, or song. Josh has a passion for work that emphasizes the essential, not additional, need for empathy and compassion in our lives, both for ourselves and those whose lives we share a place in.
Kyra Sykes is a vibrant artistic jack-of-all-trades born and bred in Mount Gambier with a background in journalism. Alongside their work as a cafe comedian and cellar door salesperson, Kyra is a non-binary writer, drag performer, mental health youth advisor and LGBTQIA+ advocate. Driven by a love for the South East, Kyra uses storytelling hand-in-hand with advocacy to promote self expression and open dialogue on topics important to young people. They are currently working on a conversational and journal style book highlighting moments from their chaotic twenties.
Lauren Agnew is a fourteen year old student living in Mount Gambier. Since she can remember, she has been curious about the wonders of the earth and dreams of being able to share her simple, yet beautiful, view of the world with others. Lauren has lived in the Limestone Coast her entire life, and has always admired the stunning scenery of the area, particularly the coastal regions. She enjoys writing, reading, acting and netball. Lauren would describe herself as ambitious, driven, hopeful and a dreamer.
Bri Boyington is a homeschooling teen who likes spending time reading fictional stories, playing guitar, listening to music and hanging out with friends. She enjoys writing fictional stories, with brave and daring characters in them, faithful friends, endless forests and deserted cities. Bri’s stories always express emotions that she’s feeling at the time, and have varying degrees of super powers, dragons, dryads and elves in them. Bri lives in Naracoorte with her parents, little sister and brother, and their two dogs and twenty chickens.
Tabitha Lean is a Gunditjmara woman, born and raised on Kaurna yerta. A story teller, poet, artist and abolition activist, she is blessed to have her mother’s stories and the blood of all the women before her coursing through her veins. It is in their honour, that she centres their unique knowledges, and privileges their voice in all her work. You can find her writings at The Revolution Ware. Twitter: @haveachattabs.
Zawa Rashidi loves to dance and write poetry. She is passionate about bridging the gap between her African community and the wider community of Mount Gambier and beyond. Zawa came to Australia as a refugee and is now a proud parent of a little boy. She speaks Swahili, English and Portuguese.
Other Artistic Support Material
A reflective/evaluation post about the first Portal event held in 2022: https://writerssa.org.au/portal-fantasy-workshop-festival-reflection/
Kirste’s activity in the Riverland for Be Part of Things: we are the project will be building on this by delivering a second version of Portal independently under the banner of Part of Things.
Recording of event initiated by Alysha and delivered by Kirste for Writers SA as part of No Limits: https://writerssa.org.au/counter-urban-questions-reflection/ (recording approx. halfway down page).
Shows example of reading event quality that would be expected at Poetry on my Porch. Please note this video recording shows full event – please view from 26.15 to see piece by Josh King, one of the Mount Gambier writers Alysha intends to commission for Poetry on my Porch
A project initiated and delivered by Eliza for Writers SA in 2022: https://writerssa.org.au/in-the-margins-a-look-at-the-way-we-read/
This shows Eliza’s thoughtful approach to curation and ability to bring together a diverse range of voices (In the Margins was a state-wide project).
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The calibre of Alysha, Kirste and Eliza’s collaboration and creative work was recognised with the Arts South Australian Ruby Award for Best Regional Outcome or Project in November 2022 (for No Limits: Young Regional Writers project with Writers SA) and Be Part of Things: we are the project is a strategic and deliberate (and independent) extension of the strong working relationship the three developed through their shared work in 2022.
Part of Things has also established a small but mighty reputation in it’s own right for
delivering meaningful and high-quality creative experiences, and this is reflected in
the fact that we are being sought after to produce outcomes in the Riverland and other communities, and to provide advice and support to local council and other regional artists. You can see a small selection of the projects we’ve delivered to date here: https://partofthings.org/portfolio/
Be Part of Things: we are the project is providing paid opportunity for regional artists led by regional artists, and which reflects our priorities and aspirations in regional South Australia. Our vision is to develop Part of Things into a leading regional arts organisation based in the regions (over the next 20years), and this project is a next step on that journey.
Numbers breakdown
Estimated Employment Numbers
Part of Things team = 4 (Alysha, Kirste, Eliza + Erin Gibbs -social media support)
Poetry on My Porch = 16
Love Notes to the Laundromat = 0 (Eliza included above)
Portal = 8 (including 1 x catering person)
TOTAL = 28
Estimated Professional Development Opportunities
Part of Things team – lead artists (Kirste, Eliza, Alysha) = 3
Teen Takeover & MC for Portal = 4
TOTAL = 7
Estimated Audience Numbers
LIVE
Poetry on my Porch = 40 (10people x 4 events)
Love Notes to the Laundromat = 42 (average 7 people x 6 locations)
Portal = 100 (25 people per event x 4 events)
TOTAL = 182
DIGITAL
Poetry on my Porch = 120 (publication of the commissioned pieces on Part of Things website)
Love Notes to the Laundromat = 120 (publication of the letters on Part of Things website)
Portal = 50-100 viewers of Teen Takeover team posts and other social media marketing.
TOTAL = 340
Estimated participant numbers
LIVE
Part of Things team = 3 (Kirste, Eliza, Alysha)
Portal = 8 (x3 workshop facilitators, x1 author for panel (x2 are also facilitators), x3 social media Teen Takeover, x1 MC/Host)
Love Notes to the Laundromat = 0
Poetry on my Porch = 16 (3 x commissioned writers x 4 events, 1 x muso x 4 events)
TOTAL = 27
DIGITAL
Part of Things team = 3 (Kirste, Eliza, Alysha)
Portal = x3 social media Teen Takeover team.
Love Notes to the Laundromat = 12 (2 responses per location)
Poetry on my Porch = 12 ( 3 x commissioned writers x 4 events)
TOTAL = 30
Alysha Herrmann 