Metro Arts 2013

Metro Arts have flung open their doors and laid out the welcome mat for yet another year of creation and incubation with a program full of Residences, Cross Stitches, Independents and Friday Night Takeovers.

Described as a slow-burn process of reflection and growth, Works in Residence sees artists move into the Metro space for the years duration; the 2013 performing residences are: The Psychology Project: Love by dancer Liesel Zink and psychology researcher Rohan Kapithany, Man In Quotation Marks by Margi Brown-Ash, Performing Detention by Alicia Jones, Genevieve Trace’s Aurelian (MAPS for Artists), Suburbia by The Escapists and, Madame Carandini’s Travelling Musical Curiosity Show (Stephen Carleton, Sandro Colarelli, David Fenton, John Rodgers) (MAPS for Artists).

The MAPS for Artists program is the Metro Arts flagship management and producing service; the 2013 projects will also include Bear with Me by David Megarrity.

Cross Stitch may sound like a sewing-circle but it promises an immersive two-night art party masterminded by an emerging Artistic Director. Lucas Stibbard concocts two nights (1 & 2 of March) of works responding to Homer’s Odyssey and Hikikomori. ‘A wily trickster cursed by the gods to roam the seas; a man in his room who has forsaken the outside world.’

The Independents kick-off again in March with I Should Have drunk More Champagne by The Good Room (27 March – 13 April). This year The Independents move out of the Sue Benner Theatre and into the fancy new basement renovation that was partially funded by a Pozzible campaign in 2012. The Good Room will be the Basement space’s very first official inhabitants.

From April, Friday Nights will be a vibrant laboratory for the development of new work. On the first Friday of every month, Metro Arts will showcase a variety of new and developing projects.

‘Friday Nights are all about putting Artists and audience together – visit to get in touch with Brisbane’s vibrant experimental nucleus’.

With a glass of wine in hand, Friday nights are where you’ll see the presentations from the Takeovers, artists who have shut themselves into the Metro space for an intense week of creative polishing. The suspects intend to cap off their creative work by showcasing their projects and holding discussions. The first half of the Takeovers are: David Burton and Claire Christian with Hedonism’s Second Album (1-6 April, presenting on 5 April), Caroline Dunphy with Hanako (29 April – 4 May, presenting 3 May), Rebecca Meston with Ebony Starling (3-8 June, presenting 7 June), Katie Sfetkidis, Ruth Mcconchie, Tomas Quirk and The Violent Romantics will also appear later in the year (join the mailing list for updates on the Takeovers program).

For more information about the year to come at 109 Edward Street, keep an eye on Metro Arts website www.metroarts.com.au.

Metro Arts have also put out a call for proposals for performance makers; July-December 2013 – all details on the website.