Cirrus@Austlit

'A lot of the work that we do is about connecting regional stories, regional makers, communities and makers from across the state or wherever else, who are best placed to create that truth around that story. There's some different things at play when we talk about a piece of theatre that's dramaturged by an original practitioner in an original venue. [...] how does this work, then, in a policy practice? I can't give money to someone to work in a metropolitan setting to develop that regional work that has been created or conceived in a region. Much of the strategic work that we've been doing in the last couple of years has involved trying to come up with regional-level policy responses that are reflective of the needs of that particular area.' (Introduction)

'First and foremost, it's located in the nub of something that you feel deeply about, and that is shared by others. The construction of towns and how farming works there speaks to a deep history that has propelled agriculture in Europe, and my understanding of the European connection to climate changes, seasons, and how you work with the land came through that. The shifts that are occurring in regional contexts around the world in a Western agricultural context are huge and swift, and farming is stepping out of being industrial into a supremely technological phase. The first project that I took on in that context was combining the notion of Chinese composting houses with 'night soil' with the very Australian notion of the outside dunny.6 We created the work in this vegetable garden area like a little cinema, where there was an animation around composting.' (Publication abstract)