The Powerhouse Museum’s Regional Services newsletter - July-November 2013

 

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Powerhouse Museum Movable Heritage Fellow for 2013 - Leanne Wicks from Kandos

Miners hard hat, 1947, Kandos

Coming up with an idea for a research project was not difficult for me living on the edge of the Western coalfield of NSW.  Evidence of Kandos’ past reliance on the winning of coal doesn’t take much digging.  

With superior Kandos cement from kilns heated with Kandos coal contributing to the concrete footings and pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, no wonder it stands strong after 80 years.  Evidence of the region’s present reliance on coal is also easy to find with many coal mines dotting the landscape.  

Fascinated by the objects in the Kandos Bicentennial Industrial Museum that came from the Kandos Collieries located within a kilometre of the back door, I want to tell the story of the many men who have mined this black treasure from 1913 to 2001.  Having grown up with green coloured glasses, I’m enjoying the challenge of respecting the history of coal-mining, researching the facts about this industry and recoiling at what some mines are doing to the land.  

Battery Locomotive used in Kandos No.2 Colliery to hail out skips

In just the same way as you always see the same type of car that you’ve just purchased, but never really noticed that model before, I am finding coal everywhere.  From statues of miners in Lithgow to 1936 maps of NSW minerals in my late grandfather’s books.  Being a city girl, I have not grown up with any sort of wood heating and cannot share in people’s memories of the smell of coal, but I am a poet and there’s plenty of coal miner’s poetry to be found in Kandos.  There must be some time for musing underground.  And before you think that coal references can be boring, even Alfred, Lord Tennyson describes the amazing knight, Sir Lancelot:

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow’d;
On burnish’d hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow’d
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.

So with images of burnished war horses and shining armour, I find myself delighting in rusty locomotives and duperite helmets.  My Movable Heritage Fellowship project involves researching and creating object files, with significance statements and also creating an exhibition from the colliery items in the Kandos Museum.  This month’s job is to locate every colliery object and find some coal miners to help me understand what the objects did and how they work. 

Written by Leanne Wicks, Kandos

Ref: Powerhouse Museum

Museums & Galleries NSW - Funding & Prizes

Mentorship, Fellowship and Placements
2013 round now open!

 With a Mentorship or Fellowship, paid museum and gallery staff can travel interstate or overseas, get a fresh perspective and build new industry contacts. The grants cover costs associated with travel, accommodation and incidentals.

The Volunteer Placement provides volunteers with an opportunity to extend their knowledge, enhance their skills and increase their networks through access to the resources and staff of larger or specialised cultural organisations.

Closing: Friday 19 April 2013
More: mgnsw.org.au/grants/mentorships_fellowships_and_placements

This is an Arts NSW devolved funding program administered by Museums & Galleries NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.

Volunteer Initiated Museum grants (VIM)
Now open for 2013!

If your volunteer run museum requires funding for projects addressing skill development, operational planning and forward planning then consider applying for a VIM grant.

 
More: mgnsw.org.au/grants/museum_grants

 
This is an Arts NSW devolved funding program administered by Museums & Galleries NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.
 

Your Community Heritage grants
Now open for applications

 Grants up to $500,000 are available to help community groups to conserve and protect Australia’s nationally significant historic sites, undertake natural disaster recovery and mitigation activities relating to historic heritage places, honour eminent Australians who have made a significant contribution to our nation, assist communities tell their heritage stories and enhance community engagement in heritage through celebrations and events.

Closing: Thursday 21 March 2013
More: www.environment.gov.au/heritage/programs


Residency for artists living in regional NSW

Artspace is a leading international residency-based contemporary art centre, housed in the historic Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo fronting Sydney Harbour. Operating four on-site residential studios, six non-residential work spaces and an Open Studio program, as well as exhibition program Artspace is the key hub of the contemporary art community in Sydney, fostering dialogue between local artists, writers and curators and their national and international counterparts. This residency opportunity will provide an artist from regional NSW with a unique professional development opportunity.  The successful applicant will be provided with costs for return travel, residential studio accommodation, a living allowance and support towards production costs. The residency will take place October - December 2013. Applications are invited from professional visual artists resident in regional New South Wales and working in any medium.  

Closing: Friday 3 May 2013
More: www.artspace.org.au/about_news

Museums & Galleries NSW - fellowship or mentorship in 2013

 9 January 2013

Opportunity Knocks
Mentorship and Fellowship

Are you interested in an Museums & Galleries NSW fellowship or mentorship in 2013? Then come along to a special presentation by the 2012 Fellowship & Mentorship recipients.

When: Tuesday 26 February 2012, 2.00pm – 4.30pm
Where: Museum & Galleries NSW, 43-51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo
More: www.mgnsw.org.au/sector_development/opportunity_knocks
 

2013 Arts Funding Program Guide

The Arts NSW 2013 Arts Funding Program Guide is now available online. Check this document out for all the information you will need about Arts NSW funding in 2013.

More: www.arts.nsw.gov.au

Apply now for 2013 Regional Services program

Applications are now open for individuals or organisations to receive project assistance, a regional internship or a movable heritage fellowship in 2013.

• Regional Internships provide training and development opportunities for regional and rural cultural workers, including short courses and a project-based, four-week internship at the Powerhouse Museum. Financial assistance of up to $750 is available. Applications close 28 September 2012. Read more

• Project Assistance offers cultural heritage organisations across New South Wales advice and/or assistance to assist in recording, preserving and displaying their collections for the benefit of the community. Applications close 28 September 2012. Read more

• The Movable Heritage Fellowship invites tertiary students to undertake a research project on an object or group of objects in a community museum, historical society or other collecting institution. The Fellow will receive $5,000 and spend a minimum of one week at the Powerhouse Museum working with a supervisor. Applications close 1 February 2013. Read more

Any questions or need help with your application? Contact Rebecca Pinchin, Powerhouse Museum on freecall 1800 882 092, ph (02) 9217 0220 or email rebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.aurebecca.pinchin@phm.gov.au

Congratulations to the successful applicants for the 2012 Movable Heritage Fellowships! Well done to Rosemarie Strange, for her project on the Hamilton Hume Dress collection at the Boorowa Museum and Roslyn Carroll, for her project on the Sir William Hudson’s Treasures in the Adaminaby Snowy Scheme Museum.