CAAP Artist Lab 2020 Participants Announced
Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP), Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company and the Australia-China Institute of Arts and Culture (ACIAC) at Western Sydney University join forces to support the development of Asian Australian performance practice.
The inaugural CAAP Artist Lab will provide professional development and professional pathways for Sydney-based Asian Australian artists.
Fifteen artists will gather over five weeks from late Oct-November 2020 to learn, experiment, devise and develop new performance ideas and processes in a program that is tailored to the creative aspirations of the participants. This initiative adds to CAAP’s suite of skills and sector development programs such as the CAAP Directors Initiative and the LOTUS Playwriting Project.
The lab participants are Lena Cruz, Happy Feraren, Ryuichi Fujimura, Aileen Huynh, Justice Jones Massaad, Andrew (undi) Lee, Melissa Lee Speyer, Michelle Lim Davidson, Nicole Pingon, Jennifer Rani, Monica Sayers, Khym Scott, Jordan Shea, Michael Toisuta, and Jennifer Wong.
Participants' biographies can be accessed HERE (opens in a new window).
CAAP’s Executive Producer Annette Shun Wah said:
“The CAAP Artist Lab enables us to continue to work with the vibrant artists of the Asian Australian performance community, providing them an opportunity to learn, share, experiment and collaborate, inspired by the experience and expertise provided by our partner organisations. What a powerful statement about our collective will to nurture culturally diverse creativity."
STC’s Artistic Director Kip Williams added:
“STC has been a proud partner of CAAP since 2016. Most recently, we’ve been thrilled to work with the brilliantly talented Tasnim Hossain, Kenneth Moraleda, Jennifer Rani, and Courtney Stewart as a part of the CAAP Directors Initiative. I am so looking forward to welcoming the Artist Lab participants into the company and can’t wait to witness the many exciting collaborations that will emerge from our time working with them.”
Belvoir’s Artistic Director Eamon Flack said:
"Our commitment to artists from migrant and diaspora backgrounds has been renewed through the COVID-19 pandemic through our Artists At Work program. In recent years, Belvoir has broken significant ground in the way it delivers landmark works by Asian Australian creatives, but the work of embedding these new practices and artists into the landscape is far from over. The CAAP Artist Lab presents an opportunity to support that vision. We're excited to engage with a group of diversely skilled artists and be part of their creative journeys."
Griffin Theatre Company Artistic Director Declan Greene noted:
“As Australia’s only theatre company exclusively dedicated to new Australian plays, it’s so important for the stories on our stage to reflect the full breadth and scope of this country’s identity – which means building deep connections with the people best equipped to tell those stories. For this reason, and many others, I’m so excited to work with the exceptional group of artists and storytellers CAAP
has assembled for Artist Lab, and to keep the conversations bubbling long after it finishes.”
Professor Jing Han, Director of the Australia-China Institute of Arts and Culture said:
“We are thrilled to be a part of this very unique and exciting program. ACIAC is committed to art and cultural collaborations of rich diversity in Asian Australian communities. It is very pleasing to see so many talented young Asian Australian artists participating in this program which aims to empower the artists in telling their culturally nuanced stories to reflect the diversity of contemporary Australian society. The CAAP has taken a step further in nurturing Asian Australian talents in theatre and ACIAC is most delighted to support that.”
THE CAAP Artist Lab 2020
The CAAP Artist Lab is a five-week program comprising a series of four seminars plus a one-week intensive workshop to be held at Western Sydney University.
The Lab will be facilitated by Darren Yap and he states:
“I’m a third generation Chinese Australian and have been working in the theatre for over 30 years now. I’ve been lucky enough to direct and collaborate in a whole range of different styles of theatre in Australia, Singapore, Korea and Japan. I’m thrilled to be facilitating CAAP’s Artist Lab week. I can’t wait to be in the room with these wonderful and diverse art practitioners.”
