In 2023, Arts Northern Rivers commissioned Patternmakers to assist with the Dance Sector Uplift project, designed to reactivate dance, physical theatre and experimental performance across the region.

This partnership stretches back to the Creative Industries Recovery Forum in 2022, which we attended and developed a report to identify sector priorities in order for the creative industries to flourish again after the severe storms and flooding hit communities across Northern NSW and Southern QLD.

Arts Northern Rivers undertook three streams of focus to support the region’s activation, recovery and renewal, identified as Public Art, First Nations Arts, and Dance/Physical Theatre.

In consultation with local artists, Arts Northern Rivers was committed to stimulating the region with a revitalisation of the dance sector by supporting activities which nourish and promote the region as a creative, thriving and growing centre of diverse embodied practice.

Local dance maker and producer, Philip Channells managed the delivery of the project. Philip works across art forms including dance/theatre, film, performance installation, community art projects, site-specific work and artist residencies with collaborators who value, challenge, redefine and inform our different perspectives of contemporary life.

“Approaching the Dance Sector Uplift (DSU) research project through a broad lens of diversity and inclusion enabled conversations amongst the sector, acknowledging the diverse cultural influences, creative practices and lived experiences of practising artists.

This conversational approach led us to realise the need for various stages of research to ensure a broad set of important voices were caught in the process.”

— Philip Channells

This project was informed by a multiplicity of consultation methodologies with members of the Northern Rivers performing arts sector, including local Bundjalung, Yaegl and Gumbaynggirr leaders, knowledge keepers of dance, dance makers and performers and global Indigenous and CALD artists living in the region.

Arts Northern Rivers conducted a survey inviting all artists working across an embodied practice to contribute to the research and design process for the reactivation of dance.

We analysed and compiled the results of these surveys and consultations into a full report in order to inform the direction and outcomes of the project. The report identifies the strengths and challenges, supported with evidence and data, and recommendations on how to plan ahead, to create a vision, and help independent artists realise their creative potential while working collectively within the community.