CEO REPORT
As we say goodbye to a second year of living and working with the disruption and challenges of a global pandemic, I must say we are all tired! 2021 has been another difficult year of pivoting, postponing and working remotely; of doing our best to stay connected and support each other, while remaining physically distant.
Our year began with new staff and the excitement of a fresh start after the challenges of 2020. The team returned to working from our wonderful office nook on the top floor of Casula Powerhouse and our optimism and energy was high! Between January and June, I am pleased to say we took advantage of Australia’s low COVID case numbers and the relative ‘normality’ that brought - we celebrated the long awaited premiere of Let Me Know When You Get Home, we traveled to NT for ChangeFest, we toured to QLD and Northern NSW with SSI’s Homelands and we held a 3-day Artistic Directorate retreat in the Blue Mountains.
This delectable freedom, however, came to an end in late June. I would like to acknowledge the resilience, strength and commitment of the CuriousWorks team and community, as we endured a difficult 4-month Sydney lockdown and once again were required to reimagine and re-interpret much of our plans and programming for the year. I am confident to proclaim, however, that we did this successfully - and I believe the contents of this report is evidence of that.
During this time, we focused on building the capacity of our emerging artists and cultural leaders through various professional development opportunities and through the exploration of new ways of storytelling, collaborating and facilitation. Handle with Care and meet me at the next stop were dedicated spaces for creativity and experimentation. Our grassroots community programs - FUNPARK, ReFill and GENerate 2168 - continued to engage and connect communities through arts activation, conversations and creative workshops. Our Social Enterprise continued to provide paid employment and skills development for 26 Curious Creators and new Australian artists from refugee backgrounds.
I would like to thank my fabulous staff team for all their hard work, dedication and creativity over 2021, despite the challenges we faced. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our communities, project and funding partners, artists and colleagues who recognise the work that we do, and show their support in so many ways. And finally I would like to thank CuriousWorks’ Committee of Management for their astute advice, guidance and support over another trying year.
I look forward to 2022 with a great deal of optimism and confidence. We will continue to raise the bar in the work that we do and the results we achieve and I look forward to you joining us for another year of creativity and connection
Vanessa Hyde
CEO, CuriousWorks
Our year began with new staff and the excitement of a fresh start after the challenges of 2020. The team returned to working from our wonderful office nook on the top floor of Casula Powerhouse and our optimism and energy was high! Between January and June, I am pleased to say we took advantage of Australia’s low COVID case numbers and the relative ‘normality’ that brought - we celebrated the long awaited premiere of Let Me Know When You Get Home, we traveled to NT for ChangeFest, we toured to QLD and Northern NSW with SSI’s Homelands and we held a 3-day Artistic Directorate retreat in the Blue Mountains.
This delectable freedom, however, came to an end in late June. I would like to acknowledge the resilience, strength and commitment of the CuriousWorks team and community, as we endured a difficult 4-month Sydney lockdown and once again were required to reimagine and re-interpret much of our plans and programming for the year. I am confident to proclaim, however, that we did this successfully - and I believe the contents of this report is evidence of that.
During this time, we focused on building the capacity of our emerging artists and cultural leaders through various professional development opportunities and through the exploration of new ways of storytelling, collaborating and facilitation. Handle with Care and meet me at the next stop were dedicated spaces for creativity and experimentation. Our grassroots community programs - FUNPARK, ReFill and GENerate 2168 - continued to engage and connect communities through arts activation, conversations and creative workshops. Our Social Enterprise continued to provide paid employment and skills development for 26 Curious Creators and new Australian artists from refugee backgrounds.
I would like to thank my fabulous staff team for all their hard work, dedication and creativity over 2021, despite the challenges we faced. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our communities, project and funding partners, artists and colleagues who recognise the work that we do, and show their support in so many ways. And finally I would like to thank CuriousWorks’ Committee of Management for their astute advice, guidance and support over another trying year.
I look forward to 2022 with a great deal of optimism and confidence. We will continue to raise the bar in the work that we do and the results we achieve and I look forward to you joining us for another year of creativity and connection
Vanessa Hyde
CEO, CuriousWorks