BY SAMUEL COTTELL
Paint it Red is a collaborative music and visual art event series held at Jugglers Art Space in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. The intriguing collaborative programs combine everything from music to art to dance and juggling. For such a young organisation, it’s are making a strong impact on the artistic and cultural scene in Brisbane. I caught up with Luke Carbon and Molly Collier-O’Boyle to discuss the importance of events like Paint it Red on Australia’s cultural and artistic climate, and also to chat about their future plans and current Pozible campaign that will help them promote and continue to curate more projects in 2016 and beyond.
Paint it Red began in 2013, a project that the organisation’s co-artistic director Molly Collier-Boyle says “stemmed from a need for more chamber music and small ensemble performance opportunities in Brisbane as well as an in interest in trying to merge both music and visual art under one umbrella”.
Adds founding director Luke Carbon: “Paint it Red is founded on the philosophy of collaboration and community. Our programs are always amalgams of classical music, improvisation and experimental music, jazz, with the odd bit of folk and electronica thrown in.”
Smaller events like these can arguably be more artistically daring, unique and appeal to a broad range of audiences. “The Australian art and musical communities benefit from events like Paint it Red and others like Dots and Loops, evenings created and curated to provide Brisbane audiences with a fresh take on classical music, improvisation and also to show what is possible when you take a bunch of communities, throw them in a gallery, and stir them up,” Luke explains.
The home of Paint it Red is mainly Jugglers Art Space in Brisbane. It is the vibe and aesthetic of Jugglers Art Space that makes it the perfect place for Paint it Red. “Jugglers own flavour – the street art in the courtyard and tunnel, the homely gallery, the realness of the space – has given Paint it Red a ubiquitous feel,” Luke says.
Adds Molly: “The Jugglers Art Space is run by Peter Breen who has been absolutely wonderful in supporting Paint it Red over the past few years. From having events at the gallery, a lot of Brisbane musicians and artists have wanted to get involved with creating things at the space for themselves which is really great. It’s a cosy gallery, has an outside space with awesome graffiti art and has a variety of spaces to exhibit artworks and project videos. It has definitely been an interesting place to test out acoustics both inside and out.”
Molly explains that for her, this is probably the most exciting year for Paint it Red. “The very first event of the year was a massive one for us and I was totally unprepared for how many people attended. This year we have also experimented by having more reaction artists at each event. We have also had a large number of emerging Brisbane composers having their works performed, which is something I am really passionate about.”
Paint it Red has recently launched a Pozible campaign so that it can continue to offer performance opportunities and collaborative artistic experiences for audiences, and an outlet for performers to have their works brought to life. The funding will take the organisation well into 2016 and provide a five-event series featuring music artists Paul Dean, Stephen Emmerson, Vanessa Tomlinson, Steve Newcomb, John Hoffman, and Graeme Jennings, among other personalities in collaborative concerts.
In a changing music and arts climate in Australia, events like those initiated by Paint it Red are vital to communities in offering and providing venues and performances opportunities. “We are what you call grass-roots. We’re small, self-funded, and passionate about what we do, and wasn’t it Paul Kelly who said: ‘From little things, big things grow?’. We are a representation of what young musicians and artists get told all the time in this country – make your scene,” Luke says.
“Funding is always hard for artistic ventures, especially with arts cuts by the Government in the past few years. However, we have almost reached 25 per cent of the total campaign goal in just a week, which is really exciting,” Molly says. “The Pozible campaign also offers the opportunity to get our project out there into the big wide world and in this way we can try and reach and tell as many people as possible about Paint it Red.”
Events that promote a vibrant and diverse creative scene foster a sense of community. Artists from a wide range of backgrounds and different styles of music can come together and collaborate on projects. This is a vital aspect to Paint it Red. They aim to help bring the artistic communities together, “instead of the projects or people being separate entities”.
“Collaboration is the way forward, I really believe that,” Luke explains. “Communities that can come together and share their gifts with others become richer communities, and we’ve seen that in Brisbane already.
“Music has so much to share with art and vice versa. What we’re doing isn’t an ‘original’ idea as music and art have had a special relationship for a long time. Paint it Red is another vehicle for this relationship.”
Adds Molly: “The thing I love about Brisbane at the moment is that we are seeing a variety of elements, ensembles and curated evenings popping up about the place, all connected through a link of students wanting to experiment with these kinds of projects. I think the projects inspire each other, so it’s great to see Brisbane building a hub of exciting artistic energy. It also gives people who are building their careers and artistic passions a chance to show these to enthusiastic audiences.”
What is in store for the future of Paint it Red?
“We hope that Paint it Red continues to expand in size and popularity – we believe that we have something really special to give an want to share it with as many people as possible. It would be wonderful to spread the series to Sydney and Melbourne,” Luke says.
If you are an artist (including artists, dancers, filmmakers, anyone who loves collaborations), you can contact Paint it Red at info@painitredmusic.com.
To check out the Pozible campaign, please visit http://www.pozible.com/project/200334. And for more on Paint it Red go to the website here.
Image supplied. Credit: Forever Yours Photography by Forough Yavari.
