BACKBONE IS MAKING CREATIVE CAREERS HAPPEN
backbone youth arts supports curious, untamed, and experimental thinkers to challenge ideas and express themselves through many creative art forms. We champion experimentation, and amplify the sharing of essential stories.
Embedded in our legacy and future is collaboration, development, presentation of new work, and advocacy for young artists aged 30 and under. Backbone facilitates learning and risk taking, seeding networks, and the creation of new and exciting works. We do this through our year-round programming that includes workshops, performances, residencies, festivals, events, resource and training programs, and providing space for all of this to happen in.
Established in Brisbane 37 years ago, Backbone has a history of transforming local spaces into community hubs. In 2022, Backbone moved into the Seven Hills Hub, a new space where people come to be creative, see shows, and host their own unique events.
All of these things underpin our mission: to collaborate with young artists and audiences as equal partners, sparking creativity, building skills, and nurturing a lifelong passion for the arts. Backbone is here for the young artist community, and because of the young artist community, engaging with young artists as self-determined and equal partners, and providing unique development strategies that serve each artist and work.
OUR ALUMNI
OUR IMPACT
Click on the images below to learn more about Backbone’s impactful programs.
REVEL DANCE
PILOT ARTIST RESIDENCY
YOUNG PRODUCERS PROGRAM
ON DISPLAY
HUB RESIDENCY
TECH BOOTCAMP
OUR PLACE
Located in Seven Hills on Jagera and Turrbal country, Backbone is becoming the home of youth arts in Queensland.
Seven Hills Hub is a creative precinct, managed by Brisbane City Council, which includes: The Ron Hurley Theatre, a 162-seat black box theatre; an outdoor amphitheatre; The Jolly Centre; a 68 space car park and; an adjoining local park, Griffith Place Park.
In April 2022, Backbone relocated to the Seven Hills Hub, and began managing The Jolly Centre. Here, we have dedicated office space, three multi purpose rooms available for hire - The Rehearsal Room, The Workshop Space and The Studio - and a commercial kitchen.
The Seven Hills Hub has a long history of art, culture and education and Backbone is excited to add our legacy to this rich heritage.
In 1974, the College of Art moved to Seven Hills before quickly becoming known as the Queensland College of Art. Offering courses in drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics and gold and silver-smithing. Over the years, this site has built a foundation of creativity and knowledge sharinging; becoming College of Art (Griffith University) and finally a campus of Southbank Institute of Technology, sharing skills in visual art, performance, music, animation, film and television. At its peak, the Seven Hills TAFE site was 9 hectares of college campus. Sadly in the early 2010’s the TAFE closed its doors and then sat abandoned for years.
In 2011, the Heran Building Group bought the 9 hectare site with the vision to transform it into the Clearview Urban Village. The Clearview Urban Village took about transforming the site into aged care facilities, a mix of residential dwellings, small lot homes, townhouses, apartments and a state-of-the-art community hub. Shortly after purchasing the site, Heran Building Group gifted what is now known as the Seven Hills Hub to Brisbane City Council. In 2018, Brisbane City Council undertook a $1.5 million project to upgrade the facilities at the Seven Hills Hub, officially opening The Ron Hurley Theatre and The Jolly Centre.
Notably, the Ron Hurley theatre was named after one of Australia’s leading contemporary First Nations artists. Ron Hurley is widely recognised for his highly prolific body of work that spans genres of painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, jewellery, multimedia arts and public arts. As well as this, Ron Hurley is well renowned for his work mentoring, advocating, educating and promoting young Indigenous arts and artists.
We can’t think of a better place for Backbone to spread its roots as a thriving and inclusive community hub that exists at the intersection of the youth arts sector, professional arts industry, educational institutions, and our local community.
SEVEN HILLS AT A GLANCE
The Suburb of Seven Hills in QLD has a population of 2,732 people, 48.5% of which are Male and 51.5% are Female.
There are 711 families in the suburb with an average number of 1 child per household. The median age of Seven Hills residents is 37 years old, with 1,068 residents between the ages of 0 - 29 years.
The suburb of Seven Hills is expected to grow quite rapidly in the coming years due to the Clearview Urban Village Development.