2019 YEAR IN REVIEW
BY KATHERINE QUIGLEY
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
The year 2019 will go down in history, not just for us, but for the world. Not only did our theme - Fake News/Dumb Views - produce some of the most interesting work from artists all year, and inspired all of our young people from the age of 6 and up, but we lived in a world that was truly impacted by a society that tried their best to bring about attention and action to the impact of fake news and silencing media on our lives the world over.
We began the year as we always do, getting everything ready for the new programs, artists and performers to join us in the wild ride that is our annual program. We launched our program in January and then got ready to take a delegation of our finest alumni from 2018 on a journey to London, to take part in an international exchange with the Battersea Arts Centre. Before we left we developed a short snippet of our new musical, Absolute Objectivity, to present to peers in Brisbane as part of the La Boite Highway program, and welcomed our international collaborator for 2019 to Brisbane, Jeffrey Tan.
Just one year prior, I had spent a month working at the Battersea Arts Centre studying their youth engagement model as the final subject in NIDA’s Masters of Fine Arts, Cultural Leadership program. It was such an honour to then be given the opportunity by Saad Eddine Said, one of the emerging Artistic Directors of Battersea Arts Centre’s Up-Next Program, to share the experience of this place with young artists that I have worked with throughout 2017 and 2018. The timing of Battersea’s Homegrown Festival - a festival much like our own - for and by young people, was set to start at the beginning of the planned change over to Brexit. The atmosphere was thick with doubt and concern, there was a palpable change in the vibe that I had experienced a year earlier. London was not just cold because of winter, people were depressed and scared for what may come ahead.
On our final day in London, we were packed and ready to leave. On our way to the airport in an Uber we hadn’t planned to catch, we realised how lucky we were that on that particular day we were not organised enough to get public transport. The whole city had been shut down in what was the first take over from Extinction Rebellion. Listening to the news reports of the chaos that was taking place in inner city London was like being a witness to history as it happened. British radio announcers denouncing the behaviour of these rebels - upsetting their travel to work and creating mass amounts of confusion throughout the mega-city. The protesters taking the opportunity for airtime to express their deep concerns for the inaction of governments on climate change.
Upon our return we jumped into finding unlikely suspects to participate in Open Homes by Jeffrey Tan, our major new work for 2019 that we co-produced with La Boite Theatre. This was an opportunity for us to share the incredible stories of local people that have touched our hearts since opening a venue in East Brisbane. People that have come to know our organisation through different events like Vomit Cabaret. The net was cast far and wide and finally we had 15 homes that were ready for creating a truly incredible experience for everyone involved, not the least of which the storytellers themselves.
As the team got ready and started planning for the Backbone Festival, our Open Source Residents got to work on their productions. The venue itself was alive and pumping all year round with new regular events like Candy Social Club and regular events, Vomit Cabaret and Fast and Loose bringing in a diverse range of communities to the venue throughout the year. While all of this was happening, we were also visiting classrooms across Queensland working directly with teachers and students to bring their new ideas to life, to gain a deeper grasp on the changes to the curriculum for Drama.
The year progressed and it became abundantly clear that we had created a space for people to share their insights and to try to grasp what was going on in the world around them. We hosted a fundraiser for the community at Deebing Creek, who returned later in the year to run their own event in our space. We shared stories of our community through Open Homes, we navigated neighbourhoods and spent time listening to people that we have grown to love over the year. Despite all of the anguish, in this bowls club, it felt like there was some kind of hope for change.
As Facebook memories tend to do, I was reminded of the first few moments before we opened the doors to this building and what my hope was at that time. “Tonight we started prep for a gathering of people. A place to belong in this insanity. A place where our families who feel totally abandoned by this conservative culture war can connect and gain strength. Or at least, that’s what I hope we can do. At the very least.” By the end of 2019, I can safely say that we have absolutely achieved this vision.
The staff and board at Backbone have worked tirelessly to ensure that our programs and project offerings are of a high standard, are open to feedback and responsive to the needs of all of our stakeholders. That wherever we go, we make a space for people to belong, play and create.
In 2019 we produced 654 unique events over 365 days in 42 locations throughout Queensland and London. We worked with 2,919 Artists, for 11,825 audiences (or participants) and 23 schools. While these numbers are impressive, we know our work goes beyond numbers, we know we are succeeding in building communities and creating a place for people to belong, when we see the punks at theatre shows, when we see the theatre kids at punk gigs. When we have conversations with passionate members of the community who want to help out. When the taxi drivers know where to go. When the old president of the East Brisbane Bowls Club visits to check out what we’ve done with the place, and leaves us with special artefacts to take care of. When we have outstanding feedback from our children who say that being in our workshops is much more comfortable, that they feel like they are at home. When our young people don’t check in siting their own existential angst, but express their individual hope and joy for creation. That’s how we know we have done a good job.
On behalf of everyone from Backbone - I sincerely thank you all for being a major part in this organisation. Without wanting to sound lazy or dismissive, there are far too many people to thank who have contributed a great deal to creating and shaping this organisation into what it is today.
USE SIDEBAR TO NAVIGATE —>
We’re ready to grow up. Right here, right now. And you’re going to be our witnesses.