GROUNDWORK: nourishment for ideas, artists and projects
Crimson Rosella introduces GROUNDWORK – a program that offers practical advice, support and creative development opportunities for performance-based artists and their creative projects.
The annual program includes creative conversations with artists, skills development workshops and winter creative residencies. From 2026 GROUNDWORK will be hosted in the exciting new Tathra Headland Theatre and we envisage projects and partnerships flourishing, as we hone and deepen our process and practice.
Creative Conversations
Crimson Rosella’s co-directors Lindy Hume and Andrew Gray are offering professional support, feedback and practical, experienced and affirming advice to performance-based creative teams, independent and developing artists.
We invite conversations with artists and teams who have ideas or seeds of projects in need of nourishment, and we’ll do everything we can within our resources to prepare the groundwork for their growth. These are unstructured, one to two-hour confidential discussions with artists and teams in which, without commitment, Crimson Rosella can:
a) Listen, discuss and give first-impression guidance for next steps; follow through after the meeting with materials or research directions that may be useful; share a connection or program or an organisation who might assist. We’ll remain available and open to the conversation as it develops, if mutually agreed.
Or, if a project is more developed:
b) Provide experienced and practical early-stage dramaturgical and professional advice on work in progress to creative teams, independent and developing artists. Conversations are more structured, may be preceded by some pre-meeting research/reading/viewing of artists’ materials/videos and focussed more on next steps than the first-impression conversations. We’ll seek to provide useful post-meeting support and develop the conversation as mutually agreed.
FAQs
Is there a cost?
Creative Conversations are free thanks to Create NSW‘s support of Crimson Rosella. Similarly, the 2025 winter intensive week will be free for pareticipants, however they will have to cover any assoicated costs to attend such as travel or accommodation. Participants in skills development workshops will pay a fee depending on the nature and length of the session/s.
Does it matter where I am from?
GROUNDWORK participants can come from anywhere in NSW, and we are particularly keen to hear from regionally based artists/groups, First Nations artists and Next Generation artists.
What sort of ideas of projects will be considered?
We are interested in projects that have a performance component or outcome, but could include artists from different practices collaborating to develop multi-art form creative work.
Winter Intensive
The annual winter intensive is an incubator program offering local and visiting artists/creative teams a concentrated, seasonal focus for their creative practice and projects in development.
The program will bring artists, thinkers and ideas together on one of Australia’s most spectacular coastal landscapes to share ideas and experience the spark of inspiration. The setting will mix the solitude and silence of long beach, forest and headland cliff walks with rowdy communal experiences and deep creative collaboration.
For each year’s winter intensive, we will curate a program to support, nurture and respond to the artists and ideas around us, both those with immediate currency and those whose journeys have a deeper or longer creative arc. Each residency will send participants home more skilled up and confident in their practices, and with tangible progress on creative projects.
WINTER INTENSIVE streams of activity will include:
- Partnerships and collaborations
- Week-long creative development
- Artists in residence quietly working away
- Projects in creative development
- Discussions and symposia
- Creative connections
- Skills development workshops with guest specialists in theatre-making, performance and writing
GROUNDWORK 2025 – Callout
We have an open callout to the creative community letting people know about GROUNDWORK and that we’d love to hear from performance-based artists and teams who might find it useful to connect with Crimson Rosella. We want to know who’s out there, hear what’s needed and what we can do to support creativity in our region and beyond. In 2025, we’re particularly interested in hearing from Next Generation creatives and performance artists seeking professional development opportunities.
Depending on the volume and range of expressions of interest we receive through May, we’ll initiate exploratory conversations and/or begin discussions about participation in a winter intensive program in the week starting 12 July.
To register your interest please send an email with the subject GROUNDWORK EOI 2025 by 31 May to andrew@crimsonrosella.com.au with the following information:
- Name and Contact details
- Short biography or description of your artistic practice (or group if applicable)
- Brief desrciption of the project or idea you would like to discuss or develop through the program
- Why you are interested in GROUNDWORK and what would you like to gain from the experience
- Include any links to website or socials as appropriate
- Attach any file that would support your EOI if applicable
GROUNDWORK is supported in 2025 by Create NSW
