Behind the Clock Workshops at the Kickstart Arts Centre We held another Behind the Clock visual arts workshop for people in the Out of Home Care community on Saturday. Foster parents, Paul Cairns from Life Without Barriers and foster children – 19 people in all - enjoyed an inspiring painting & collage workshop facilitated by Malou Zuidema that got people started creating their own images. It was a joy.

The group turned our Kickstart Arts Centre into an art gallery in an hour and a half! Their work is Beautiful! Thanks guys!

Come and participate in a powerful statewide conversation about the nature of true happiness! Our solar powered mobile cinema, The Happiness Pod will be on Salamanca Lawns in Hobart, opposite Salamanca Arts Centre on FRIDAY 14th & SATURDAY 15th SEPTEMBER from 10 AM to 10 PM and SUNDAY 16th from 10 AM till 4 PM.

Come and enjoy some beautiful short films about happiness made by communities from one end of Tasmania to the other.

The Happiness Pod also presents The Fabric of Life – a series of gorgeous textile and story collages made by hundreds of people, The Happiness Tree – a story tree where you can share experiences about happiness and Rush of Blood – a digital installation about what makes your heart beat faster!

See you there!

The state Health Minister Michelle O’Byrne MHA & Rebecca White MHA invited us to screen 30 minutes of Happiness films to members of Parliament and project participants at Parliament House on August 23rd.

A crowd of 60+ including participants from Levendale Primary School & St Theresas, The Phoenix Centre and Flinders Island as well as Premier Lara Giddings, MHA, The Leader of the Opposition, Will Hodgman, MHA and members of The Legislative Council enjoyed the screening of 8 short films.

Kickstart Arts is delighted to have been invited to screen the Flinders Island films of The Happiness Project at this year's Healthy Islands Projects Winter Blues.

The screening will take place at the Whitemark Arts and Entertainment Centre, Flinders Island on Saturday July 21st at 6pm. Kickstart Arts worked with 139 community members from Flinders Island to make short films about the meaning of real happiness which lead to some truly remarkable short films full of humour insight and wisdom of every day life on the island.

In the recent Return to Community Tour in May, 2012, the Flinders Island films received particular praise, with audience surveys commenting that they enjoyed the sense of place, community togetherness, stories, beauty and family history portrayed in the films.

Creative Producer Richard Bladel, who was intrinsic in the creation of these films, with community will launch the premiere at Whitemark, commenting, "I'd like to thank the Flinders Island people who got involved. Working over here was a real highlight for me. Such was the response to the project on the Island, with 139 people directly involved…we are all excited at the prospect of coming back to Flinders Island to present these beautiful films."

Kickstart Arts is proud to invite you to view inspiring stories made by communities around Tasmania – Huon Valley, Midlands, Glenorchy & Flinders Island. Free screeningswill be happening on Fridays and Saturdays for the remainder of May in the Happiness Pod, our mobile solar-powered cinema.              


TOUR SCHEDULE:
OATLANDS:
WHEN: Friday 11th & Sat 12th May, 2012
WHERE: Callington Park
CELEBRATION BBQ & SCREENING: Friday May 11 6pm- 8pm

FRANKLIN:
WHEN: Friday 18th & Sat 19th May, 2012
WHERE: Village Green at Franklin
CELEBRATION BBQ & SCREENING: Friday May 18 6pm- 8pm

GLENORCHY:
WHEN: Friday 25th & Sat 26th May, 2012
WHERE: Soccer Ground behind Goodwood Primary School
CELEBRATION BBQ & SCREENING: Friday May 25 6pm- 8pm
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: DOME CAPACITY: 30 people ONLY (one class at a time)
SCREENING DURATION: Approx. 30 mins
SESSION TIMES: 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm

SCHOOL GROUP BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL: PLEASE CALL PIP on 6228 0611 – or leave a message.
  OTHER ATTRACTIONS TO EXPLORE AT THE POD: FABRIC OF LIFE – fabric & story based artworks made by school & community members with touch screen digital interpretation. RUSH OF BLOOD – touch screen video installation – 30 short films made by young people & parents from Flinders Island. THE HAPPINESS TREE – write & share a story about courage, hope, kindness & gratitude.

Kickstart Arts Happiness Tour officially began when Minister for Health Michelle O'Bryne and Premier's Representative Rebecca White MP jointly cut the tape at AgFest 2012 and launched the first screening to the public in a symbolic representation of health and the arts coming together to share in the stories and tales of the community pursuit of happiness. The 26 short films embrace different styles and techniques from the broad ranging members of the community who made them including documentary, animation, tales of fiction, remembrance and even a western-inspired battle of good vs bad.

Artistic Director Jami Bladel explains the origins of the Happiness Project, “we are all aware of what a mess the world is in on so many levels, and it’s easy to respond by denying it through various means, or by getting angry or feeling hopeless. Many of these responses increase our sense of isolation and despair. This is what we’ve encountered, and it is the key motivating force behind The Happiness Project. Inviting community members to unite in a creative conversation about what really matters to them is a tiny step in helping us all come up with positive alternatives and a feeling we can make a difference.”
 
As well as the films, The Happiness Pod presents The Fabric Of Life Installation  - a story and textile art project in which community members brought together items of their own clothing, along with stories that describe a personal experience of happiness connected to the clothes. They then sewed, cut, shaped and put together the fabric to create, a beautifully textured series of artworks that line the walls of the Happiness Pod. Stories are many and varied as are the fabrics- baby clothes, work clothes, wedding night clothes, many rich stories woven together. One collage includes a name labeled shirt & pullover from an 85 year old Flinders Island lady who used to dive for Killiecrankie diamonds in the middle of winter – and she is just one of the truly great characters of the Furneaux islands.
 
During the month of May members of the public can explore The Fabric Of Life artworks on the cinema walls and in digital form on a purpose built touch screen computer. Rush of Blood is another digital artwork in the Happiness Pod – about exploring ‘what makes the heart beat faster’.

Please join us as we tour The Happiness Pod back to the communities that made this extraordinary project possible, the Pod will be screening the films and celebrating the community spirit in the following locations throughout May, for further information about attending the screenings or if you'd like to request the Pod to come to your town, please contact Kickstart Arts direct oncommunity@kickstart.org.au or call 03 6228 0611.

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT COMMUNITY RETURN TOUR 2012:
May 3 – 5, AgFest 2012
May 11 & 12, Oatlands
May 18 & 19, Huon Valley
May 25 & 26, Glenorchy
Oct 2012 – Flinders Island  

The entire Happiness team met to create a production schedule at Kickstart Arts new premises, Building 1831 South at St. Johns Park, Newtown. One of the great things about this project is working with so many talented and skilled artists. Things are getting exciting, with the purchasing of cinema equipment and final designs being created for seating, interpretation, the design and logistics of space and the site layout for the big Launch at Agfest in May.

Andy Vagg & Richard Bladel have returned from successful workshops on Flinders Island, where they worked with 17 community members aged between 9 and 72 to create 14 beautiful art works that will grace the inner Happiness Pod. People brought their old clothes & memories along and sewed, cut, arranged and pinned together such diverse wonders as "Summer Loving" and "Hacked up Furry Animals." Lots of stories, laughs and cups of tea were shared. Watch out for Andy in Cygnet, Dover, Oatlands and of course, Glenorchy!

The Fabric of Life workshops kicked off yesterday at The Rose Garden Room at Whitemark with Artists Andy Vagg & Richard Bladel working with enthusiastic community members from Flinders Island. It was a thrill for Andy & Richard to work with some seriously skilled textile artists from Flinders and we all learned a lot from each other. The Happiness Pod cinema dome will be decorated on the inside by The Fabric of Life: an amazing multi-coloured patchwork of community made collages created from items of recycled clothing and clothing that people bring along and offer to make these amazing artworks. Each item of clothing has a personal story attached, and the stories are embedded into each panel. The workshops begin with some play and experimentation with a huge variety of what most people think of as rubbish, and the workshops explore the telling of stories through the use of objects and materials. It’s a lot of fun. Andy will be running workshops in the other 5 communities that are involved in The Happiness Project: Dover, Cygnet, Glenorchy, Oatlands and Levendale. Watch this space for more news… Pics from top left: Andy collects workshop materials at the Whitemark Tip; Andy washes each piece of rubbish for use in workshops by hand; Jana, Maria, Andy & Judy at the workshop; Ben and his story.

The Happiness Pod will provide seating for about 40 people, but due to it’s dome shaped nature where few surfaces are genuinely flat, quite a lot of thought is being put into what sort of seating will be comfortable, and the position and angle of the screen and audio speakers will be very important. The cinema will have a floor to add comfort and warmth and we are looking at a mix of specially made bean bags and chairs to cater for all ages. There will be a foyer structure for audiences to enter through, and this will provide space for people to gather and for information and interpretation installations. This will arrive in the next few weeks.

The Happiness Project production is in full swing, with 13 weeks before our launch at Agfest, the team met yesterday to discuss scheduling, design seating, audience entry and exit and equipment purchase.