Selected participants from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and seven national performing arts training organisations are getting ready for a weekend of creativity and collaboration when ARTS8 rolls up to the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in Melbourne later this month.
ARTS8 is a group of eight national arts workforce-training organisations funded by the Australian Government to nurture excellence and creative talent across the country.
The eight organisations are AFTRS, NICA, the National Institute of Dramatic Art, The Australian Ballet School, NAISDA Dance College, Flying Fruit Fly Circus, the Australian National Academy of Music and the Australian Youth Orchestra.
Each year the organisations take turns hosting a three-day program that enables 16 participants (two from each organisation) to come together to learn and grow through cross-disciplinary collaboration. The program culminates in a single performance devised by participants, working to a chosen theme. This year’s theme is ‘Perspective’.
AFTRS hosted the ARTS8 collaboration in 2024 with the artistic prompt ‘Future Light’, which explored themes of light, hope, and unity. You can view the performance here: Future Light.
AFTRS Head of Curriculum, Jane Newton, who is also the lead for ARTS8 for the second year in a row, said the program was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the power of creativity, connection and collaboration through a series of skills workshops delivered by artistic leads from each of the organisations, culminating in a final performance that showcases the skills from each of the elite arts academies.
“We give a deceptively simple provocation, and participants work off that theme in devising their piece,” Jane said.
“We don’t set many other parameters other than they need to be able to showcase the elite skills of all eight institutions.
“It is really extraordinary to see that sense of collegiality and kindness, and a lot of deep listening, with participants really trying to understand each other’s crafts in order to execute their performance to the set theme.”
Jane said this year’s theme of ‘Perspective’ was selected with the host venue in mind.
“We try to lean into what makes the hosting organisation special in any given year,” she said.
“So last year when AFTRS hosted, we took full advantage of our volume stage – large curved LED panels which create immersive virtual environments – and there was a focus on using the technology and integrating that technology into a live performance space.
“This year we are at the National Institute of Circus Arts, so we are going to lean into the circus art of it. We’ll be in one of their movement studios, which means we’ll get to play with height in a 3D space, and we will take advantage of getting participants off the ground and using the apparatus. It will be fascinating to see what they come up with.”
ARTS8 2025 runs from 30 May to 1 June. AFTRS will be represented by Jacob Collings, a first year Master of Arts Screen, Documentary student, and Chanel Bocman, a Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production Year 3 student who has interest in stop motion animation.
