This workshop was free of charge and open to everybody. It was designed to show you that music could be made from anything by anyone.

The workshops were held at some wonderful country town halls in our district: The Old Sunday School Hall in Braidwood NSW, The Majors Creek Recreation Ground Hall in Majors Creek NSW, The Federal Hall in Araluen NSW, and The Tarago Hall in Tarago NSW. If you weren’t local, you were encouraged to take a trip to any of the four workshops and discover some history and local village life.

Participants were asked to fossick and collect something that made a noise or sound — a found object, a piece of nature, some rubbish, anything they could find in the 10 minutes allocated to search the surrounding area of the workshop. Or they could bring something from home. It could be two things they banged together, three things they shook together, or anything they could think of.

On return to the space, musician and artist Kelly Sturgiss helped participants weave these sounds into a group symphony. We heard the music develop as we made it.

Participants received a mastered recording of the piece in the weeks following the workshop. The pieces were also exhibited at The Hive in Queanbeyan in March as part of the Project Alchemy Group Exhibition. Everyone was invited.

Participants were asked to fill out the form and let us know of their interest so we could keep them updated and get a sense of numbers. It was also fine to just turn up on the day, but planning ahead was appreciated. The workshops were held at some wonderful country town halls in our district. If participants weren’t local, they were encouraged to take a trip to any of the four workshops and discover some history and small town charms.

Hidden Sonics was part of Project Alchemy, a series of cross-disciplinary arts projects that built community connection across south-east Australia. The project was facilitated by award-winning Canberra-based Rebus Theatre and involved 15 artists from Bega Valley Shire, Eurobodalla Shire, East Gippsland, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, and the ACT.

Project Alchemy was made possible thanks to funding from the Australian Government through the Black Summer Bushfire Grant Program. Rebus was also supported by Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres and the ACT Government.

More info Project Alchemy here: https://rebustheatre.com/projectalchemy/
More info on Rebus here: https://rebustheatre.com/