Great Barrier Reef Festival: ‘Immerse’ Installation Lantern Workshops
Image: Final Lantern Installation at Immerse. Image courtesy Tropix Photography.
Date: May – August 2023
Location: Airlie Beach, Proserpine and Cannonvale, QLD
With funding from the Regional Arts Fund’s Quick Response Grants, the Great Barrier Reef Festival was able to engage with the local community to create and participate in reef-themed lantern-making workshops with local artist Lalune Croker. The workshops were held across 3 locations in the Whitsundays Region in preparation for the Great Barrier Reef Festival’s ‘Immerse’ Installation.
To ensure that all members of the community had the opportunity to be involved, two different styles of community workshops were delivered. Artist-led hand-building workshops which invited participants to explore their creativity through technique, and a drop-in-style lantern decorating workshops for people of all ages and abilities. The lanterns created and decorated during the workshops were then proudly paraded as a part of the ‘Immerse’ Installation which brought to life the Airlie Beach Foreshore, Lagoon, and Main Street.
Workshop participants included adults and children alike, with many noting the sense of community created by the experience. Due to the large number of lanterns created at the workshops, many tourists and visitors during the festival were able to participate in the Lantern Parade.
In reflection of her involvement in the project, local lantern artist Lalune Croker spoke of the sense of community pride and engagement of the project. “I love seeing how proud everyone is of their individual pieces as well as the Parade and the end product installation,” she said.
“Community Art is very rewarding for me personally and I love the ongoing connections we form and the beauty we can achieve as a team and a community.” Croker continued, “and I believe the impact of this is more meaningful than ever in this modern world.”
This case study meets the following criteria to a high degree: “develop audiences and broaden community engagement with the arts.”
Flying Arts Alliance acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands and seas on which we work, live and create. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
Flying Arts Alliance is honoured to acknowledge the Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency, the Honourable Dr Jeannette Young PSM as our Patron. We also acknowledge Mr Tim Fairfax AC and Mrs Gina Fairfax as our Cultural Patrons.
Flying Arts is a not-for-profit organisation inspiring the appreciation, practice and professional development of the visual and media arts as a lifetime interest or career throughout regional and remote Queensland, supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and corporate partners and benefactors.
Flying Arts is the administrator in Queensland of the Regional Arts Fund (RAF), an Australian Government program provided through Regional Arts Australia.