
The ‘Magic Show,’ an initiative of Point Lonsdale’s Lighthouse Arts Collective, is aimed at promoting community connection.
Upwards of 100 entrants have paid $20 to take part in the show. They have each received an A3 piece of paper to create their very own artwork, using any medium.
“At the heart of the project is a desire to promote community connection and provide a hopeful and creative focus during lockdown and this topsy turvy time,” said the Collective’s Suzie Wylie.
“It was important to us that the invitation to participate was simple and engaging - by providing the essential material (the paper) and by ensuring participants had complete creative freedom, we hoped the nature of the project would capture the imaginations of our community, from those that consider themselves creative to those that don’t.”
Ms Wylie said the project was the brainchild of a collective community member.
“It developed quickly and joyously and was announced to the community the following week. Good ideas are sometimes like that - Magic!”
“We have been overwhelmed by the response. The enthusiasm around the project has been so energising, and so heartwarming especially at a time when so much of what the collective had in place for 2020 has had to be postponed or cancelled,” Ms Wylie said.
Participants have been given four weeks to create their works at home. They will be submitted by September 21 - which coincides the end to current stage three restrictions - and will subsequently be displayed in the Collective’s New Hall when it it safe to do so.
“If this is not doable in the foreseeable future we will come up with a creative online way for the project and it's participants to be celebrated,” said Ms Wylie.
The Collective is among many groups within the arts community to have been hard hit by the pandemic. Proceeds from the entry fee and the sale of works will help with the staging of future events.