Morag Myerscough x Everybody NOW!
Thursday 1 October 2026
Presented by HOTA
Morag Myerscough x Everybody NOW!
Presented by HOTA
A bright and bold BEACON of belonging, this epic, large-scale installation becomes a landmark for joy at the centre of BLEACH Festival. Led by Everybody NOW!, BEACON is a new commission by global design leader Morag Myerscough (UK), in collaboration with hundreds of Gold Coasters who participated in creative workshops.
BEACON calls you in with vibrant colours, hand-painted patterned entrances and adorned gateways. The natural world interacts with the artwork; light dances through space, shapes move with the wind, and poetic text by best-selling author, Holly Ringland, signals messages from people and place.
Throughout the festival, local community singers will send out a siren song, performing at dusk as the artwork comes alive with neon light.
Don’t miss the opening of BEACON Thursday 1 Oct at 5.30pm for a special opening night performance with all the community feels and big disco energy, featuring our BEACON Festival Choir of more than 100 singers and local Electro-pop duo Super Massive.
Love to sing?! Come join our Festival Choir!
We’re looking for singers of all ages and experience levels to perform a special musical arrangement of best-selling author Holly’s Ringland’s poetry, commissioned as a part of Morag Myerscough’s large-scale installation, BEACON, for this year’s BLEACH Festival.
You’ll work with the highly sought-after choral director and vocalist Alex Van den Broek, joining a series of fun and inclusive workshops, before singing the artwork to life as part of the BEACON Opening Event of BLEACH Festival.
Free to join. All voices welcome!
Everybody NOW! creates participatory arts projects that generate joy. Proudly based on the Gold Coast, as a HOTA Home Company, Everybody NOW! is an Impact award-winning organisation dedicated to the creation of high-quality, community-engaged arts projects, that are made with and for community, alongside outstanding professional artists.
Morag Myerscough is an acclaimed UK artist and designer, renowned for her vibrant and immersive public art installations that transform urban environments. She is best known for her use of bold colours, patterns, and words to create spaces that foster a sense of community, belonging, and joy. Myerscough’s work spans a wide range of projects, from schools and hospitals to cultural hubs and town centres, often involving local communities in the design process to reflect their cultural identity and shared history. Myerscough’s work is instantly recognizable for its energy and ability to resonate with diverse audiences worldwide, having been featured in cities across the globe, including London, USA, Hong Kong, and Mexico City. In addition to her design work, Myerscough is a passionate advocate for belonging, often speaking about the importance of creating spaces that promote inclusivity.
Holly is an international best-selling author and TV presenter for ABC’s Back to Nature. She is best known for her 2018 novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, which won the 2019 General Fiction Book of the Year Award, and was adapted into a television miniseries in 2023 starring Sigourney Weaver. Holly grew on the Gold Coast and returned home in 2020 after living abroad. In addition to her best-selling fictions Holly regularly writes & speaks on topics of belonging & creativity. In 2023, she authored her first non-fiction The House The Joy Built. Holly is delighted to be collaborating with internationally acclaimed Artist Morag Myerscough (UK), and Everybody NOW! to create a new poetry commission which will be woven throughout the artwork as well as sung by hundreds of voices in specially created festival choir.
Alex Van den Broek is a sought-after Queensland arranger, vocalist, choral director and singer-songwriter known for creating vocal excellence within safe, nurturing spaces where every voice can shine. Her work spans theatre, choral music, television and live performance, including music director roles for La Boite Theatre on shows including Congratulations, Get Rick and Fancy Long Legs, as well as various collaborations with The Little Red Company as arranger and choral/vocal director. Alex was arranger and choral director for the nationally televised Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols (2021–2024), working with artists including Kate Miller-Heidke and Dami Im. She also arranges orchestral works, session sings (including on two Bluey tracks), and shares music with her 200,000+ online followers. Alex will be gathering and inspiring a choir of hundreds as part of this special BEACON project in collaboration with Everybody NOW!
BEACON is a project by Everybody NOW! featuring Morag Myerscough (UK) and supported through the EGC Arts Fund and Australian Government through Creative Australia.
Everybody NOW! is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and the City of Gold Coast, and are proudly a Home Company at HOTA Home of the Arts.
135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise, QLD 4217
