It’s no secret that we love artists. We love their imagination, creativity and courage and believe that art and artists make the world a better place.
We’re always looking for ways to help artists, performers and creatives to grow, develop and thrive. Year round we offer commissions, mentorships, support and funding and an annual Creative Development Program which offers funding plus practical support to help artists get their ideas off the ground.
However as a not for profit organisation we rely on fundraising to help us achieve our goals of becoming a true home for local artists.
Donations we receive go towards things like our Creative Development Program, Youth Theatre project and HOTA Choir. They’ve helped us establish an Artist Pass which make coming to HOTA more affordable for local artists and donations help us partner with amazing organisations like the Gold Coast Film Festival, Bleached Arts and The Farm to develop programs, performances and opportunities for artists.
This year we’ve featured local artists Kayah Guenther, Maitreyah Guenther, and Gavin Webber on the artwork for our fundraising campaign. We think they capture what it is to be an artist – they’re passionate, committed and fearless in their pursuit of their dreams. Kayah Guenther, an artist whose practice crosses dance, theatre and film, has been connected to HOTA for a number of years now. As a man with Down Syndrome, he uses dance to express the way he sees the world and the way the world sees him and has developed a national and international reputation for his work.
#Connecting local people & communities
Maitreyah Guenther is an artist, dancer and a writer and, with her brother Kayah, is one of the founding members of Studio Aperio in Murwillumbah whose aim is to defy stereotype and connect local people and communities with exceptional artists who share their experience with people of all abilities.
Kayah and Maitreyah, received funding and support from our first Creative Development Program to support the development of their work Siblingo.‘Working with HOTA has made an incredible difference in our work because it truly allowed us to delve deep and create the first showing… which has been a monumental dream for myself and my brother Kayah. Having HOTA on our side during the process was wonderfully uplifting and helped us to bring quality into our piece by having us in their space,’ said Maitreyah.
Kayah’s mentor, and long-time friend, is choreographer and dancer Gavin Webber, Co-Artistic Director of The Farm, an award-winning dance ensemble based on the Gold Coast. The Farm are also a HOTA Home Company which means that throughout the year they are in residence at HOTA creating and performing cultural activations big and small.‘When people give and support us as artists to make work then it’s an opportunity for people to see the world in a different way, and I think we don’t get to do that enough.
‘Having a place like HOTA, which becomes a home for artists, new things emerge all the time. But it gives you a kind of strength, a feeling that you’re in a community of artists, and that’s what HOTA is really providing,’ Gavin said.
Maitreyah continued: ‘(HOTA) is vitally important because it gives the Gold Coast a sacred ground of opportunities and inspiration, which sometimes can be hard to find as an artist. It allows creative minds to be encouraged to keep pursuing their path, and to feel like they are being nurtured in the industry.’ Kayah took a more lyrical approach to what HOTA meant to him:
‘HOTA is like a shining moon... (it) lets us see our shadow ...to see what happens with that’
Both Gavin and the siblings have found a huge value in working with HOTA, not only in receiving funding for the development of their ideas but also having the support and encouragement of an arts organisation.
Maitreyah told us: ‘Support and donations truly give you the ability to build the quality of your work. The key thing that has come out of my experience would be just having them (HOTA) at your side as you as you go forward. I think you just feel a bit stronger about the direction that you’re going.’
‘HOTA does very much feel like the home of the arts here (on the Gold Coast)’ Gavin finished.If you share our love of the arts then we hope you will considers donating. Give a little or give a lot, everything is gratefully received and is used to help artists like Kayah, Maitreyah and Gavin thrive.
Images: Courtesy of the artist.
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