Ella at the JUTE Regional Playwrights and Theatre Makers Conference in Cairns

What was your activity?

I attended the JUTE Regional Playwrights and Theatre Makers Conference in Cairns from the 19 - 23 November 2008.

The conference offered workshops in playwrighting, dramaturgy and clowning as well as seminars about the use of digital media in theatre, grant writing, independent producing and Australian playwrighting organisations.

Did the activity meet your objectives? 

The workshops, lunches and readings provided valuable networking time and allowed me to establish relationships with playwrights, theatre makers and theatre company professionals from across regional Australia.

I would have liked to spend more time developing an existing script, but the busy schedule of the conference did not allow time for this. The skills learnt at the conference however will assist me in the development of new works.

Back in Darwin, I shared my experiences of the JUTE conference with Corrugated Iron Youth Arts' young artists collective The Smelter at one of their fortnightly meetings on in December.

How did the activity add to your development as an artist?

The workshops provided me with skills and processes to assist my writing and the dramaturgy of my own and other's works.

The 'Love, Chips and Gravy' creative development and the reading of 'The Shining Path' were valuable exercises in quick response actor skills and allowed me to demonstrate my performance abilities.

The readings of new Australian plays were inspiring and affirmed for me that regional Australia is capable of producing strong unique voices.

Above all, I met arts professionals at all career stages at the conference. Talking with both newcomers and those with decades of experience provided me with many ideas on how to sustain myself both creatively and financially as a regional artist.