This week's show...

Yesterday's guests on SmartArts were:

9.10AM

Thomas Jones – SEND THE UNSENT project

As Thomas describes it, he is "compiling a book comprising of letters people have written but never sent for whatever reason."

It reminds me of the Post Secret project, but in letter form instead of postcards. Letters written by people to ex-lovers, dead parents, fan's idols, the driver of the car who killed your child; a gamut of emotional experiences in written form, reprinted for you to read: insights into other people's emotional states that might let you know that you're not the only person to experience such powerful feelings.

A large percentage of proceeds from the book will be going to the Beyond Blue Foundation.

I think it sounds like a great project. If you'd like to submit your letters, you can contact Thomas via sendtheunsent@hotmail.com - drop him a line and tell him I sent you!

10.00am

3rd annual Melbourne Stencil Festival

I caught up with Festival Director, JD Mittmann and visiting guest stencil artist Logan Hicks, (USA).

Date: Thursday 18th May to Monday 22nd May 2006
Opening hours: From 10am til late
Venue: Rose St Artists Market, Rose Street, Fitzroy
More info: www.stencilfestival.com

10.15am

Joan Nestle – ART OF DIFFERENCE @ Gasworks

Artistic directors, artists, and arts managers from around the world and across Australia are converging at Gasworks Arts Park in May for the Art of Difference international conference which focuses on disability and the arts. It includes discussion of the visual arts, performing arts, music, comedy, dance, writing and multimedia.

Key speakers include Kristy Edmunds, Artistic Director of Melbourne International Arts Festival,; Julie McNamara, Director of the London Disability Arts Forum; writer/historian and social activist Joan Nestle (USA); and comedian Philip Patston (New Zealand).

ART OF DIFFERENCE 2006
Dates: May 18 to 20
Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham St, Albert Park (Melways 2J H7).
Further info: Ph 8606 4200 or www.gasworks.org.au


10.30am

Sarah Anderson, Sudan Emergency Appeal Photographic Auction Assosiation Inc.

The Sudan Emergency Appeal Photographic Auction Association Incorporated (SEAPAA) which is a not-for-profit organisation.

They're holding a photography exhibition/auction extravaganza in the Atrium @ Federation Square, Melbourne (Mel Ref. Map.2F, G5 ) on Wednesday 31st May @ 6:30pm with all profits going to World Vision's Sudan Crisis Appeal .

Tickets to the gala auction night are $50.00 and include food, beverages, live folk, Sudanese music and speakers. Speakers include Tim Costello (CEO World Vision), Hugh Evans (Young Australian of the Year 2004), Naomi Cass (Director, CCP) and Jerry Galea (Photographer).

A free public exhibition of the works will run in the Atrium at Federation Square from the 30th of May to the 9th of June.

10.45am

Visual artist Stuart Ringholt was my next guest - he came in to talk, not about his art, but about his new self-published non-fiction book Hashish Psychosis - What it's like to be mentally ill and recover. The book is available at places like Polyester Books, Brunswick Street Bookstore and Readings Carlton. Check it out!

11am

Stewart Morritt, the Artistic Director of Petty Traffickers Theatre Company, came into to talk about their latest production – GINGER MICK AT GALLIPOLLI, based on the poems of C.J. Dennis.

Petty Taffikers has committed itself to unique theatrical adaptations of Australia's classic literary heritage both in metropolitan Melbourne and regionally, since its inception in 1997. Since then, sell-out metropolitan seasons, State Festival premieres and major tours across Victoria have underlined this intent. Critics have universally praised their work.

Their 'raison d'etre" is to revitalise interest in Australia's cultural and literary heritage through both metropolitan and regional productions of work by Aussie luminaries such as Lawson and CJ Dennis. Through being true to the language, whilst contemporising elements such as
the music, they are making sure that new generations are introduced to such national icons as The Sentimental Bloke and Ginger Mick.

GINGER MICK records the transformation of a man from down and out no-hoper
to a leader of men through the alchemy of war. It is also a portrayal of the varied human perspectives of war, written in a heightened fashion and presenting the loss, the death, the grief, as well as the need for soldiers.

This archetypal Aussie character became something of a national figure in Australia during WW1. At the time when Ginger Mick was written, the nation was only 14 years old. It was written as reports back from the trenches were being printed in the Melbourne papers. The welcome that the men in service gave Ginger through the medium of the small "Edition for the Trenches" equalled that accorded the 'Bloke'. "'Look at this', said a Victorian soldier returning from the war. "It has been through the hands of every member of my crowd.' He passed over a copy of Ginger Mick. It was broken-backed, dog-eared, and heavily stained with the mud of the Somme, but all its pages were still in tact. Dennis autographed that battered war relic, very cordially."' [Alec Chisolm]

When: May 23 - June 11, Tues – Sat @7.30pm; Sun @5pm
Where: Fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane Melbourne
Tickets: $27 full & $23 conc. Bookings (03) 9662 9966

11.30am

Lastly Cerise Howard joined us for our fortnightly screen culture segment which at last has a name: A FISTFUL OF CELLULOID. (Cue the music of Ennio Morricone!)