Urban Theatre Projects (UTP) is delighted to unveil details of Sydney’s first place-based festival in the heart of Blacktown.

RIGHT HERE. RIGHT NOW. is a three-week event inspired by the stories, characters, and artists from this dynamic Western Sydney community. This brand-new arts festival will feature works that respond to the local landscape and showcase the talents, vitality and personal stories of emerging and established artists from across Western Sydney and beyond.

RIGHT HERE. RIGHT NOW. (RHRN.) features performance, installation, music, film and food in a 3.5 hour contemporary, place-based experience in the heart of Blacktown. It will see UTP continue its reputation for creating ‘out of the box’ experiences that tell contemporary Australian stories inspired by Western Sydney. RHRN. will unveil five newly commissioned artworks made in collaboration with more than 25 young and emerging Western Sydney artists. 

A ticket to RHRN. invites the audience to experience the site-specific works presented in restaurants, arcades and public spaces along Blacktown’s iconic Main Street.  All ticketholders will dine together as part of the experience at a selection of local Persian, Ethiopian and Afghan restaurants.

The RHRN. program continues to uphold the UTP mantra of making artworks that explore personal stories within a universal context, to reflect important issues unfolding in Australia and globally. Commissioned Australian and international artists have been in residence with UTP throughout 2017 and 2018 at UTP’s new Satellite Hub in Blacktown’s Main Street to bring the festival to life in November.

Highlights of RIGHT HERE. RIGHT NOW. include:

The Nightline: Award-winning theatre director Roslyn Oades in collaboration with six young people has created an immersive audio-led theatre work based on the provocation, “What Happens After Midnight?”. The work builds on research begun in 2016 which saw the artist set up a night-line phone message service to collect audio.

Team Trampoline: Contemporary visual and textiles Adelaide artist Meg Wilson has collaborated with Sydney artist Nicole Barakat to weave eight trampoline mats from different textiles and fabrics in collaboration with local residents and students from Rooty Hill High School. The work is part large-scale installation, part choreographed live performance. 

Internationally acclaimed tabla player Maharshi Raval will collaborate with young musicians to compose two new works for percussion, which will be performed live by seven percussionists.

Darug women Corina Norman-Dadd and Julie Jones, together with Uncle Lexodious Dadd, feature in a short-film shot on location at the Blacktown Native Institution site. The Institution played a key role in the history of colonial assimilation policies and race relations in Australia. 

Award winning Western Sydney Visual Artist Tom Polo has been commissioned to create a series of flags and banners to ‘dress’ the streets of downtown Blacktown.

Finally, artist Rajni Shah & Collaborators are in-residence with their project Feminist Killjoys Reading Group. The group is a growing community of people who identify as feminist killjoys,or who wish to learn more about the figure of the feminist killjoy in a respectful and inclusive setting. During RHRN. audiences are invited to join the conversation as part of open sessions held each Saturday of the festival.

RIGHT HERE. RIGHT NOW.  from Urban Theatre Projects [Facebook] is produced in partnership with Blacktown Arts [Facebook] and presented in Blacktown’s Main Street.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday across three weeks from 1-17 November 2018.