As Scenic Rim’s Portfolio Councillor for Community Arts and Culture, it was a pleasure to open two major events on our creative community’s calendar. I was greatly honoured to be able to open the ‘Come on a Journey – Beaudesert 150 Years Exhibition’ which featured a Community Celebration High Tea with a discussion panel of guests.
To further celebrate Beaudesert’s Sesquicentenary, its 150th Anniversary in 2024, the dedicated members of the Beaudesert and District Community Art Project Association Incorporated – better known as BADCAP – created the Scenic Rim Small Sculpture Prize. It was also my great honour to open this inaugural event which will continue to be held every two years as Beaudesert’s own ‘Biennale’.
In other good news for our creative community, applications are now open for Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) grants. A total of $60,000 is available in the 2024-2025 RADF program under three funding categories for a wide range of projects and initiatives to help cultural creatives bring their innovative projects to life!
For details of eligibility and how to apply, visit Council’s www.creativescenicrim.com.
To honour the service and sacrifice of almost 60,000 Australians who were involved in the Vietnam War, I joined the community for Kooralbyn’s Vietnam Veterans Day commemoration to lay a wreath.
Beginning with a spectacular flyover by the pilot of a former military aircraft, this was a very moving ceremony for community members with a particularly heart-wrenching speech delivered by Vet Norm Evans 2nd RAR who handled bomb-detecting dogs.
I also visited Veresdale Scrub as part of Council’s Community Hall Roadshow program and spoke to quite a few residents about their aspirations to gather feedback from local residents to ensure our community halls can continue to be vibrant spaces at the heart of our towns.
It was also a great pleasure to attend Beaudesert’s Cuppa in the Communi-tea where I chatted with residents who were able to connect with Council and service providers while enjoying a cuppa or two.
Tamborine Car Show was an incredible event where I was able to present 25 trophies for various categories for a fabulous range of vehicles proudly on display for an admiring crowd.
The very next day I attended a Conference in Brisbane for the Australian Local Women in Local Government. A very informative event which examined a number of issues for women including dreaming big for empowerment, examining the ‘imposter in the room’, gender bias in AI software, making decisions for the right and good reasons, election campaign safety – and – how to “feel the fear and do it anyway!”.
Recently I attended a ‘Meet The Mayor’ Tamborine Mountain Chamber Business Breakfast at the Bearded Dragon which brought together local businesses in a networking capacity with an engaging presentation by Mayor Tom Sharp.
Looking forward to a great month ahead!
