NCWQ ARTS, LETTERS & MUSIC 2021/2022 SUMMARY
Prepared for the 2022 Annual General Meeting
by Jennifer Ann Davies, NCWQ Arts, Letters and Music Adviser.
“Giving ATTENTION is the highest form of GENEROSITY!’ ABC 12/08/21.
The worlds of arts, letters and music pay attention to and communicate shifting dynamics and changing rhythms in times of Covid, calamity, cruelty and chaos. They grant voices and platforms to connect, inform, challenge and reposition relationships that can and do influence Protection, Prevention, Positive Protesting and Peace Building. “…busily harmonious in unison with the rhythmic pulsing of Earth Herself, we give attention, become a symphony, protecting, preventing pain, loving Life, which is infinitely precious.” Jennifer Ann Davies/ICW 16/08/21:NCWQ 2021.
December 2021 was a month in which Queensland writers, poets, painters and performers featured. QPAC, ABC Studios and Street performances were in focus, whilst the regions enjoyed Hamlet and The Pirates of Penzance and metropolitan audiences enjoyed adaptions of the ‘Bard’s’ works, particularly Othello. The Sunshine Coast Plein Air Painters prepared for their pop-up gallery. QAGOMA offered Koto performer, Takako Nishibori’s mesmerising and meditative performance. UQ promoted a new, free e-book ‘UQ A SCULPTOR’S LEGACY: IN STONE’…Dr Rhyl Hindwood. Nate Odger released his new Captain Matchlock Adventure novel; the unstoppable Queensland Poet, Stefanie Bennett gifted us: ‘All the Yesterdays After’ and ‘The Pathfinder’; and Fiona Higgins wrote her curious and interesting read ‘The Mother’s Group’.
January 2022 opened the New Year with a rush of visitors as freed borders brought higher Covid infections and yet again, performers, artists, musicians and sound and lighting technicians suffered. Movie theatres were highly organised, checking vaccination certificates and masks. NCWQ responded to the reinforcement from our European and International colleagues of our Sustainable Development Goals. “ARTS & LETTERS can be a way to communicate, to inspire, empower and protect women and girls to achieve the best possible outcomes for themselves and their family in a world of sustainability.” ICW/CIF Jan/Feb NCWQ 2022.
March-April 2022 brought choices after we were told: “Women OUTPACE Men returning to the workplace after Covid lockdowns!” SBS World News 20/2/22. UQ explored the Russian-Ukraine conflict. In a restless world new films and new and old artists were toasted. ARCHIE 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize welcomed guests in Cairns on 18th March. The Dead Puppet Society offered THE WIDER EARTH, with the finest puppeteers, trained in the UK. Producer, Brisbane’s Trish Wadley stated: “All Puppetry is creative but the art itself is about FOCUS.” NCWQ Mar/Apr 22. Variety and Vintage allowed Literature, Language and Literacy to thrive, with distributions around the State and Country. 2018 NCWQ Bursary recipient, Leah Lever prepared to perform in the Queensland Cabaret Festival – “Sweet Life” at Metro Arts. www.metroarts.com.au NCWQ Mar/Apr 2022.
May 2022 held the 35th ICW-CIF General Assembly in Avignon, France, abundant with hard work, surprises, beautiful art, refreshing music and Friendship! Thirty-one member countries were present and much was successfully achieved. NCWQ May/June 2022. I loved the outstanding art of the infamous Yoko Ono in Zurich after the GA. This woman-artist has always been committed to peace in the world and the feminist cause! New ‘swap book’ shelves continued to be established and used, again bringing old and new titles to readers. Australian historian, Cassandra Pybus brought us an insightful and empathic rendition of Tasmania’s TRUGANINI. www.allenandunwin.com NCWQ May/June 2022.
“Do unto others as ye would that they should do to you.”
In July-August 2022 we congratulated our long-standing member organisation QCWA on their Centenary! Tribute was paid to the wonderful Women who built such strong NCWQ networks, bursaries, lasting friendships, and powerful relationships, that have all endured and are recorded historically and indelibly! I am immensely proud to continue to be part of this endurance and indelibility! A million thanks to you all! Reviewing my own participation for over two decades and a decade of writing for NCWQ, I tried to include all our Pacific colleagues, our International colleagues, Quentin, an earlier patron; Noela, my long-time Friend, mentor and former President; the authors and characters in “Respectable Radicals – A History of the National Council of Women of Australia 1896-2006; Justice Elizabeth Evatt and her work in Australian Law Reform; author Jess Hill – “See What You Made Me Do”; and all the creators of the platforms and possibilities that allow issues and voices to be visible and audible. In this last Arts/Letters report for NCWQ, I hope to have honoured the worlds within and hope that the words of the Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s delightful gem of a book resound and endure as do our relationships!
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Jennifer Ann Davies
National Council of Women Queensland Inc.
International Council of Women/ Conseil International des Femmes
gramunicorn75@gmail.com
