what is happening
Adelaide Festival
The two Steiner classes enjoyed a wonderful time at the Adelaide Festival, full of rich experiences and a plethora of visual and performing arts. Tim Minchin’s opening night concert far exceeded expectations. He had a rockin’ band with an awesome brass section and back-up singers. He is an amazing songwriter and had us singing along to his incredibly complex song about Jesus and ended with his Christmas classic ‘Drinking White Wine In The Sun’ accompanied by spectacular fireworks over the Torrens River.
The Adelaide Biennial in the Art Gallery was very bleak and confronting with some pretty gruesome video works, dark tapestries and depressing sculpture . Then the play in the afternoon called the Doctor dealt with more dark themes. But we were reinvigorated by the spectacular interactive experience in ‘The Lighthouse’ in the evening, where we moved through five different spaces with different and extraordinary lighting effects, including lasers that drew light patterns on the floor, the biggest soap bubbles we have ever seen and a room that inspired us all to move and dance, choreographed by the light. There were lots of ooh’s and aaah’s and looks of pure delight on everyone’s faces. It was a great way to end the day.
Oh yeah, over lunch we went to the writers festival and had a choice of 4 stages, some of us chose to sit and listen to Tim Flannery and Ken had a brief encounter with Tim Costello who signed his book.
Monday began with a walk along the beach and some sand dune somersaults before the dance performance called Black Velvet at 11am, a visit to the South Australian Museum in the afternoon and Bungul in the evening. The day was bookended by two extremely contrasting performances - with much in common. In the morning Black Velvet was an ultra-contemporary dance performance accompanied by thumping electronic music and in the evening at Bungul we saw Elcho Island dancers performing age old dances, accompanied by a full orchestra playing Gurrumul’s traditional songs, whilst images of Elcho Island were projected onto a massive screen. It was heroic.
Tuesday saw us visiting the Jam Factory Craft Centre and Ace Open Gallery, preceded by a stroll through the beautiful Botanic Gardens and the Museum of Economic Botany. We were a little disappointed that the giant Amazonian Waterlily had been relocated out of the gardens due to a leaking tank. But our disappointment was short-lived when we experienced the multi-media performance of Mozart’s Requiem. This was the centrepiece of the Adelaide Festival and an aural and visual extravaganza. Whilst queuing in the foyer before the performance a group of festival goers expressed surprise to see a school group attending a Mozart concert. They must be a music school quipped one of them and Ken told them we were from Castlemaine. “Oh! Castlemaine, of course,” was the response.
It was a fantastic experience, the students were impeccably behaved, the coach driver was extraordinarily accommodating and the cook made sure we had plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. The ‘new’ students got to know the ‘old’ students and all felt included. We are all very grateful for the opportunity.
Dodge Ball
Students having a great time with a visit from the YMCA last month, Jamie Roberts and Laine Withers had a massive amount of students present - could have been 80!
Castlemaine District Community Health is calling for community volunteers to join the L2P program to support disadvantaged young people to help them achieve 120 hours of supervised driving practice. The L2P Program is a state-wide program funded by TAC and administered by VicRoads. It is aimed at young people aged 16-20 who are disadvantaged in their access to a supervising driver.
The supervising driver mentors are especially trained to guide the young learner through the various stages of driving. They have the use of a CDCH vehicle and all on-road costs are borne by the program. Both learners and mentors are covered by the organisation’s insurance and the mentor receives support from the L2P Coordinator. Learners are encouraged to commit to an hour of driving practice a week with their driver mentor.
Call Lisa at Castlemaine District Community Health on 5479 1000 or email@cdch.com.au
VCE Theatre Excursion
Survey for our LGBTIQ+ youth in shire.
CHIRP Community Health and the Let’s Get Proud group are engaging parents of LGBTIQ+ children and young people in the Mount. Alexander Shire.
The aim of this survey is to find out more about the experience and support needs of LGBTIQA+ children and young people as well as their parents. This survey is part of a combined effort to identify the support and well-being needs of LGBTIQA+ children and young people and the data will be used to create an evidence report to advocate for further services and supports if required.
The information gathered in this survey will remain confidential and you do not have to provide identifying information if you do not wish to. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes.
Please follow the below link to access the survey.