Get your LOFTY nominations in!

NOMINATIONS CLOSE ON FRIDAY 17TH OF NOVEMBER

Know someone who you think deserves to win the 7th Lofty Award? Make a nomination today and send it through to us!

To be eligible for the award, the nominee must:

• Be a current or previous member of Watch This Space
• Demonstrated a dedication and passion for maintaining a high standard of arts practice that builds the cultural voice of Central Australia

Download The Lofty Award Nomination Form 2017 or email us for a copy atwts@wts.org.au

Shortlisted applicants will be notified before the annual Lofty Awards night, held at Watch This Space on Saturday the 25th of November.

2016 Lofty Winner

Watch This Space is thrilled to announce the 2016 Lofty Award Winner

D O R I S     K N G W A R R A Y E     S T U A R T

Doris was honoured at the Saturday night event with special speeches presented by Kieran Finnane, Beth Sometimes and Dan Murphy. Kieran Finnane has penned this articlewith more thoughts and information about her significant contributions: a worthwhile read in understanding the ecology of the arts in Mparntwe and the particular political stance Doris brings to her life work.

A huge congratulations and thank you to Doris for all her incredible work

LOFTYS Line-Up Announced

Our saucy MC for the night

✖   F L A N G I P A N I

◉

THE LOFTY WINNER’S TROPHY

made by our very own Chairperson

✖   Dan Murphy

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GUEST SPEAKERS

Beloved Previous Lofty Winners

✖   Renowned Arts Writer, Kieran Finnane

✖   Multi-disciplinary Artist, J9 Stanton

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MUSIC

✖   Sooji Kim & Dave Williams

✖   MS XAVIA

✖   RESIN MOON
performing with a secret sexy someone…

✖   The Not Real Cowboys – Lonesome Twosome

✖   BEC MATTHEWS & KING MARONG

✖   E d w a r d    F r a n c i s    ( D J s e t )

✖   D J     S e ñ o r     P á t o

The Loftys, 2014

Call Out for 2016 LOFTY Nominations

WTS is currently seeking nominations for the 2016 LOFTY to be awarded on Saturday 26th December 2016

TO BE ELIGIBLE A NOMINATED ARTIST MUST:

• Have been or currently is a member of Watch this Space.
• Must show dedication and passion for their Arts practice, producing new works with a relevance to the physical landscape or cultural terrain of Central Australia.
• Demonstrate that their arts practise has made a positive contribution to Watch This Space.

To make a nomination simply email your application to wts@wts.org.au

Download the nomination form here

The Recipient of the Award will be announced publicly, be celebrated and promoted on the WTS website, will have the opportunity to create or curate an exhibition to be held at WTS in 2017 and will receive a cash reward of $1000.

Board members/curatorial committee members and staff of WTS are ineligible for the award.

A BIT ABOUT THE AWARDS

In 1991 Pam Lofts saw the need for a space for contemporary artists to exhibit their work in Alice Springs, and with a small team of fellow artists, was instrumental in the creation of Watch this Space Inc. Since opening in 1994 WTS Inc. has become a focal point for contemporary and experimental art, and artists in Alice Springs, and continues to be an important part of the cultural landscape of Central Australia.

Pam has continued, with dedication, to pursue her arts practice, consistently producing works of a high quality across a variety of media. Through her art Pam has made a significant contribution to the Artistic and Cultural dialogue in Alice Springs and Central Australia.

In honour of Pam, her art, and her contribution to the Arts, WTS is proud to announce the annual LOFTY AWARD for high endeavour in the Arts in Central Australia.

This fertile space between us

By KIERAN FINNANE

Alice Springs is often seen as a town beset by racial division and conflict, but its creative culture can tell a different story. Looking back over three decades I find an already rich history of intersection and collaboration, in work by visual artists, writers and thinkers, designers and producers. This history shows the potential of  re-imagining the future in this community.

This is an edited version of a talk that I gave recently at Watch This Space, the artist-run initiative founded in Alice Springs in 1993. I was speaking as the recipient of last year’s LOFTY Award, named in honour of the late Pamela Lofts, a founding member of the Space, its first coordinator, and an important desert artist. I was honoured to have the LOFTY  acknowledge my contribution to the arts in Alice Springs through my writing. From the start I thought that the scope of whatever I did on this occasion should take a long view, a perspective gained through the two and a half decades that I’ve spent in Alice Springs. From there it didn’t take me long to arrive at wanting to address ‘this space between us’ – ‘us’ being as broad as the people of Central Australia, with the ‘space between’ implying the dichotomies of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal life and cultural production.

I have called the talk ‘The fertile space between us’, but how is the space ‘fertile’? you may ask. What’s the evidence? Most days a visitor arriving in Alice Springs might look around and think that it’s an almost vacant space or at best put it under the heading ‘can do better‘. Generally I would agree, and a good part of my meaning, in choosing the word ‘fertile’, is in its idea of latency – there is important work, and a great deal of it, to be done here. But the ground, ‘this space between us’ so rich in potential, has already yielded some fine fruit.

You can read the full article here [at Alice Springs News] 

Call for Nominations: The 4th Annual LOFTY Award

Nominations are now open for Watch this Space’s 4th annual LOFTY Award.

The award recognises a Central Australian artist that has, through their own artistic work and engagement in the local and broader artistic community, contributed to the artistic conversation of Alice Springs and beyond.
The Lofty winner is awarded $1000 prize money, the unique hand-crafted ‘Lofty’ and the opportunity to exhibit in 2015 at WTS with all gallery costs given for free.

The Lofty Award is named after the late Pamela Lofts, one of the founding members of Watch this Space ARI in 1993. It recognises her dedication to her arts practice, consistently producing works of a high quality across a variety of media, and her contribution to the development and exhibition of contemporary and experimental art and the cultural dialogue in Alice Springs and Central Australia.

Previous winners of the award are Franca Barraclough, David Nixon and Kieran Finnane.

Download the TheLofty-NominationForm-2014

Nominations close 4:21pm on Friday 28 November.

The winner will be announced at a gala event on Friday 5 December.

The Lofty Award is generously sponsored by Brian Tucker.