Art Guide Australia: Tina Havelock Stevens

Jo Higgins

April 23, 2025

Writings

Tina Havelock Stevens, *Cloudage Portal (after De Maistre) #3,* 2025. Gloss fibre inket print, pigment paint. Courtesy the artist.

I had the absolute joy of talking to Tina Havelock Stevens recently for a new feature for Art Guide Australia, ahead of her major new exhibition at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

It turns out Tina and I share similarly formative connections to the landscapes of the Central West of NSW, Wiradjuri Country, which only added to the richness of our chat and my appreciation for her work.

Her new show, Now is a Beginning, runs until 22 June 2025. You can read my feature online here.

Connected Audiences Conference - Culture & Young People: What could possibly go wrong?

Jo Higgins

April 5, 2025

Events, News

I’m heading to Berlin next month to co-present a paper and deliver a workshop with my former MCA Australia colleague Yaël Filipovic at the biennial Connected Audiences Conference.

Convened by the Institute for Cultural Research Participation in Berlin and the American Institute for Learning Innovation, in 2025 the conference has the brilliantly apt provocation: “Culture and Young People: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Factors, Challenges and Opportunities of Cultural Participation for Youth”

Yaël and I will be sharing our experiences with youth-led programming in Australia; the importance of institutional support; and how we have taken our learnings forward in our respective careers.

I’m really excited for the opportunities to connect with and learn from peers internationally, to test and develop my own skills and ideas in relation to institutional practice and working with young people.

I’m very grateful to have received funding from Creative Australia to undertake this professional development opportunity and excited to share my learnings on my return.

UPDATE (30 May 2025): My participation at the conference has received additional support, with a Professional Development Grant from the NSW Government through Create NSW. This funding kind of funding is so invaluable for independent creatives and I’m incredibly grateful to have the support to undertake this work, to build networks and share learnings with international colleagues.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.

ABC Arts: Thinking Together at Bundanon

Jo Higgins

April 4, 2025

Writings

Detail of Keg de Souza’s *Growth in the Shadows,* 2025.

I was down on Dharawal Country last month for the opening weekend of Bundanon’s newest exhibition, Thinking Together: Exchanges with the natural world.

Bundanon is such a special part of the world and it’s a vital part of the Australian arts ecology with its residency program and artist commissions.

My write up of the weekend, and my conversations with artists Keg de Souza, Robert Andrew and Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan has just been published on ABC Arts here.