Metro Arts… Not just a pretty facade

For over 30 years, Metro Arts has been recognised as the nucleus of Brisbane’s Independent Art community and is one of the last havens for emerging artists amongst us.

Metro Arts realised that independent artists needed more than just an unattainable venue to showcase their work and answered this need by providing investment, support and partnership through initiatives such as The Independents.

2012’s season of The Independents is a slate of five diverse co-presented new works kicking off in March with The Raven co-presented by Laura Kwiatkowski & Thomas Quirt.

The Raven promises to be an intimate and sensory theatre experience inspired by Poe’s great literary work. Sunny Drake, heralded as a “Queer Visionary” (samesame.com.au) will perform Xusing his authentic mix of stop motion animation, movement and puppetry to unfold a story of addiction from the LGBTIQ communities.

Eve is a woman caught between the domestic and the artistic, by seasoned performer Margi Brown Ash, while He’s seeing other people, co-presented by Underbelly Razor’s Anna Mcgahan and Melanie Wild takes us to a dystopian future and a decision that will change the lives of Archie and Fay forever. Finally, The Danger Ensemble brings us the intriguing Loco Maricon Amor, finishing the season with a sangria soaked party of revolutionaries and the greatest love story that almost was – Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dali.

The season ranges between March and September and dates are already available at metroarts.com.au so you can plan ahead. If history is anything to go on, we’ll be hearing more about these productions as they invariably take up national tours.

While you’re visiting the metroarts.com.au, check out the other programs for 2012 and diversify your art consumption.

The Allies Program showcases practitioners across all disciplines with a new program ranging from sculpture, installation, performance and cinema. The Galleries Program presents contemporary artists and art collectives, two of 2012’s artists were previously nurtured by the Artist in Residence Program of 2011.

More for performance practitioners, applications for FreeRange will open early in 2012. FreeRange is touted as a ‘highly sort-after month-long creative development hothouse for new work’. Subscribe to Metro Arts e-news for updates.

Metro Arts is evidence that independent theatre in Brisbane is still alive and well and the “tough old broad” that has been the cornerstone of emerging art for over thirty years still has plenty of life in her.