Projects
Current Projects
Completed Commissioned Projects
Completed Projects
Applying for Our Arts Funding
The Graham F. Smith Peace Trust supports art projects (visual and performing) through commissions, grant provision and sponsorship. 
Current Projects
The Peace Trust supported three projects in 2008.
Act Now postcard
ActNow Theatre for Social Change, an emerging young people’s political theatre company, based in Adelaide. ActNow aims to empower young people to use theatre as a tool for social change. Peace Trust funding will support the development of two street theatre performances.
The Academy of DYI – a weekend festival of accessible arts, activism, education and collaboration. It is designed to facilitate skill-sharing and the development of strong networks amongst artists and activists. The festival will be part of the Adelaide Fringe in March 2009 and include panels, workshops, film screenings and exhibitions.
Mallacoota Strum Inc were supported to commission Padma Newsome to compose a piece for Making Music Together for Peace as part of the East Gippsland Community Peace Project. This weekend community music festival in Mallacoota, 26-28th September 2008 will include choral, improvisation, instrumental and songwriting workshops. Padma Newsome, an ex- Adelaide resident, is a current Commissioning and Residency award recipient from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University.
Completed Projects
In 2007 the Peace Trust received a number of funding applications for Arts projects exploring a broad spectrum of environmental, political and social issues. These included proposals for performances, arts festivals, exhibitions, digital media and film.
On the Banks of the Tigris
Documentary Film, 2007
On the Banks of the Tigris is an inspiring new documentary film that is timely, uplifting and promotes peace and cultural understanding.
The film celebrates the Jewish contribution to Iraqi music and the cultural bonds that link all Iraqis. When Majid Shokor escaped from Iraq he discovered a hidden history- that many of the songs he and other Iraqis sing today were written by Jews. Determined to know the truth about this beautiful music and the Jewish people who had to flee Iraq in the 1950s, he embarks on a journey to find the composers, performers and stories behind the music he loves. In Israel, the UK, Holland, and at home in Australia, he finds an amazing cast of characters – Jewish, Muslim and Christian – who play marvellous music, tell spellbinding stories, and inspire him to work for peace and reconciliation between all Iraqis.
Marsha Emerman is a documentary filmmaker and lecturer with over 20 years experience making films on peace, human rights and social justice themes.
Majid Shoukor is an actor, playwright and former member of the Iraqi National Theatre. After four years in Lebanon teaching drama and writing, he and his family came to Melbourne in 2001 through the auspices of the UNHCR.
Peace Trust funding helped to enable the filmmaking team to travel to Israel in December ’06 and film interviews with several musicians and songwriters who are more than 80 years old. The film is now at the final editing stage.
Second to None Performance/installation, 2007
The Peace Trust was very proud to be associated with Kurruru Indigenous Youth Performing Arts in Port Adelaide in 2007. Kurruru, meaning ‘circle’ in Kaurna language, is Australia’s only Indigenous Youth Performing arts company. The Peace Trust funded Kurruru with a major grant to support the workshop program leading to the production Second to None, a co-production with Vitalstatistix Theatre Company.
Second to None was an outdoor, history-making performance and installation event including dance, installation, film and the recreation of important Kaurna ceremony. The audience took a bus journey through four significant sites celebrating the past, present and future of the Port.
Brunswick Womens Choir Commissioning of a composer – Jennie Swan – to write a work with the themes of peace, tolerance and reconciliation. The composition had it’s premier performance at the Brunswick Town Hall in October 2006 in a concert entitled Songs of Peace and Reconciliation. The composition will become a part of the extensive repertoire of the choir and will be performed for many months in Melbourne, country Victoria and New Zealand.
Nasser Palangi His project is “I lost everything – Woman during the war”; an exhibition of photographs and sketches of women living through the Iran- Iraq war (1980-1988) including story telling and slide shows about the exhibition. The exhibition was held at the School of Art Gallery at the Australian National University from 18 – 24 September 2006. Email sofagallery@anu.edu.au for further information. The exhibition was also shown in Adelaide in 2006. Nasser is an Iranian-Australian artist and lecturer at the ANU school of art who was in the war for the entire eight years.
Woodville High School Kaurna Meyuna, Kaurna Yerta Education Initiative The Peace Trust is absolutely delighted that the Kaurna Meyuna, Kaurna Yerta public art and trail will be used by Indigenous senior secondary students as part of their cultural and language studies program. Digital technology and visual primary source material will make the walking trail guide available to the students on palm pilots, which we believe will significantly enhance their learning and understanding.
This program has the potential to increase Indigenous-led cross-cultural experiences for a variety of audiences.
Completed Commissioned Projects
| Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi ‘Recognising Kaurna people and Kaurna land’ Public Sculpture, 2002 |
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Kaurna meyunna, Kaurna yerta tampendi sculptures are dedicated to the Kaurna People. Initiated by, and funded through the Graham F. Smith Peace Trust, this Reconciliation public artwork was commissioned by the Peace Trust in a valued partnership with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust. The artwork is as a gift to the Kaurna people in recognition of their traditional ownership and custodianship of the Adelaide Plains and it is an act of Reconciliation. Representing some of the Kaurna meyunna story, it gives insight to continuous Kaurna culture and history. It was designed by Kaurna artist Eileen Karpany, Aboriginal artist Darren Siwes and local artist Tony Rosella; the sandstone components sculpted by Donato Rosell