"Backbone Festival is a testament to the resilience, creativity and abilities of young artists." Sampson Smith on the 2022 Backbone Festival.
Backbone is Meanjin institution. They have been supporting young artists in Brisbane for 35 years on the lands of the Jagera and Turbal people. Over the years they have established into a leading youth arts organisation and dynamic arts hub where young people aged 30 and under can come to be creative, see shows, and host their own unique events. Backbone aims to cultivates this city and nation’s next generation of artists, creative entrepreneurs, and cultural leaders by supporting them to challenge ideas and express themselves through many creative art forms, experimentation, and the sharing of essential stories.
To achieve this, Backbone runs year-round programming that includes workshops, performances, residencies, festivals, events, resource and training programs, and providing space for all of this to happen in. Through their 35 year history, they have supported the development of world-class leaders, creatives and artists and have built an amazing alumni network, including Louise Bezzina (Brisbane Festival) and Kate Fell (Darwin Festival).
One of Backbone’s key programs is their annual Backbone Festival, which was previously known as the 2High Festival. The festival started out as a vehicle to train arts producers and provide vital presentation opportunities for young artists. and now provides early career creatives with access to valuable and supportive development opportunities that are vital to their growing careers.
With this year’s Backbone festival launching on 28 October 2022, NEHIB spoke to Sampson Smith from the Backbone team to get the goss about how the festival has grown, the new festival and Backbone hub at Seven Hills and what you simply MUST see over the two weeks of the festival.
What's new about this year's festival? What events are you particularly excited about?
Every year Backbone Festival feels fresh and exciting because we have a brand new group of artists presenting work, usually work that is on its feet for the first time.
Backbone Festival is a testament to the resilience, creativity and abilities of young artists. It feels incredible to be a part of the beginning of their journeys, and it’s wonderful to see where artists and works from Backbone end up.
I’m particularly excited about presenting the new work of our three Pilot Artists in Residence; Howling Jackals by Micah Rustichelli, Sad Boys Luv Art by Baby Blue, and Pierrot by Martelle Simon-Green.
Another highlight of the festival will be //TRANSCRIPT// by Tammy Brennan. //TRANSCRIPT// is a show that Tammy has been working on since last year. It was meant to form part of our 2021 Neon Green Season (a season of works presented on the bowling greens at EBBC). However, between lockdowns and our surprise venue move it didn’t get to happen. We are very excited to see this process-devised video, sound art opera come to life under the stars in Seven Hills Hub’s Outdoor Amphitheatre. This deeply immersive listening and viewing experience will be sure to spark a fire inside of you.
We’re also extremely excited to be partnering with Fringe Brisbane as the dedicated youth arts hub. Everything we’re presenting is by, with and for young people. So, if you want to see something new and exciting, Backbone Festival is the place.
Tell us more about the Pilot Artists in Residence Program and its links to this year’s Festival.
Throughout the pandemic we have gained key funding to transform our training opportunities from unpaid internships to paid positions in our organisation through our Pilot Program (supported by Arts QLD’s Independent Creation Fund). Through the Program we have been able to employ three young artists since July 2022 to work part-time at Backbone. This really allows us to embed young people into the very fabric of our company as an artist, and it means we can be more responsive in developing new pathways for them.
Over the last four months these artists have been enmeshed into Backbone, engaging in the first creative development of a new project, and elevating the producing skills that will take them to the next stage in their career and beyond. This year the opening weekend of Backbone Festival is all about the culmination of what they’ve created as Pilot Artists in Residence.
This is one of your first major events at Backbone's new space at the Seven Hills Hub. What's been happening at Backbone since the move and how has the new space influenced the works that Backbone is programming and presenting at the festival and beyond?
Moving venue has given us a chance to realign - it feels like we’ve been at the physio all year working out the kinks and knots, finding our feet again, and visioning a future that Seven Hills Hub enables us to have.
Seven Hills Hub feels like a massive upgrade because we have so much space for creation, and we also have access to the Ron Hurley Theatre and the Amphitheatre. This has influenced the way we have made Backbone Festival, because now we have a professional space to transform into a youth arts hub filled with the most exciting young artists Brisbane has to offer.
If you haven’t checked out our new home, Backbone Festival is the time!
Who is your perfect audience member? Who is going to LOVE this year's festival?
If you’re looking for inspiration, invigoration, new ideas, different perspectives, and vital stories - Backbone Festival is perfect for you. If you like things rough, fast and fun - Backbone Festival is perfect for you. If you want bragging rights to say ‘I saw that artist before they got big’, Backbone Festival is for you!
Is there anything else we simply MUST know about the Festival?
Seven Hills Hub probably sounds like it’s miles away in some unmapped corner of Brisbane, but I promise it’s just a 15 minute drive from the city (and 5 minutes away from the East Brisbane Bowls Club). It’s worth the short trip for the journey you’ll experience at Backbone Festival.
What's next for Backbone after this year's festival?
Coming up next for Backbone is ‘Revel In The Queer’ at Brisbane Powerhouse’s Melt Festival on the 26th of November! This is a free event for the young and the young at heart to gather together, celebrate and enjoy some really incredible entertainment. As a part of Revel in the Queer, we’ve gathered a talented cast of young dancers in the Revel Dance Crew who are working with trailblazing dancers Rhythmology to create a headlining act for the show. It won’t be one to miss!
The 2022 Backbone Festival runs from 28 October to 12 November at Backbone’s new home, the Seven Hills Hub.
