VICTORIAN musicians, game developers, filmmakers, writers, galleries and fashion labels are among the first tranche of beneficiaries from the Victorian Government’s Sustaining Creative Workers initiative.
Included in the beneficiary list is local photographer, Serana Hunt-Hughes from Dookie who has secured a grant to establish an online gallery of her works.
Serana had been working commercially documenting public events and was engaged with the Shepparton Festival in producing much of their images however, the pandemic saw all that work come to a halt.
With time on her hand, she has been able to curate a sizable collection of images taken over the years into what will become the online gallery. The works feature a great number of spectacular landscapes and nature photos that will be available for sale printed, mounted and framed.
The creative industries employ 280,000 people in Victoria and contribute $31B to the state’s economy. It is among the hardest hit sectors, with venue closures, screen industry shutdowns and event cancellations leaving thousands of creative practitioners and associated trades out of work and leading to millions in lost revenue.
This first tranche of activities will see artists focus on expanding business skills, purchasing streaming equipment or creating online stores to expand their markets. Others will respond to the crisis by hosting online launch events and virtual publicity tours or by adapting cancelled shows into podcasts, audio plays or online exhibitions.
The online gallery that Serana is creating should become available towards the end of July.
