 |
|
|
|
Once every
two years, Chambers Island, in the Maroochy
River Sunshine Cost, is transformed into a
festive paradise. The Sunshine Coast
community comes together to celebrate the
waterways and the catchment we live in and
adore.
Maroochy
Waterwatch and the Splash!
team put together an event that is more than
a festival, it is an artistic, ritual
celebration, for National Water Week
"Chambers Island
~ the perfect place for the festival"
Chambers
Island, a tiny estuarine island, is away
from the hustle and bustle, yet close enough
to be accessible....by walking bridge or
boat. It is a place for relaxation, days
off, fishing and swimming. AND it is a
perfect open stage for an
outdoor-little-bit-unusual performance event
|
Splash!
is a unique creative resource
connecting people to the
waterways, environments, and
thus towards the solutions for
our environment; culminating
in a biennial community based
cultural celebration of the
Sunshine Coast waterways,
and people ~ from
the range to the sea ~
a big Splash! |
Since its
inception in 1999, Splash! has
become a powerful tool to empower and
educate the wider community about our
regional waterways, and the celebrate local
environmental achievements. In engaging the
passions of the community, utilising the
arts to reconnect people to the environment,
this project hopes to inspire people to
create their own solutions. Splash!
works directly at the crossroads of
Environmental awareness, Community,
Education and the Arts
|
Making Connections beyond
Australian Waters
Splash!
hosts International Volunteers
for Peace |
In
the spirit of~ act local, think global,
Splash! instigated a partnership
with a worldwide network ~
International Volunteers for Peace.
The 2004 volunteers from Australia, Belgium,
France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, UK, and
Korea ~ ranging in age from 18 - 55 worked
with Splash! artists alongside
members of the local community.
|
"
It is a privilege to be part of
the
extraordinary community
collaboration,
an event which has heart, which
is so
much greater than the sum of
it's parts,
which speaks such strong
messages
to all, which has captured the
essence
of connectivity of land water
and people.
It is this lasting message that
I take with
me, that ~ we are all, like the
waterways
connected ~ and everything we do
MAKES A DIFFERENCE."
~ Kari ~
Artistic Director of Splash!
2000 - 2006
|
Top of page
Home |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photos by
Marion Jonkers Photography©
Produced by the
splash! artistic team in association
with
Maroochy
Waterwatch
the
project culminates in an awesome
splash! during National Water Week. To
get there, communities are invited to become
involved in Splash! activities and be a part
of the awesome climax. Splash!
chapters are created in partnership by
communities all over the Sunshine Coast.
There are workshops each week to create
chapters of a greater story.
On the event
day, there are food stalls, workshops,
performances, displays, a performing circle,
and decorations transforming the island.
The local Gubbi-Gubbi are involved, the
descendants of the South Sea Islanders,
kids, grannies, potters, dancers,
professionals, artists, musicians, youth,
elders, and visitors.
|
Pouring
of the Waters
Each Splash! features
a ritual to honour the local
waterways and
the volunteers who do the
work to rehabilitate, preserve,
and protect them.
The Pouring of the
Waters
is the poignant heart
of Splash!
Our local Mayor amongst many
others, is there to pour water
and feel the sacredness of the
space created by a 'sound-bath'
and water-pots highlighting the
preciousness of water.
This Ceremony proves again and
again to be poignant and moving
as each participant hold aloft a
jar of water, and declaims it's
place of origin, before it is
poured into the collective water
pot created by people with
disabilities
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
