Temperance Hall Artistic Associate

The Artistic Associate role represents a new addition to Temperance Hall's artistic team, an established independent artist to become engaged on a deep level with our organisation. The position supports the independent artist as a cultural agent, and is intended to create new pathways for artistic production. Aimed at achieving a deeper and more enriched artist engagement beyond the offer of space, the Artistic Associate role is an invitation to create and curate workshops and talks in line with the needs of the dance community, as well as provide artistic development, artistic challenge and exchange.

As our inaugural Artistic Associate, choreographer and performer Luke George will be provided with a flexible space to expand on the context of his innovative methods of connecting the artist and the public. The associateship will allow both Luke and the organisation opportunities to share resources, build relationships with artists, curate initiatives and grow communities and audiences.

Statement from Luke George:

Through my role as Artistic Associate at Temperance Hall, I will be prioritising art practice that is intersectional, intercultural and interdisciplinary. I will be working with queer artists and artists from the Asia-Pacific region and focusing on: artistic research and creation, encounters and intersections between artists and the public through talks (recorded and published), workshops and performance events with a focus on the act of gathering and social connectivity.  This activity will be in concert with the development of my artistic practice. As an independent artist, it is essential that I work in cooperation and collaboration with many dimensions of the sector.

Developing my artistic association with Temperance Hall is a key step to a sustaining arts practice for myself and for independent artists in Melbourne and beyond.  Diverse in their backgrounds and lived experiences, artists often sit outside the main frameworks of companies, theatres and major performing arts organisations.  I am thrilled to be collaborating with the amazing team of Phillip, Veronica and Kristina, in pursuing the possibilities for experimental art-making, prioritising voices and artists who need to be heard and seen, advancing new ideas in contemporary culture and growing social capital.

Luke George creates new choreographic work that takes daring and at times, unorthodox methods, to explore new intimacies and connections between artist and audience. Born in Lutruwita-Tasmania and based in Narrm-Melbourne, Luke creates and performs work locally and internationally/culturally through connecting and working with artists, curators and public across multiple platforms and communities across Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Luke is committed to experimentation and innovative methods to explore the intersubjective connections between the artist and the public. He sees dance less as spectacle than as reflexive practice, in which people examine themselves and their values through movement and interaction. He is concerned with relational politics, examining the dynamics of intimacy, collectivity and risk. A high awarded and commissioned artist, In 2019 Luke has received an Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship, his work Public Actions premiered at Dance Massive (Melbourne) and his co-creation with Daniel Kok, Bunny was presented in the Venice Biennale.