Docos increase choir’s profile
If only the wider exposure had resulted in a wild amount of funding.
That’s Moorambilia Voices artistic director Michelle Leonard’s only lament after being the subject of twin documentaries over the past two years.
‘‘I wish someone who had seen them had said ‘look, here we are, here’s a cheque’, but there’s been no manna from heaven. What it has done though is give a very positive platform to start conversations with the people that have wanted us to disappear.’’
Leonard, who has been working outside traditional funding models and battling opponents of her multi-arts development programme since she first began visiting the remote north-west region of New South Wales in 2005, was more than open to filmmaker Lisa Nicol following her on her annual journey to expose young people to the joys of actively making and creating music. First came 2014 TV documentary Outback Choir. That was followed by the longer-form 2015 ‘‘cinematic’’ take Wide Open Sky, which won an audience award at last year’s Sydney Film Festival.
Leonard has her own take on what she’s thinks are the key differences between the two.
‘‘Outback Choir is very much for television – it’s pithier, shorter and deals solely with the primary kids. Wide Open Sky is more expansive – there’s a lot of love for the landscape. But she also does a lovely job by showing our artistic jewel in the crown – MAXed Out, our high school ensemble. We think that’s where the real story starts.’’
She says Nicol accompanied her on her school visits again this past year, this time to show off her work. While they didn’t make much impact on the kids who were in it (‘‘they’ve already moved on to other things,’’ says Leonard), their existence has coincided with a growth in numbers.
‘‘We’ve got 300 kids this time around, up from 210 when we filmed Outback Choir. I think it was also helped that we reached the 10-year milestone last year and we’ve moved our main concert to the Dubbo Regional Theatre Space, which means we’ve been able to artistically start doing interesting things with lighting and movement on stage.’’
To Leonard’s clearly audible delight, their big show next month also sold out eight weeks in advance and they’ve already been on the first of three trips to Sydney in 2016.
‘‘Those are what get the kids going and are also important for increasing awareness of us. We’re trying very hard to help people understand what we are doing because when you’re tucked out here no one knows – they’ve got ot feel it, touch it, experience it for themselves.’’
She’s also justifiably proud of what she calls a ‘‘fairly profound shift’’ in attitudes to cultural pursuits, thanks to the programme. ‘‘For me to sit here and have 80 primary sopranos who are willing and able to engage doing art music and dance, have high school boys singing through their changing voice and girls doing taiko – that’s huge.’’
Wide Open Sky has been screening around the country as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival. Outback Choir 8.20pm, Tonight, Vibe.