Waste 2 Art + Minokamo Exchange - Jessica Moore (20th February, 2024)

The Waste to Art exhibition in Dubbo allows people to turn recycled materials into works of art, showcasing the creativity and potential of waste. The exhibition welcomes participants of all ages and is highly supported by the community. The Minakamo Exchange Program offers a cultural exchange between Dubbo and Japan, allowing students to live with host families and learn about each other's way of life. The program includes a visit to the Shoyuan Gardens, a gift from Minakamo to Dubbo. The cost for students to participate is around $4,200, with a bursary provided by the council. The program is also open to students from Wellington High School. Now, there's a couple of things going on around the area at the moment and the things that of course because I'm new to Dubbo, they absolutely fascinate me. There may be some that are well, you know, general knowledge and there may be some that are actually quite new. But the person to ask about what is happening and the one that's really full of the information and knows all about it is Jessica Moore, the Cultural Development Coordinator at Dubbo Regional Council. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for coming back on. Thank you for having me. You're becoming a regular visitor now. I'd like to... Waste to Art. Yes. Now, I've seen some photos online of some of the creations that have been going. It's turning what recycled material into art pieces. Yes, absolutely. It's a bit of a local phenomenon at Waste to Art. It's probably our most popular exhibition that we hold every year because it's the chance for people to test their creative metal, put their minds into doing something completely different and there's no greater challenge than turning waste material into works of art. Well, exactly. That's what I thought. And I looked at some of the photos and it's just from previous years. It's absolutely fascinating. I came across one where someone's turned an old broken clock with I think it's like a curtain rail into a toilet paper holder next to it. Well, I suppose that's one way to, you know, refurbish them. Absolutely. And I think the great thing about Waste to Art is that it just shows us how creative people are, but how much potential there is within waste material. The stuff that we dispose of all day long and it's filling up our land resources can actually have this second, third life as a piece of art. And that's an example of something functional, but we've also got some really great examples of just really beautiful things that we can hang on our walls at home and it's up there with the best art that's being produced around the world. Yeah, especially during a time where we're trying to, you know, get the awareness out there of recycling. And for most people, it's really just putting it into a different coloured bin, but when you really put the artist's sort of mindset to it, it does create these fascinating and imaginative pieces of art. Absolutely. There is no restrictions with Waste to Art. The imagination can let loose and fly off and so it really does allow people young and old to really try something new. And one of the great things about Waste to Art is that it's so well supported by the community and the audiences who visit are just fascinated and amazed at what people can create. So it's a really positive kind of exhibition and process that everybody benefits from. And I understand what I originally thought was it was just open to schools, but it's actually open to everyone. Absolutely. Everybody in the community can participate, young and old, people who've never created before. We really welcome people who may have had something sort of gurgling around in their brain. It's a perfect opportunity to try it because like I said, it's such a positive, welcoming experience for people to exhibit in Waste to Art and once you start, you never stop. Oh, I can understand why. Absolutely. I can understand why. I'm guessing you do have a lot of repeat entries of the same people that want to give it another go. Absolutely. People get hooked on it and we have some people who come back every year and who everyone always looks out for, where's that work because they know it's going to be interesting. But we've also seen kids who've done it in primary school and now that they're in high school, they're still entering into Waste to Art. So it really is addictive and once you get the hook into it, it does kind of create a creative fire within people. I understand the applications for people that are interested are now open? Absolutely. So applications are open. You can get all of the details including the application form from the Western Plains Cultural Centre website. We have a couple of weeks for people to apply, be creating and then the actual exhibition happens in May. How long is the exhibition going for? It goes on for about two months. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. A lot of time to go and see it. Exactly. Lots of time and the winners from that double heat actually go into a regional Waste to Art. Oh. So your work, if it's sort of judged highly, gets to go to another place in New South Wales to be admired by a whole other audience. So it's a really exciting program. We're chatting to Jessica Moore, the Cultural Development Coordinator at Dubbo Regional Council. Stay there a second. I want to chat about the Minnicamo Exchange Program that the applications have now just opened for an absolutely fantastic opportunity for a few people that are in high school. Quick break. Back in a second. You're on Zoo's Breakfast. It's Zoo FM Breakfast, your home of Dubbo's best music from the 80s. So now it's Keegan with you and we're chatting with Jessica Moore, the Cultural Development Coordinator at Dubbo Regional Council. One other thing I'd like to discuss, the Minnicamo Exchange Program, I've encountered this when I lived in Sydney with a very few select high schools doing it. I didn't think I'd come across it out in Western New South Wales, but it seems it's really well embedded here in Dubbo. Absolutely. The Minnicamo Exchange Program between Dubbo and Japan is one of the longest running programs that council has run. It's been running for almost 15 years now, which is really great. Full break during COVID, as you can understand. And last year, it came back with full force and we're really proud to announce that it's open again for students to apply for. What's the sort of timeframe of them heading over there? So the actual students from Dubbo will travel to Japan in October, September, later this year. But the reason we have applications open now is that the students who are traveling from Japan will actually be coming to Dubbo in late July, early June, late July. And so we need to get our host students locked in. So it's actually the word of an exchange. It's two ways. Absolutely. So the Japanese students come to Dubbo and the families are hosted here. And then those students who hosted go to Japan. So it's a perfect exchange where you really do get to become very close to your sister, brother or sister. And it allows you to really get to know them, what their life is like in Japan, they get to do it in Dubbo. And it's designed on not just a trip to Japan. It's designed to actually learn about what life is like for teenagers in Japan. You go to school with them, you sort of go to the after school events and sports and activities. So it's a way of really learning about another way of life. So I'm guessing you actually, if you were to travel to Japan for this program, you would spend time living with that host family of the one that was sent back here. Yes, exactly. Right. Okay. That's actually really interesting. So it's a family hosting program. And so you get to help with the family's daily lives, you get to eat as Japanese people eat, go to the entertainment that they get to do, learn what they learn at school. So it's really, we found that over the life of the program, that's the way that we build really strong relationships, really strong friendships. We've had one marriage out of the program, which has been wonderful. So it is a really rewarding experience for the students who go. They really do get to build lifelong friendships. I understand that there may be a Japanese garden that's actually here in Dubbo that is a part of that partnership with the exchange program. Yes. So Shoyuan Gardens, which is up sort of behind Orana Mall, was a gift from Minakamo to the city of Dubbo. It's an absolutely gorgeous garden. I really recommend going there. It's very beautiful. I think I may have seen somewhere that also there's this setup, which of course may have been slightly delayed by COVID, where we receive into Dubbo these skilled gardeners and the people that are responsible for taking care of the garden. Absolutely. So garden design and garden maintenance in Japan is considered an art form. You have to become a master at it. It takes decades to become skilled at it. And we're very fortunate that we've had some of those masters come to Dubbo, not only to help us build the gardens, but to help maintain them. So alongside the gardens, we have the tea house in which we do Japanese tea ceremonies. And this year is actually the 35th anniversary of our relationship with Minakamo as city to city. What's the sort of cost involved for a student heading over there? So the cost, we don't have firm cost, but it's based on last year, which was about $4,200. Normally it would be just over five, but council provides a thousand dollar bursary to every student who goes. So we try to make it as affordable as possible. So one thing that we would like to note this year as well, is that it's open to students at Wellington High as well. Wellington Secondary School students are eligible to apply. So we really do encourage anyone who's interested and who may live in Wellington who thinks, oh, I'm not sure if it's a Dubbo thing. It's open to any student within the LGA. That's absolutely fantastic. Thank you for coming in again and keeping us updated on some of the events that are happening here. And when I say events, I mean, actual international events on a scale that we didn't imagine. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.