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Arab Theatre Studio | OPEN DAR | 7 - 9 SEPTEMBER

OPEN DAR, open house, is a sequence of three evenings together on Dharug Country, in Granville, Blacktown and Bankstown.

All are welcome to join Aunty Rita Wright, Aunty Kerrie Kenton and the creative team, as they open the Dar with storytelling and performance, music and video, and deep textures of natural materials. Each gathering will be unique, threading the encounters over the three sites.

OPEN DAR is an Arab Theatre Studio collaborative work guided by Elder in Residence Aunty Rita Wright - conceived in Granville in early 2020 and creatively developed in Blacktown in 2021. The three cultural gatherings being shared in September 2023 have come out of a process of deep listening and reflection on making work on Country.

Thursday 7 September is in Granville Town Hall - the area being First People’s traditional site of birthing and creation, and the first area of colonial smash.

7PM Start

Join Open Dar at the side of Granville Town Hall for welcome and acknowledgments, followed by a procession and cleansing ritual before the performance in spaces of the Town Hall.

Friday 8 September is in the Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre - the area a site of Sorry Business, remembering and healing.

6PM Workshop in the middle gallery (60 minutes)

Join Open Dar artists Idil and Kamil Abdullahi, Yul Scarf and Nicole Barakat to engage and reflect on place through a series of experimental drawings on cloth.

Create your own drawings on fabric using local plant materials and henna and contribute to a large collaborative cloth featuring wax rubbings of found plants and objects.

Your creations will become part of Open Dar at Blacktown and Bansktown.

Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult.

7PM Start

Join Open Dar in the art centre car park for welcome, acknowledgments and ritual of cleansing, followed by a procession to the performance in the studio.

Saturday 9 September is in Bankstown Arts Centre - celebrating social stories.

Join Open Dar for welcome, acknowledgment and ritual of cleansing, followed by a procession to the studio for gathering, celebration and reflection.

7PM Start

3 Venue locations over 3 nights:

7 SEPTEMBER: GRANVILLE TOWN HALL: 10 CARLTON ST, GRANVILLE

8 SEPTEMBER: LEO KELLY BLACKTOWN ARTS CENTRE: 78 FLUSHCOMBE RD, BLACKTOWN

9 SEPTEMBER UTP, BANKSTOWN ARTS CENTRE: 5 OLYMPIC PARADE, BANKSTOWN

Duration: Each event will be approximately 90 minutes

Ages: All ages are welcome.

No cash sales at box office.

Credits:

Design by Feras Shaheen

OPEN DAR is funded by the Australia Council for the Arts, and supported by Utp and Bankstown Arts Centre, Blacktown Arts and Blacktown City Council.

OPEN DAR Creative Development in 2020-2021 was funded by Create NSW.