Editorial 8 June 2018

Our grand archiving project is well underway. For the first time online you’ll soon be able to browse RealTime editions 1 to 40, a telling record of 1994-2000, years of creative ferment when hybridity took root, new media technologies were embraced, the not-so Creative Nation cultural policy took effect and the Australia Council extensively supported innovation if at one point creating a storm by attempting to rid itself of funding allocation via peer assessment. Coming up shortly, we’ll overview the rise of Aboriginal theatre 1994-2000 and map visual arts trajectories 1994-2004.

In this edition we pay tribute to the late Tom E Lewis. We review Theatre Kantanka’s Obscene Madame D and reflect on the company’s idiosyncratic productions over its long history. The appointment of Fiona Winning, ex-Performance Space and Sydney Festival, as Head of Programming at Sydney Opera House, raises hopes that Sydney’s beleaguered independent dance and performance community might gain more visibility. The SOH’s new Unwrapped program prompted us to look back to 2002, to the beginnings of the halcyon days of SOH’s The Studio. Jon Rose and Chris Abrahams have released an adventurous new CD, titled Peggy and referencing both the violin’s tuning pegs and Rose’s residency at Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ home where the album was recorded. It proved an opportunity for us to update RealTime’s extensive Jon Rose archive. Much more from and about the archive in our next edition! Keith & Virginia

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Top image credit: Katia Molino, Obscene Madame D, Theatre Kantanka, photo Heidrun Löhr