Image: Brien Cohn
The multi-award winning projects – M~M and Geelong After Dark have just won a prestigious award at the Australian Regional Development Conference (ARCD) Innovation Awards.
Acknowledged as offering a “great legacy” to the region, the two arts events were jointly awarded a Community Development Award at the recent conference, described by ARDC judges as having an “outstanding approach to engaging an enormous range of city groups and diverse parts of the population” with “exceptional planning and processes”.
This underscores comments of previous judging panels, who speak of M~M’s “breath-taking conception, scope and execution…” and “profound meaning and significance to the Geelong community...” The Australian Event Awards also recently applauded the inclusive nature of the M~M project, and the manner in which it pools the collective knowledge and commitment of many groups to “…create a whole greater than the sum of the parts.”
City of Greater Geelong Councillor Andy Richards Portfolio Holder for Arts and Culture said M~M2014 and Geelong After Dark were unique events bringing the community together on a large scale.
“ M~M takes people from all walks of life on a journey to discover the region’s culture and traditions. The 80km walk incorporates a programme of music, visual arts, storytelling, environmental and sporting elements and the City and event partners are currently planning for M~M2016,” said Cr Richards.
“Geelong After Dark is one night of pop up arts events, performances and musical acts that transform Central Geelong. It is continuing to grow, the 2014 event had over 6,000 participants and the 2015 event had more than 10,000.”
M~M Artistic Director, Meme McDonald was also delighted to hear this news.
“The award applauds M~M as innovative as well as contributing significantly to community development in Geelong. We couldn’t be prouder receiving this award.”
M~M: Geelong’s Extreme Arts Walk and Geelong After Dark are both set to return to the Geelong region on 6-7 May 2016.
