How to Build Bridges Symposium

The Arts & Industry Festival
10 am – 6 pm Friday 23 November
The Substation, 1 Market Street Newport

The day will provide an entertaining and insightful journey into the choppy waters of art making. Join us as we bring together ex West Gate Bridge workers, visual, music and theatre artists, academics and unions in a curated series of conversations, exchanges and performance.

The day offers many lenses to contemplate the theme of bridges through the built environment, memorials, local and Indigenous histories, academia and art.

Featuring AIF18 visiting scholar Professor Tara Goldstein from the University of Toronto, Canada, Australian artists and scholars, such as Bindi Cole Chocka and Elizabeth Humphrys, and Overland editor Jacinda Woodhead. It is also suitable for those who would like to hear ex West Gate Bridge workers talk about their experiences and listen to songs featuring bridges by Mark Seymour (ex Hunters and Collectors) and James Henry (ex The Black Arm Band). Attend one session of two hours or join us for the whole day.

Free. More details.

The Bridge (the play)

The Arts & Industry Festival
Wednesday 21–Saturday 24 November
The Substation, 1 Market Street Newport

A highly regarded verbatim play by the late Vicki Reynolds, The Bridge is directed by Donna Jackson and performed by an ensemble cast of actors and community members. The Bridge revisits the collapse of a giant span of Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge in 1970 that claimed the lives of thirty-five workers.

This powerful theatrical collaboration considers the historical impact and current ramifications of this event through the lens of past and present politics. The West Gate Bridge is more than a physical bridge; it is a link to the past, family and friends, between different cultures and also explores the bridges we create to the future. The Bridge is girded with a multi-media installation featuring video projection by Bindi Cole Chocka, lighting by Phil Lethlean and music by James Henry

Performance details and tickets.

Image: West Gate Bridge / flickr