This month saw Greater Bendigo come alive with a vibrant celebration of youth arts. From film to music, visual arts to performance, we had both the 2023 RAW Arts Awards showcase and exhibition, and the Koorie Youth Flick Fest premiere, exemplifying the level of creativity and diversity of young artists in the region.

We kicked off with the Koorie Youth Flick Fest first. A showcase of short films made by Indigenous youth (aged 12-25 years) from across Victoria, the Koorie Youth Flick Fest concluded another successful year with a record number of entries. The winners were announced during Reconciliation Week at the launch of the Central Victorian Indigenous Film Festival, and two groups took out the top prize! 'The Proud Story' by Ngatatji Bysouth, Dontae Bysouth, and Tylajae Charvat, and '2 Sides' by Kobe McCaig and Montana Moore, received $1000 in prize money and the opportunity to have their work screened at Federation Square during NAIDOC Week in July. Keira Long's film 'Walla Walla' and Klarissa KJ Hearn's film 'Beautiful Just the way you are' received honourable mentions.

The 2023 Raw Arts Awards, hosted by the City of Greater Bendigo, also had a successful year, receiving 90 applications across five categories: visual arts, literature, performing arts, short film, and the Yo Bendigo/Ambedo prize.

The RAW Arts Awards aim to recognize the talents of young people in the region and foster their future artistic pursuits. With no theme, the awards allow entrants to submit their work in any chosen medium and style, allowing them to show off their work as young artists in the Greater City of Bendigo Municipality.

This year’s RAW arts winners for each category were as follows:

• Performing Arts: Ryan McPartlane (Winner), Dinali Dharmadasa (Highly Commended)
• Literary Award: Anna Dunnicliff-Wells (Winner), Levity Camilleri (Highly Commended)
• Short Film: Sara Hancock (Winner), Jin Turpie (Highly Commended)
• Visual Arts: Bethany Mansfield (Winner), Tess Sillery (Highly Commended
• Yo Bendigo/Ambedo Prize: Sammy Johnston (Winner)

For the YO Bendigo team, the 2023 RAW Arts Awards marked the second consecutive year that YO Bendigo partnered with RAW Arts to offer the Ambedo Award. The Ambedo Award is an award across all categories, which, judged by young members of the Ambedo Magazine media team, provides $500 to the artwork, performance, or piece which best captures the experience of being a young person living in Greater Bendigo. To further showcase the work of young artists across Greater Bendigo, all art and written submissions were additionally encouraged to submit to the magazine during the premiere, providing the opportunity for any young artist or writers who submit to be published.

This year, Ambedo’s Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Connor Findlay, presented the award.  “Judging this year’s Ambedo Award was no easy task deciding on one submission, as there were many, we were enthusiastic about. However, after much deliberation, and even down to the tiniest details, we had settled with our choice. Samantha's words were spoken to us uniquely. With beautiful scene-setting, and such heart-felt themes, this written piece was moving, poetic and emotionally captivating and, as we believe, a well-deserved entry.”

Overall, the 2023 RAW Arts Awards and Koorie Youth Flick Fest premiere were significant events for encouraging young creatives of Greater Bendigo. These events not only provided a platform for emerging artists to showcase their talents and connect with other artists and industry professionals but also played an important role in promoting the arts and cultural sector in Greater Bendigo and supporting the region's vibrant creative community.

We have a lot of talented young artists in Greater Bendigo, and we look forward to seeing what they will achieve in the future!

To learn more about the 2023 RAW Arts Awards and read the literature submissions, including the winning Ambedo Award submission follow the link: https://www.bendigoregion.com.au/arts-culture-theatres/raw-arts-awards-2023?fbclid=IwAR3ZU6QVOQFaHRf4m9EO09DmDV1tHLsI2BEK4r0hdSFQ2iv6pkQ80snB7BY

(RAW Arts 2023 - Visual Art Entries Photo by Bill Conroy from Press1 Photography)