It can often be difficult to associate places with time. Looking back on one’s childhood, the place itself can seem as old as the earth, something that was just always there without beginning or end, a spanning constant.
Constructions appear the only key to measuring the passage of time. 50 years ago, Ipswich welcomed its brand-new Ipswich Civic Centre with fanfare and ceremony, as Gough Whitlam himself opened what was to become the foundation for many first steps and songs, performances and acting pinnacles.
Ipswich’s favourite winter festival SPARK Ipswich thought it only fitting to celebrate the anniversary by bringing the town together in a glorious communal celebration of talent and triumph, commissioning Everybody Now!, an arts initiative focused on creating large-scale, participatory performances showcasing local stories, to help tell the tale. . . In a show cheekily called 'Hipswich'.
Check out the SPARK Ipswich programme.
“We're turning ten, it’s a milestone year,” Everybody Now! Executive Director Kate Baggerson shares. “It started out as myself and two other artistic collaborators with a show about the history of social dance. I was interested in using real people’s stories, and breaking down the barrier between audience and performer, so that the audience becomes the biggest proponents of the show. I gathered my colleagues Ian and Bec, and we created our first work.”
“Our body of work is much more diverse now, but we’ve always used a similar model around real stories, real people, looking at social infrastructure within a community. We match great amateur performers alongside professional contemporary performers.”
'Hipswich' will feature hundreds of local community members. Baggerson has worked with many communities over the decade, and relishes the opportunity to help people realise that their experiences and stories add to the artistic tapestry of the town.
“You start afresh each time, because each person and place is unique. I love co-creation so much, because I’m a theatre maker first and that's an inherently collaborative form. I really love collaborating with people who think they're non-artists, and seeing that innate creativity switched on in people for the first time, as we disguise the art part.”
“We say, ‘we’re gonna do this big community celebration together and just do what you do best’, whether that’s singing a traditional choral song or roller skating or being a footy player. We put everything around them and halfway through the process, the light bulb clicks for people that they’re contributing to making a piece of art. Everybody has that creativity inside of them.”
Baggerson reflects on how entering a community as an outsider can provide a new perspective.
“We've been invited in as guests and sometimes that can be quite helpful, because you go in with curiosity and no knowledge, and invite people to share their stories. We’ve spent weeks listening to Ipswich locals. For example, spritely 92-year-old Gordon performed at the opening in 1975, and he will perform in the show in a few weeks' time.”
“There’s lots of people that have worked there over the years or performed on the stage, often having their first performing arts moment in an Eisteddfod or a School Musical. We've met all these cool street artists and beat boxers and punk bands.”
Ipswich overflows with artistic diversity, which is reflected in 'Hipswich'’s wide-ranging selection of performers from singer Paulina, to a jazzy cabaret band, to local choral societies. Facilitating rehearsals of hundreds of people could be a nightmare, but Baggerson warmly recounts their effective methodology.
“We have an Everybody Now! principle that we meet people in their spaces and on their terms, whether it's Monday night rehearsal or the seniors on Wednesdays at 10AM. We see what they’re working on, bring our set of skills and support what they want to do in the show. And then we have big, chaotic, fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants days where it all comes together,” she laughs. “It’s a lot of fun.”
The show promises a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to honour what came before and to celebrate what Ipswich has now, a community of valuable stories told through multiple art forms.
“I'm particularly excited to collaborate with Tom Thum, the world-renowned beatboxer with over a billion streams,” Baggerson says. “He does really cool composition work with the industrial sounds of Ipswich, such as the coal mining and the steam trains, and creates a soundscape with his voice box. There’s lots of really cool, wacky stuff.”
'Hipswich' is on at Ipswich Civic Centre (as part of SPARK Ipswich) on 19 July.
