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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-21 Daily Xml
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Ripples Community Arts Centre

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (15:27): I rise today to talk about the 10th anniversary of Ripples Community Arts Centre in Lochiel Park in my electorate of Hartley. Over the weekend I had the privilege of attending that celebration.

A little over 10 years ago, the Ripple Community Arts Centre was born, believe it or not, in a garage by Dave, his wife, Judy, and their friend Pam, as well as some other local supporters. Great stories often have quite humble beginnings, and this humble trio of eager artists took on quite a considerable undertaking: to curate mosaics on several drains right around Lochiel Park. If you go there today you can see how those drains have been beautified right around that area.

The mission became not only to embark upon their own artistic ventures but also to engage other people in the arts all around Lochiel Park. A mosaic workshop would soon follow in the garage, and this was followed by many more workshops and various field trips together as a community. They had immediately left a great artistic footprint in the local community.

A couple of years later they had secured access to things like a local government grant and access to a former gym to expand their growing passion. In 2014, the Ripples art community became incorporated, officially becoming Ripples Community Arts Inc., a name we are most familiar with today. Incorporation is very important, because it means you can start applying for grants as well.

There is no artistic endeavour too extreme, too fringe, or too hard that Ripples will not have a go at. Ripples Community Arts had its first SALA exhibition in 2015, hosted in another garage and with around only nine to 10 people visiting. However, their last SALA exhibition was in Brookside Cellars with around 40 people visiting. It shows simply the outstanding growth they have accomplished.

Ripples Community Arts Inc has shown outstanding community engagement and has in turn seen unwavering commitment from its members. What was evident on the weekend was the warmth that the community brings, the positivity that the community brings, and I have been overwhelmed by the vibrancy and the wonderful dynamic that has been created in this part of my electorate.

They have a truly outstanding set-up now, and when I was there over the weekend, sir, you should have seen it. I saw a kiln shed, I saw a bronze-casting area, a forging area, a sculpture and ceramics area, and so much more, that would take a more artistic person to truly understand. All I can say is that what you have at Lochiel Park and at Ripples is a very strong community. It is so important for the fabric of our local area. Everyone who goes to Lochiel Park and sees Ripples is truly amazed by the contribution they make to our local community.

They host paints and textile groups and picture-framing groups—anything you can really imagine—and now they boast over 100 members. Of course, that is formal members but if you consider the people who get out and about and involved it is of course many more.

They have carefully crafted their identity, and they have undeniably earnt their place as a significantly recognised cultural cornerstone in my local community. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Dave and his team. Thank you to the wonderful volunteers at Ripples. I wish them all the very best on their 10th anniversary and huge success for the many decades to come.

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