Broken Hill Art Exchange

About the Broken Hill Art Exchange

Broken Hill Art Exchange is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to building the creative industries of the city of Broken Hill and the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. Our grass roots organisation offers a whole-of-community approach to art and community cultural development.

The Art Exchange is a trans-disciplinary organisation facilitating the arts and other sectors engaging artistic practices. The residency provides private live-in studio apartments and self-contained rooms with access to studio workspaces. Residents can pursue their practices with uninterrupted time, or contribute to community activities by conducting workshops and exhibiting artworks as part of the organisations Desert Equinox yearly program.
Applications to attend a residency are accepted throughout the year by completing the forms below. Please note that membership to the Broken Hill Art Exchange is a prerequisite.

The Desert Equinox Environmental Program is the theme to our residencies. In September during the second planetary equinox residents, members and the public are invited to enter artworks into a prize art exhibition.

A Prelude to the Future Broken Hill Biennale of Art, a 2022 vision

Our program is Inspired by the first Desert Equinox held in Broken Hill in 2012 by Allan Giddy, Director of the Environmental Research Initiative for Art. His event utilised Broken Hill's unique environments as the backdrop to exploring the uses of solar technology in art.

Since then a yearly environmental program of events encompassing the themes of Sun/solar, Earth, Water and Air has evolved under the direction of the Broken Hill Art Exchange.

The Desert Equinox is an environmental program highlighting balance, equilibrium and interdependence between the elements of nature and society. The program consists of a series of events including artists in residence, workshops, exhibitions and special projects held across the city of Broken Hill between March and November each year. At the culmination of the each year the Broken Hill Art Exchange hosts a city wide art challenge and art prizes are awarded in each of the elemental themes of Sun (solar), Air (wind), Earth and Water.

A catalogue is produced during the city wide art challenge, including a location map where artworks entered into the prize can be viewed as well as articles profiling artists and participants in the yearly program.

The Desert Equinox Environmental Program is research in action by the Broken Hill Art Exchange as a prelude to developing a futureBroken Hill Biennale of Art.

The Broken Hill Art Exchange (BHAE)

Founded in 2001, is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. The aim of the organisation is to support the progress of art and artists. We facilitate workshops and projects by visiting and local participants to create partnerships and linkages between the arts and other sectors (e.g. health, environment, education, industry and business).

The organisation's concept of exchange operates on multiple levels including the exchange of skills, knowledge and resources between different art practices, industries and communities.

BHAE Inc. welcomes interest from artists, galleries and educational institutions wishing to experience Broken Hill for their next field trip or excursion.

Broken Hill was named as Australia's Heritage city in 2015 and its environments present the opportunity for innovative research and artistic development. BHAE's international residencies offer the best of both worlds. We have Residencies @ The Grand, situated in the culture hub of the city's main street for artists seeking a vibrant community atmosphere or if the serenity of the outback is the break your needing, apply for our Residencies @ Duff Street near Patton Village .

THE BROKEN HILL CULTURE HUB

BHAE is a NFP organisation founded in 2001 to provide an Artist Residency and promote the exchange of ideas and skills in Broken Hill and the Far West NSW region. In 2016-17 BHAE was closely associated with heritage renovations of the Grand Guesthouse (a local Motel), and was subsequently invited to manage the complex that includes a residential area, a gallery, public courtyard, and workshop spaces.

We are creating an inclusive and holistic hub that invites and facilitates the public to participate in artistic practises without the need for qualification or experience. This facility will invigorate the centre of the city, and create an artistic precinct that will be unique in regional Australia.

BHAE requires your help to facilitate its move and establish its new headquarters. Once completed, we will be able to launch a much expanded program of events, activities and workshops, and implement schedules that bring master artists and industry leaders to Broken Hill.

Broken Hill is popularly regarded as an artist’s city, but what is lacking is a hub of engagement for artists and the public. This might be true of some communities across Australia, but it is a particularly acute issue in remote Broken Hill: lacking the facility to exchange ideas, materials and skills with neighbouring communities, public engagement with the arts can be isolating and exclusive. BHAE addresses these kind of issues – including the debate surrounding the missing “A for Art” in “STEM” – by operating an artist residency and a network of artists and academics working across disciplines. This is crucial for both imbuing local artists and craftspeople with a sense of relevance and confidence in their work, and for encouraging the flow of ideas both ways.
These aspects of BHAE’s activities and the potentials of a central culture hub ultimately contribute to the establishment of the Broken Hill Biennale of Art – the organisation’s core goal.

BHAE operates on the efforts of its volunteer staff through and through. While working to highlight Broken Hill, the talents of its people, and the importance of the arts in environment, industry and everyday life, BHAE is sustained by income generated almost exclusively from its residency program. Therefore with help BHAE will be able to make its transition “one room at a time”. Donated funds will be used to get up and running immediately, effectively and efficiently.
They will pay for: moving costs; office installation; residency outfitting (furnishings, etc); and subsidised spaces for art-making, events and workshops.

The creation of this cultural hub – in essence an art precinct in the heart of a mining city – provides a demonstration of how the Arts engage and reinforce “sense of community” and endures throughout time.