Please note: Images in this article were taken before current COVID-19 safety measures were in place.
The Sunshine Silos Projection Festival celebrated the area’s rich industrial history, cultural diversity and enthusiasm for community projects. Find out how a government grant helped light up the event.
Sunshine’s iconic silos, located in Melbourne’s inner west, took centre stage on Saturday night with projections, art, live music and performances as part of the Sunshine Silos Projection Festival – made possible through the Victorian Government’s Pick My Project initiative.
As darkness took hold, the iconic silos were lit up with more than 1000 artworks and animations submitted by local primary and secondary students, as well as interviews by local filmmaker Andrew Robb, and projections by the Little Projector Company.
The Sunshine Silos Projection Festival project is the brainchild of local resident Jacob Holley, who submitted the idea to the Victorian Government’s Pick My Project initiative in late 2018.
“We originally started with the idea of having a mural painted on the silos, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible. It was then that I started to formulate the idea of running a projections festival that would bring the community together and celebrate the amazing talent of our local art community,” said Jacob.
“This area was once a predominantly industrial area but it’s undergoing massive changes. We have a growing arts community and so many talented and creative people in Sunshine. We received hundreds of pieces of art from 15 local schools and we teamed that with the work of some amazing local artists and literally put that up in lights,” he added.
The Sunshine Silos Projection Festival was one of 25 successful projects chosen in the Western Metro region as part of Pick My Project, a community grants initiative empowering Victorians to generate project ideas that make their local community an even better place to live.
The state-first initiative has awarded funding to 237 successful project ideas, with more than $30 million in funding allocated to community projects that aim to bring people together and make a difference.
Concludes Jacob: “I hope this project will highlight our local talent and help to emphasise Sunshine as a hub for creativity and the arts.”
To view more successful projects across Victoria, visit pickmyproject.vic.gov.au.
