Welcome to Come To Where I Am – Australia. 

Writers from across the country have been commissioned to create a new 10 minute story that will be made into a short video postcard –a snapshot of the place where they live right now – of the places, people and environments that shape their experience as Australians and artists. They take many forms – autobiographical monologues, new works of fiction, and contemporary tales based on traditional stories.

The films will premiere here and on the website of our UK partner, Paines Plough, from mid-August, with four volumes of four stories screening throughout Spring and Summer.

Each work has been selected by the Critical Stages Touring team in consultation with Paines Plough. The two companies have worked together to select pieces that highlight regional and rural experiences alongside writers from our urban and suburban communities. They have been filmed at partner performing arts centres, in the homes of our writers, and in the very places they have written about – their home town.

Once gathering restrictions are lifted we also intend to stage live performances of the works at venues around the country.

Come To Where I Am – Australia is a wonderful opportunity to reflect not only upon an extraordinary year of challenges, from the bushfires to Covid, but to also remember that the environments we inhabit are as much a part of the fabric of our cultural understanding and connection as the people within them. Place matters, places change, but our need for community and belonging remains.

We hope you’ll enjoy the coming months of storytelling and discovery. We invite you to travel, virtually, at a time when visiting so many places is impossible.

Project partners also include: The Australia Council for the Arts, Regional Arts WA, Country Arts SA, Artback NT, Regional Arts NSW, and Regional Arts VIC. Private donations have also made additional commissions possible, and we are proud to have the support of these organisations and our donors.