An event in which Whyalla Council participated and partnered has won the National Award for ‘Best Regional Event’ at the 2020 Australian Event Awards.
The winning Regional Event, produced and directed by illuminart Australia, was Travelling Light, an epic month-long tour of regional communities in South Australia, illuminating landmarks with projected art and stories created collaboratively with regional artists and local residents.
The spectacular Travelling Light displayed vibrant, colourful moving images and art on to silos, town halls, two ships, a lighthouse, wharf buildings and a museum, bringing a crowd together at each place to enjoy the free spectacle.
Whyalla City Council and d’Faces of Youth Arts co-hosted the Travelling Light event on Saturday 10 August 2019, with over 300 people attending to see the HMAS Whyalla illuminated with projection.
The projection included animation created in Whyalla 12 months prior, by Whyalla’s own animator Michael Rostig. Michael worked with school children and high school students to make the work, which were all based on stories and research about Whyalla’s history.
Also featured in the projections on the HMAS Whyalla were 1980’s footage of the move of the Whyalla and some Stephen Stanley cartoons of the era, and underwater videography of the Giant Cuttlefish contributed by OzDiverDown, enlarged to the size of the ship.
The colourful Whyalla animations were shown around the state during the Travelling Light tour, with stories about Cowleds landing, Captain Pilberg, and the opening of the Whyalla institute being among the most popular on the tour, and these were all projected onto the ship along with stories from other participating towns.
The Travelling Light event coincided with the South Australian Living Artists festival (SALA) during the month of August 2019.