Catapult Festival

Background: The biennial Catapult Festival is co-hosted by Charles Sturt University and the Bathurst Regional Council through the efforts of the staff of the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre and the staff of the Theatre/Media course in the School of Communication (now the School of Communication & Creative Industries). The 2009 Catapult Festival was held between 23-27 September. Dr Gerard Boland, Senior Lecturer and Course Coordinator of the Bachelor of Communication (Theatre/Media), is the chair of the Catapult Festival Steering Committee (2003-present). This project is a concrete expression of the purposes that motivate the Cultural Cooperation Agreement http://tiny.cc/y4xfp between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and Bathurst Regional Council (BRC) and the Bathurst TAFE http://tiny.cc/snrf8. Catapult Festival 2009 was made possible with the assistance of the Australian Government's regional arts program, the Regional Arts Fund, which gives all Australians, wherever they live, better access to opportunities to practise and experience the arts. Mission: Catapult is the first festival in Australia to focus on showcasing the skills of young circus and physical theatre performers while enabling them to interact with professional practitioners. Research Focus: In 2009 Circus Oz was the resident professional company and the research focus of the festival was constructed around the aim of sharing training methods and perspectives concerning sustainable organisational structures. This approach to sharing skills and knowledge was developed by the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (La Fédération européenne des écoles de cirque professionnelles). The approach we applied is reflected in their Basic Circus Arts Instruction Manual http://www.fedec.eu/home.1587.html.