Blackbird Protostars Exhibition

Season 1 showcase of art, theatre, solar cults, robots, satellites, tiny homes and more

October 30, 2024

JOEL CONNOLLY

You’re invited to the Blackbird Protostars Season 1 Exhibition. Celebrate magic, creativity and the limitless potential of young people as we draw to a close our an experiment in grant-making from the Blackbird Foundation. We are hosting an online exhibition showcasing the beautiful and diverse work of the Blackbird Protostars - young Kiwis and Aussies whose passion projects we funded in 2021. Theatre, robots, Egyptian solar cults, Algorave, tiny homes, penguins and more. There is a richness in these projects that will bring hope and ambition as we walk together into 2022.
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Join us on Zoom for what I can best describe as a variety show exhibiting all we achieved together during the Protostars program.
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Date: Wednesday, February 9th, 5 pm AEDT.
Location: Online
RSVP: Here

Limited Edition Zine and T-Shirt

JOEL CONNOLLY

We have produced a beautiful zine that documents this first Season of Protostars. View each of the projects and learn more about the creators behind them in good old fashioned print.

We have also designed and printed a small number of Protostars T-shirts. These are limited in quantity and will be available at checkout when registering for our exhibition.

We’re pricing these to cover costs, but any profits made will be donated to the Blackbird Foundation and the next cohort of Protostars.

Where we are coming from

Our future leaders are not just sitting in a university lecture hall or doing an internship at an investment bank. The next generation is also breaking down complex issues through rap on TikTok, peering through a camera lens, or sitting at a piano composing, leaning over a workbench, painting, writing, programming. Their passions are as diverse as they are dynamic, and they will be the ones to solve the most significant challenges we face.

Last year, we opened up applications for our first-ever grant program. The framework was straightforward - provide grants of $1,000 for passion projects based in Aus/NZ.

These are the earliest cheques Blackbird has ever cut, and in the future, hopefully, we can go earlier.

Our objective was to find beautiful examples of creativity, supercharge their work through funding and community building, and use their stories to inspire more young people.

We received 298 incredible applications running wide and deep on the creative spectrum: engineers, poets, Egyptologists, scientists, toymakers, artists and activists. We ended up funding 26 of them, and we are calling them Protostars.

We worked together for three months on our passion projects. This exhibition is a showcase of that work. I’m incredibly proud and so inspired by these young people. Join us and celebrate their work as we begin to imagine what 2022 and beyond could be.

JOEL CONNOLLY

written by

JOEL CONNOLLY

Exploring New Creative Frontiers: Into the Metaverse with Ivan Medrano 

We talk all things metaverse, diversity in art, creativity and digital fashion with two-time Protostar alumni, Ivan Medrano

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The first issue of Ivan's digital magazine: The Independent Variable

interview with ivan merino
by Theia Gabatan

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“I’m really excited about how we can use the metaverse to challenge ethnographic practices within the art world. Within our institutions, there are so many instances in which people of colour have been put into narrative boxes.”

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The first issue of Ivan's digital magazine: The Independent Variable

interview with ivan merino
by Theia Gabatan

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written by

Blackbird Protostars Exhibition

Where we are coming from

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Exploring New Creative Frontiers: Into the Metaverse with Ivan Medrano

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Exploring New Creative Frontiers: Into the Metaverse with Ivan Medrano 