Song for your Park Lands
by Rosemary Warmington
Participants at our “Park Quiz” last week received an unexpected bonus - the premiere of the first-ever Adelaide Park Lands song.
A crowd of more than 140 Park Lands supporters gathered at ‘The Gov’ (the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel) on Wednesday 9 October for what was billed as a battle for the Big Grass Mug - a “Park Quiz” (spoofing the format of TV’s “Hard Quiz”) to raise funds for the 2025 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize.
Some of the crowd at The Gov on 9 October
Quiz master, ABC Radio Adelaide’s SA Weekends presenter, Deb Tribe grilled three contestants on their Park Lands knowledge:
(from left) James Smith - SA's urban wildlife expert; Dr Kiera Lindsey - South Australia's History Advocate; and Michael Harvey - Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden and ABC Radio Adelaide’s Deb Tribe
Dr Keira Lindsey (centre) was judged the winner of the Big Grass Mug! Pics: Kamyar Fanaei
The audience learned (and laughed!) a lot. Each table had two opportunities to win prizes, by:
answering written Park Lands quiz questions; and
creating a model of one Park within your Adelaide Park Lands.
Each table contributed their Park model to a finished mosaic, with a prize for the table whose Park was judged the best effort!
Combined with a silent auction of donated items, the evening raised just over $2,400 which will boost prize money for the 2025 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize, including $2,500 for the school student prize category.
The evening was topped off by a beautiful performance of the brand new ‘Song for the Park Lands’, composed and sung by the award-winning Loren Kate.
Following this live performance, Loren Kate has agreed to complete a professional studio recording of this song, which is expected to be scheduled before the end of the year.
Our thanks go to all our contributors- our amazing committee of volunteers led by Jacqui Hunter who made it all happen, Jill Woodlands from Nature Festival, also to Deb Tribe as our delightful host, our expert panel, and our generous sponsors and donors.
It was a grand night!
On stage: Rosemary Warmington (left) and Deb Tribe (right)
Enter the 2025 Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize
The sixth biennial Adelaide Park Lands Art Prize will be held in March-April 2025. Entries are open until 31 January 2025. The entry fee is $50. School students have a discounted $25 fee. Enter here: https://parklandsart.org/
Prizes
First prize will again be $20,000. There will be at least seven category prizes of $2,500 each, making a total prize pool of at least $37,500.
In addition to a first prize of $20,000 there will be at least seven category prizes, offered for: Multimedia (including digital art and photography) School student; First Nations; People's Choice (sponsored by the Royal Adelaide Show Society); Three-dimensional (ie sculptures, craft etc); Artist Living with a Disability (sponsored by Minda); Emerging Artist.
Sponsor a prize category
The “Park Quiz” event on 9 October raised just enough to cover the prize money for the School Student category. The “People’s Choice” award is sponsored by the Royal Show Society, and the “Artist Living with a Disability” category is sponsored by Minda.
However you (or your company) can claim the naming rights for one of the other artist categories. See: https://parklandsart.org/support-the-art-prize/
Prize pool expansion?
We are still hopeful of securing additional sponsors and donors to boost the prize pool further, and award even more prizes than those outlined above. Our aim is to boost overall prize money to match the record $50,000 that was paid out in 2023.