Penrith Council collaborates with Museum of Contemporary Art for C3West Project

Penrith Council is partnering with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia to deliver another C3West project, enabling artists to address key issues of community concern and activating Kingswood’s public spaces.

The C3West program, Skirts, examines issues around women’s community safety in the suburb of Kingswood.

One of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MCA) key programs, C3West brings together artists, businesses, government partners and arts organisations to create projects that give voice to community issues with a focus on Western Sydney. Since 2006, C3West has worked in areas as diverse as Penrith, Liverpool, Goulburn, Blacktown and Hurstville, aligning corporate social investment with community development.

C3West places contemporary artists at the core of their projects with the belief that they can bring unique value to situations beyond the gallery context.

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Director, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor notes “for over 15 years, the MCA has been working in collaboration with Western Sydney arts organisations, businesses and local government to enable artists to address key issues of community concern. C3West demonstrates how artists can make an impact with communities and I am so pleased Penrith City Council, one of our very first partners, is working with us again.”

Working with Western Sydney-based artist Linda Brescia, Skirts brings women from Kingswood and surrounding suburbs together to demonstrate the power of the collective and standing up against barriers that can come between individual and community wellbeing. 

Curated by MCA Senior Curator of C3West, Pedro de Almeida, Skirts is a group with a vision - they are the women who live, work, study and socialise in Kingswood and who aspire for positive change for themselves, each other and their community.

Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown notes “we’re thrilled to be partnering for the second time with the MCA for another C3West project. Kingswood is a resilient, welcoming, open minded community and we value this empowering creative project that will strengthen the neighbourhood.”

Since September 2020, artist Linda Brescia has engaged with a diverse group of women by facilitating workshops and creating a safe space for creativity and dialogue in collaboration with award-winning writer, Felicity Castagna. 

The outcome being a manifesto that combines poetic personal observations of women’s daily experiences and aspirations with a list of actions. The manifesto will inform facets of the ensuing program including artworks and activations for Kingswood’s public spaces starting from May.

Skirts will take place in Kingswood from Sunday 30th May to Sunday 5th September 2021. For programming updates, visit the website.  

Image: Kingswood project C3West. Credit Anna Kucera