Welcome to the Aerie Creative Ecology

Tucked away in the seclusion of the Dandenong Ranges is a creative home known as Burrinja. For 20 years Burrinja has been building community through art. Throughout much of 2019 Burrinja has been undergoing internal redevelopment and excitingly, will be re-opening in 2020. 

Here’s your chance to be a part of it all. After all the anticipation, we are happy to announce that applications open Friday 1 November for the new Burrinja artist studios to be known as The Aerie Creative Ecology.  

The Aerie is all about like meeting like, and then finding underlying connections with other artists and creative enterprises, providing scope for an intersection between the different artists in the community. The Aerie is a place that aims to be a playful / creative / social / cultural space that is accessible to all. This new initiative includes purpose built studios, co-working habitats, an exhibition program and creative professional development opportunities. It is our ambition that The Aerie will become a regional cultural hub for creative, public and community engagement.  

At the heart of the Aerie is studio tenancy for artists, creative enterprises and arts businesses across most disciplines, ranging from visual artists, to writers, from game developers to graphic designers, and everything in between. The Aerie provides affordable space to support artists to undertake ambitious projects, sustain their practice and work collaboratively. Studio tenancy is through a competitive application process that will be assessed by a selection committee. There are 8 independent studios sized between 12-22m2 available, as well as a co working space and a shared casual studio. 

Successful applicants will be offered a three year tenancy in the available studios. Such a long term tenancy is a luxury that most not-for-profit organisations are simply not able to provide; however, Burrinja sees the value in providing a stable and supported environment for artists and creatives’ long term, to enable them to develop their practice. 

As part of their tenancy, artists and creatives will also have access to the formal professional development provided by Burrinja. The program will be provided through a series of workshops on arts business, marketing and strategic development, whilst The Cultural Development Producer will liaise with each tenant to support and mentor them through their tenancy.  

Burrinja is committed to supporting artists and the development of their practice by providing affordable space for artists to create work, and for the local community to engage with art and culture that reflects both our heritage and contemporary lifestyle. Stage one applications (for the independent studio spaces) opens on 1st November and closes on 6th December, 2019.