Events
Presented by Yea Arts and others
Members' Event - with author Mya Stevens
Tuesday 24 June, 7.00pm
Our June session will be all about telling stories, huddling in the warmth around the fire. We're excited to welcome the wonderful local author Mya Stevens to talk about her work, have a casual chat and answer some questions.
Mya Stevens writes stories that offer a wide range of enchanting and captivating tales, both children love and grown-ups enjoy. This makes her a versatile story-teller with something for everyone. Offering exciting and adventurous tales to share with the little ones, along with stories for grown-ups that you just can’t put down. Mya delivers fiction that inspires, entertains, and educates readers of all ages.
Membership of Yea Arts Inc costs only $15 per year and supports your local artists and performers in many ways ... and helps us bring events to the district. It also means that you can come along to our members' events - low-key social events a few times a year, each one with a theme. It's FREE for members ... but non-members are welcome to come along and join on the night. At only $15 it's very affordable! You can also join beforehand, HERE.
Do you have a story to tell? This is a safe, welcoming space for anyone who wants to tell a story. You're invited to bring an object too—perhaps something with an interesting tale attached. We'd love to hear it!
It'll be a relaxed opportunity to meet the committee and hear about our planned events for the rest of the year. Tea and coffee will be always available, but we always invite you to BYO light refreshments.
REMINDER
WHAT: Members' Night - with author Mya Stevens and other storytellers.
WHEN: Tuesday 24 June, 7.00pm
WHERE: 109 Cheviot Road Limestone
WHO: Mya Stevens and some other storytellers
FREE for members. All welcome. Join beforehand HERE or on the night.
The Business of Art Workshops with Sam Hicks
Saturday 21 June 2025 10:00am - 2:30pm, MIRA, Marysville
Yea Arts Inc presents The Business of Art Workshops. These workshops are supported by Murrindindi Shire Council.
This event will have two workshops facilitated by Sam Hicks.
1. Framing Your Art: Photo & video essentials: A hands-on workshop teaching artists how to capture high-quality images and videos of their work using a device or SLR camera for social media and marketing.
2. Social Media & Brand Building for Creatives: Participants will learn how to grow their audience, build their artistic brand, create engaging content, and effectively use social media to promote their art.
Sam is a business development, marketing and photography consultant passionate
about making a positive impact. With a background in ceramics and tourism, she
offers services for micro and small businesses in North-East Victoria and beyond.
Specialties include business development, all aspects of digital marketing including
one page marketing and business plans, social media strategies, website
management and photography. Sam also offers business advisory sessions to small
businesses and organisations (Not For Profit‘s)
Date: Saturday 21 June 2025
Time: 10:00 AM - 2:30 PM (UTC+10)
Location: Mira, 11 Murchison St, Marysville Vic 3779
Bookings Essential: Free tickets here
David Arden - Songman
4.00pm Saturday 16 August, 2025, Homewood Hall
David Arden - Songman
Renowned Gunditjmara/Kokatha Songman, David Arden is celebrated for his powerful storytelling through music, which honours and preserves First Nations culture and history.
With a career spanning three decades, David has been a prominent figure in the First Nations music industry and his heartfelt songs and collaborations have left an indelible mark on the Australian music scene. His performances blend rich traditions with contemporary expression, offering audiences a profound connection to the stories and spirit of First Nations peoples.
David’s music is inspired by all those who have gone before on this ancestral land, along his with own life experiences, to help audiences understand past injustices and promote cultural understanding.
David Arden
David was the front man for the Koori Youth Band and has worked with many of the great First Nation acts from Hard Time Band, Altogether Band has been honoured to play for many esteemed First Nations artists as well as playing lead guitar and singing backing vocals for the late Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter during their successful performance and recording career together.
David has also played key roles, in ground-breaking Aboriginal projects that have impacted powerfully in the sector, including co-musical director for the Black Arm Band and Yirramboi commission A Fight for Survival and Meerta.
Date: Saturday 16 August, 2025
Time: 4:00pm start - doors open at 3:00pm
Venue: Homewood Hall. 30 Homewood Road.
Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and all peoples should be aware that MEERTA - Rise Up! The Ballad of James Arden and the associated songs, artworks, videos & website may contain the images, voices and or/ names of people who have passed away. Dave Arden and family have respectfully consulted widely with family and community for appropriate use of images and in some circumstances where this may not have been possible, we acknowledge It can cause deep distress and sadness for family members, extended family members, communities and peoples associated with the deceased. Upon request we will respectfully remove any images that may cause any individual family or community member distress or discomfort.
Or purchase a Season Pass.
NIUSIA
7pm Saturday 18 October - Yea Butter Factory
NIUSIA is a critically acclaimed play produced by a ry presentation and is part of a 2025 Victorian tour. It is the debut solo work by Beth Patterson, a writer, opera singer and multidisciplinary artist.
Niusia was a Holocaust survivor. Her granddaughter, Beth, only remembers an angry, dying woman. She’s ready to learn her stories, but what she discovers is all the questions she didn’t know existed and wasn’t allowed to ask.
Weaving together memories, handed-down stories, and interviews with family, Beth sets out to understand her nana’s complex legacy. She gives voice to the cruel thoughts you shouldn’t have about your Holocaust-surviving nana, stumbles upon her own Jewishness (something she used only to evade school church services), and ultimately confronts how deeply embedded these horrific memories are in her family line. She asks, “I’ve somehow always known these stories. When did I learn these stories, and how?”
Discovering what happens when aspiration becomes assimilation after fleeing war and devastation for belonging and safety, NIUSIA interrogates what remembrance looks like when all that is known are the spaces where questions should have gone. It is a story all too familiar to second, third, and fourth generation immigrants and the haphazard cultural legacies they are handed by their families and examines the precarity of reconciling these mixed identities.
The play tackles the stories of Beth's family with a lighthearted sense of humour and lively energy, despite its heavy sounding themes. Journey with Beth as she is shown the tenderness she missed out on, learns to laugh at the unlaughable, and wades through the complexity of trauma-laden memories, love, and familial relationships.
Content Warnings: Discussion around adult themes of war crimes, violence, antisemitism, and genocide; Descriptions of concentration camp experiences; Depiction of PTSD flashback; Mild coarse language.
Date: Saturday 18 October
Time: 7.00pm
Venue: Yea Butter Factory, 13 Rattray Street, Yea
Tickets: Buy tickets now! Or purchase a Season Pass.
Note: Your ticket will entitle you to FREE participation of the Oral History Workshop - see below.
Oral History Workshop
As an added extra to the wonderful show Niusia, all ticket holders will get access to this workshop the morning after the show. Participants will collaborate with each other to reminisce, remember, and share a few yarns. Bring a friend or come by yourself. The workshop is about the past and the present; about how times have changed, and how they have not. It is about celebrating the little histories that say so much about who we were and where we are going.
Participants will be invited to share snippets throughout the day, and will leave with prompts, exercises, and tools to bring their stories to life. Sharing will be on an opt-in basis.
Facilitated by lead artist Beth Paterson and director/co-collaborator Kat Yates.
Date: Sunday 18 October, 2025
Time: 10.00am - 12.00pm
Venue: Yea Butter Factory, 13 Rattray Street, Yea
Participants: Maximum 15.
Ages: 14 and up.
Tickets:
- FREE participation for Niusia ticket holders
- FREE for Yea Arts Inc Members
- $15 for Non-YAI members (which will entitle you to Yea Arts Inc membership)
Or purchase a Season Pass.