Arts in Vincent 

The Arts in Vincent oral history video project aims to capture the stories of past and present City of Vincent residents who are high achievers in the Arts.

The six one-hour video interviews were conducted in 2017 with a range of people in the visual and performing arts, including writers, established artists and younger success stories.

Following are the YouTube clips created from the interview footage. Full transcripts are available in the Local History Centre.

The interviews were conducted by Helena Cohen-Robertson of Know Your Nation.

Series 1

JIMMY 'THE LIPS' MURPHY

Jimmy 'the lips' Murphy was performing with the Kalamunda Youth Swing Band from the age of eight and went on to be in numerous bands and ensembles, including international successes with the Sunshine Brothers. In his early twenties, he set up the Funk Club, a community of alternative music lovers, The Funk Club house band had a residency upstairs at the Leederville Hotel for many years and enjoyed great local popularity every Friday night. Jimmy went on to set up Upbeat Events, which spearheaded the Mount Hawthorn and Leederville carnivals, as well as producing street events in Subiaco and Victoria Park. In 2015 Jimmy was elected as councillor for the City of Vincent.

MICHAEL LONEY

Michael Loney has worked for many years in theatre, TV, film and radio in Australia and Britain. His work in the UK includes Coronation Street and Howards’ Way and on radio for BBC Birmingham and BBC Bristol. In Australia, he has appeared in Ship to Shore seasons 1, 2 and 3, Minty, Cloudstreet and most recently in Channel 9’s The Great Mint Swindle. Michael has been in over 150 stage productions and received four nominations for Best Actor at the Equity Awards, winning twice. Michael has lived in Leederville for over 25 years. 

LORENNA GRANT

Lorenna is a sculptural artist living in West Perth. Her work is an expanding inquiry into creating sculptural/experiential moments where art, nature, and humanity fuse. Her primary motivations are to do with ephemera and site specificity. Educated in Perth, she has spent time both creating solo projects and on scholarships interstate and in Europe. She has also created many, many works, both commissioned and personal projects, in galleries and public spaces throughout the state. Lorenna has been a lecturer at TAFE, Edith Cowan University and UWA.

JENNY DAVIS OAM

Jenny Davis OAM emigrated from England in 1976 with her husband and children and is an actor and director living in Mount Hawthorn. She was a writer for ABC schools radio for 10 years and the director of the West Australian Youth Theatre for many years. The founder of Agelink Theatre, she has dedicated her life since 1993 to celebrating the lives of local seniors, by using their stories to entertain the community through theatre. She has written and directed many plays for Agelink, including Dear Heart, which was also published as a novel in 1998 by Allen & Unwin. Most recently, she created the successful programme Recapture the Moment, an ongoing project which uses reminiscence arts, theatre and music to engage and stimulate people with dementia.  In 2001 she received a Centenary Medal for services to West Australian theatre. In 2016, as well as being awarded an Order of Australia Medal, Jenny received at the 2016 WA Seniors Awards the award for Arts and Culture and was named Juniper Champion for Seniors. In 2017 she was inducted into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame.

BRIONY STEWART

Briony Stewart grew up in North Perth and has a double degree in fine art and creative writing. Her first book, Kumiko and the Dragon was published by U.Q.P soon after she graduated and it won the 2007 Aurealis Award for Children's Short Fiction. Since then, Briony has had three additional children's books published, two of which completed the Kumiko trilogy. She has also received an arts grant for artists under 25 to develop as a children's author and illustrator with the May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust in Melbourne, has presented at libraries and festivals and has held three successful exhibitions of her illustrated work.  Briony still lives, paints and writes in Perth and proofreads aloud to a black and white rabbit named Winston.

BARRY STRICKLAND

Barry Strickland is a freelance, independent consultant within the arts, culture, heritage and tourism arenas, and was formerly with ArtsWA and was an award winning writer-producer-presenter with ABC Radio National. He lives in Highgate. In the mid-to-late 1980s, Barry was part of the team that created the original Artrage Festival. While with ArtsWA (1995-98), he was responsible for the identification of the former Red Cross building as a potential arts hub, his concept resulting in the King Street Arts Centre. Barry was instrumental in Artrage's incredible successes with Fringe World. Barry has gone on to conceive and co-write several TV documentaries, including Hoover's Gold (2006) and the multi-award-winning The Fabulous Flag Sisters (2008). Barry is also an author, and in 2011 was coordinating producer for HELIX, a multi-award winning solo dance work. In 2013, Barry was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by The University of Western Australia.

Series 2

A second series of six one-hour video interviews was conducted in 2018, continuing to highlight the breadth of creative talent among Vincent residents.

Click here to watch interviews from Series 2.