GTCC Wins QLD Gallery and Museum Achievement Award

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Gab Titui Cultural Centre Wins QLD Gallery and Museum Achievement Award

For Immediate Release 18 November 2009

The Torres Strait’s Gab Titui Cultural Centre on Thursday Island has won a Queensland Gallery and Museum Achievement Award (GAMAA) recognising its strong community focus and advocacy for the region, in the category of ‘Organisations with Staff of 5 or more’ for its nomination, Ephraim Bani Gallery.

Gab Titui Cultural Centre was presented the award by Premier of Queensland and Minister for the Arts Anna Bligh on Friday 13 November 2009, in Brisbane.

Torres Strait Regional Authority Chairperson, Mr Toshi Kris said today that this award is a testament to the TSRA’s Culture, Arts and Heritage Program’s contribution to the preservation, maintenance and revitalisation of Torres Strait Culture.

“The TSRA and the Torres Strait community are proud that our very own Gab Titui Cultural Centre has won such a prestigious award. Our culture, art and heritage are unique in the world and we take every opportunity to promote this in an effort to raise awareness and appreciation throughout Australia and internationally – events such as GAMAA are a great platform,” Chairperson Kris said.

GAMAA is an initiative of Museum and Gallery Services Queensland, designed to honour the achievements of the State’s museum and gallery sector.

The Ephraim Bani Gallery is a climate controlled museum space within the Gab Titui Cultural Centre, where Torres Strait artefacts are housed and placed on display. The Gallery has an annual cultural maintenance exhibition that presents themes and issues of importance to the cultural identity of Torres Strait Islanders and aims for a comprehensive representation of the diversity of cultural practices across the Torres Strait region.

Two recent products of the Ephraim Bani Gallery’s annual cultural maintenance exhibition are Zamiyakal: Torres Strait Headdress & Dance Apparatus – an exhibition comprising of hand held mechanical moving objects and elaborate moving headdresses unique to Island dancing of the Torres Strait; and Bipotaim: Stories from the Torres Strait – an exhibition documenting stories and images of Torres Strait people from four island communities within the Torres Strait.

The resounding success of the exhibitions has led to Zamiyakal touring to the East West Centre, Honolulu, showcasing Torres Strait dance culture to an international audience until 3 January 2010. Bipotaim will be touring to the State Library of Queensland in February 2010.

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TSRA Media Contact: Emma Loban (07) 4090 2130