Mothership Creative Landings continues a uniquely Australian cultural concept that brings together daring dreamers and disused dairying dirt. A big idea, notably pioneered by the Reeds and the band of contemporary Australian artists including Sidney Nolan known as the Heide circle. John and Sunday Reed shared their home and cultivated and curated a creative community on a former dairy farm in Melbourne’s north. The Heide Museum of Modern Art is now one of Australia's most important cultural institutions. Mothership Creative Landings endeavours to present a similar opportunity to a new generation of creatives in three distinctively Australian contexts, each presenting a range of singular opportunities and each with its own noteworthy national significance - historical, cultural, and ecological.

“Alton”, Victorian 33acre hill station property come mountain top eyrie, home to magnificent terraced gardens, inclusive of a 600tree strong, arboreal collection- 24 of these trees listed on the National Trust Register; multiple dwellings and; over the past some 150 years, many minds of national historical significance. This grand dame offers visiting “creatives” several large volume studio spaces and the opportunity- privilege- of immersive interaction with important botanical gardens, home to several significant plant collections; and arts and crafts architecture carefully restored; and now home to curated collections of important antiquities and 20th century furniture with pieces by important international designers like Gio Ponti and Billy Haines... in spaces like this, brilliance is unavoidable.

“The Music Farm” Byron Bay is nationally culturally significant. This property took on the “Music Farm” moniker in 1976, after the establishment of Music Farm Studios in one of the outbuildings that were part of the original Byron Bay hinterland dairy farm; recording artists from Rod Stewart, Paul Macartney, Yothu Yindi, Midnight Oil have worked-and “played”- in the space recording many of Australia’s seminal musical offerings of the past 40 years- if those rosewood-panelled walls could talk. We have extended this artistic expression to architectural elements on the farm; now home to a restored, Matti Suuronen designed Futuro house- our literal manifestation of the “mothership”; and to the broad agrarian artistic brushstrokes of our subtropical edible, native and medicinal gardens. The farm also provides dedicated studio spaces ranging from a photographic darkroom, fine-art studio, spray-art studio along with a high spec surf craft shaping bay.   

“Broken Head Base Camp” encompasses almost 100 acres of minimally developed; environmentally significant land just outside of Byron Bay with a breadth of ecological diversity ranging from pockets of pristine littoral rainforest, to wetlands and uniquely populated native grasslands. Our base camp offers several alternative dwelling spaces asking the question; what constitutes a “home”?... What place does architecture have in wild spaces?… gypsy caravans, open-air campsites, shacks and sheds…oh my! Here, mother nature rather than “the mothership” provides inspiration in overwhelming abundance. Along with all “she” has to offer the expanded mind, we have a dedicated blacksmith’s forge, large volume studio spaces for large scale works; along with the obligatory surfboard, glassing and shaping bays- we are within cooee of several of Australia’s most lauded surf breaks.

By opening up these spaces- our “Motherships”- it is hoped we might help to “launch”, or support creativity and; generate new, and fortify existing creative “communities”. 

We invite “artists”- visual artists, agrarian artists, literary artists, culinary artists, recording artists- to apply their particular creative skill set; for a nominated period of time; at one of our unique locations. If it is appropriate, we can organise onsite showings to exhibit the body of work produced in response to the experience in dedicated onsite exhibition spaces. We are also available for corporate creative “think tanks” or immersive experiences.

The aim of opening these spaces to artists is to nurture emerging and established artists and allow them the opportunity to be fully immersed in their art and deeply inhabit the creative impulse… the moment… place… without the pressures and distractions of the world outside. In turn, through this engagement, the art and the artists become part of the tapestry of these incredible places and strengthen the creative fabric of these “Motherships” … in this spirit, we encourage visiting artists to “leave a trace”- a piece of art, a recipe, a new garden specimen…

Application for residencies is by submission to mothershiplandings@gmail.com . Rather than being prescriptive, we encourage artists to explore the opportunities we present through our online presence and define their own experience. We ask applicants to put forward a desired period of residency; descibe how a residential experience would enhance their creativity and creative potential. We also ask applicants to consider the bigger idea of how they feel the experience would allow them, as creatives, to “pay it forward”- how such an experience would provide a platform for; or inspire their own acts of generosity, inclusivity or community outreach… Ready to launch?