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 This November we’re celebrating the sixth annual Carrot Carnival! A community and cultural event that brings together the schools and communities that the 24 Carrot Gardens program connects with for a day filled with art, food and music. 

This year, artist Selena de Carvalho joins us to curate the festivities. We caught up with Selena to learn more about the plans for the day, her arts practice and her approach to radical acts of care and inspiring future climate custodians.   

Hi Selena! Thanks for joining us today. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with you on the sixth annual Carrot Carnival. Art is a vital aspect of all our programs at 24 Carrot Gardens. Can you share a little bit about yourself and your arts practice?

My practice is interdisciplinary and takes on many forms including installation, performance and sound works. It is situated in imagined ecologies and I spend a lot of time in the natural environment. Places such as fields, forests and rivers and especially those that are vulnerable. I translate the experience of being with these vulnerable places into art experiences extending the act of empathy and listening. 

What is the connection between your arts practice and the Carrot Carnival?

The work of 24 Carrot Gardens is very much aligned with my ethos. An ongoing question is ‘how do you break through social circumstances and open them up to new possibilities?’. Art, humour, food and beauty can all do that. 

My art is usually experienced by a few people at a time so the challenge here was to think about an artful experience for 1,300 people and mostly 8 to 12 year olds! 

Another consideration has been ‘how do we open up a conversation about climate change for this age group?'.  And how do we encourage curiosity and dreaming into a future space that can either be presented with false hope and positivity or as defeatist and fatalistic? 

The answer in a way is to come back to basics and this is also what the 24 Carrot Gardens program does so well. It’s radically simple. Put your hands in the soil, watch the cycles of nature, recognise where food comes from. This all brings joy and a sense of connection and belonging. 

What is your hope for Carnival goers and their experience this year?

I hope they make phenomenal memories. Maybe new knowledge will be gained. We have a panel of experts lined up to answer questions related to climate change. And maybe we will be entertained. We have programmed some great performance ensembles and artists including a ‘Weather MC’—essentially a cloud providing an update on weather patterns!

We hope people will bring their curiosity and be ready to have some fun. 

Thanks so much for your time Selena! We look forward to seeing you at the Carnival. Where else can we find you?

This summer I’ll be with the ocean and the bespoke mobile Elsewhere Sauna. You can find me on Sundays at Randalls Bay Beach. Come for a swim, a sauna and repeat. The sauna really encourages people to care for themselves and I’m really just there to open the door. It’s another way I can care for and restore nature—in this case of the human kind!

Selena de Carvalho is an interdisciplinary experimental artist living in Longley, lutruwita, Tasmania and this year’s Carrot Carnival curator. 

24 Carrot Gardens is a program of the Material Institute. 

What do carrots and radical acts of care have in common?

Our expansion into the north of lutruwita / Tasmania has signalled a great leap towards our big ambitions. 

It's very exciting to be starting our first ever development in the northern regions, as we break ground at East Tamar Primary School. 

Our development manager Reuben Parker-Greer is at the helm, with garden design assistance from UTAS architecture students. Our northern project manager Joanne Dean is also on the tools making it all happen. 

Before breaking ground, we had design consultations with students, teachers and community to make sure the designs created by UTAS really take on board the wishes and dreams of all involved.

Breaking Ground at East Tamar Primary School

Jordan River Learning Federation's Senior School is the first high school we've started working in for the expansion of our program. 

With tireless work from our development manager Reuben Parker-Greer, we spectacularly cut up chunks of asphalt in the heart of the school to create our beautiful kitchen garden—designed by the generous Inspiring Place Studio.

It has now reached stage one, with garden bed infrastructure in, seedlings in, seating in, and a bit more to come!  

Their garden has reached its first stage of development, with garden beds and seedlings in!

Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School reaches stage one

Well—that was a blast. After winning community event of the year last year, our Winterfest came back with a bang for 2022: an amazing line-up of indigenous musicians and entertainers, face painting, fire twirling, Deadly Choice's famous smoothie bike, spray painting, ceramic workshops and a massive hangi that fed everyone with delicious earth-cooked meat and vegetables. We had an incredible time, and the hundreds of folks who joined us seemed equally excited.

A huge thanks to the TAC and the kutalayna Collective for their amazing support—we can't wait for next year!    

After winning community event of the year last year, our Winterfest came back with a bang for 2022.

Over a hundred plucky ladies (and a few gents) made the chilly jump for 24 Carrot Gardens on 2 July, giving us a record-breaking haul of funds raised.

  The annual tradition of an icy ocean plunge for charity continued this year—spearheaded by our fearless leader Kirsha—and was an even bigger success than last year, raising over $215,000 (a huge jump on the $120,000 we raised last year) to support our program’s growth and expansion in the north of Tassie.

Over a hundred plucky ladies (and a few gents) made the chilly jump for charity on 2 July, giving us a record-breaking haul of funds raised. 

The cooking, YouTubing, and all-round general legend Nat from Nat’s What I Reckon stopped by the Botanical Institute (our headquarters in Bridgewater) recently, to check out the community space and meet 24 Carrot catering students from Montrose High School.

Nat told us about some of his personal experiences at school, and his journey to finding stable employment. He talked about how he found comfort in ‘real’ food and what that has meant in his journey. Follow our social channels for more!

The cooking, YouTubing, and all-round general legend Nat from Nat’s What I Reckon stopped by the Botanical Institute (our headquarters in Bridgewater) recently.

Nat’s What I Reckon visits Botanical Institute

Our Bond Place community space is currently transforming (metamorphosing, cocooning, etc) to grow—yes, actually grow—a permanent new classroom structure (there will be built elements to the structure itself, but plant growth will be an integral part of the building), which will allow us to host more activations and workshops, as well as expanding our programming to three days per week.

The build will be complete in October 2022 in partnership with Brighton City Council and Centacare Evolve for the 'Gagebrook Renewal Project', supported by a $140k grant through the Building Better Regions Fund.

Our Bond Place community space is currently transforming to grow—yes, actually grow—a permanent new classroom structure.

Since the start of 2022, five new primary schools in the north and north west of lutruwita / Tasmania have joined our program, along with two high schools. We’ve also recruited our first northern program manager—the excellent Joanne Dean—to oversee and spearhead the 24 Carrot revolution up north.

As the first step in their journey, the new schools are getting busy (with some help from our friends at UTAS) planning their gardens so everything’s ready to rock once we hit the planting season. 

Since the start of 2022, five new primary schools in the north and north west of lutruwita / Tasmania have joined our program, along with two high schools. 

Here's some stuff we've been up to lately.

Stories

What do carrots and radical acts of care have in common?

Breaking Ground at East Tamar Primary School

Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School reaches stage one