Phillip Adams BalletLab to Present KINGDOM Fundraiser, 11 August

Phillip Adams BalletLab presents a special fundraising event on Sunday 11 August at Yering Station Winery, Yarra Valley, to launch the first vision of new work, Kingdom. Kingdom is a collaborative project with the Victorian Aids Council and will have its world premiere in July 2014, to coincide with the World AIDS Conference in Melbourne. The project has received an Arts Victoria's Community Partnerships grant and the Yering Station event fundraising will go towards the ongoing development and premiere of Kingdom.

Phillip Adams BalletLab is calling for participants for the community workshops in September, run in collaboration with the Victorian AIDS Council, Gay Men's Health Centre and peer organisations, exploring stories of the impact of HIV/AIDS on people's lives. A core group from the workshops will come together in 2014 to present their portraits through visual arts, theatre, song and film.

Phillip Adams and leading visual artist Andrew Hazewinkel are working with choreographers Matthew Day, Luke George and Rennie McDougall in the first creative development of Kingdom.

The project comes out of Adam's interest in the idea of utopian communities and his own experiences as a young dancer in NYC in the early 90s at the height of the epidemic.

He says: "I am motivated by this powerful, artistic and rare community project with participants from the HIV affected community of Victoria. During and post the AIDS epidemic of the late 80s and through the 90s came a reactionary ACT UP movement of art. I'm looking back through a historical lens of time and into today with a team of participants to capture portraits of the impact a positive life can have. KINGDOM is bringing together a community of family and friends to tell their stories though hybrid artistic expression including choreography, visual arts, theatre, text, song and film. It's a challenging and no doubt rewarding road ahead for us all, and I am committed to providing collaboration with a message to lift the stigma surrounding HIV and provide a safe forum for the participants to make a difference in their own way."

Matt Dixon, Executive Director of the Victorian AIDS Council said "Victorian AIDS Council is thrilled to embark on this journey with Phillip Adams BalletLab. So much has changed for the better in the 30 years since HIV/AIDS has been with our communities. This project will give insight into what it is to live with HIV today, bringing awareness to the forefront. Using dance to do this is really exciting!"

A Kingdom in an Afternoon takes place in the Historic Barn at Yering Station Winery and includes a first look at Kingdom, a discussion around Kingdom's concepts with Phillip Adams and visual artist Brook Andrew, a performance from rising counter tenor Mama Alto and a Silent Auction with donations from Sally Smart, Mikala Dwyer, Jeff Busby and Yering Station and delicious food and wine. Proceeds go towards the creative development of Kingdom and Thumb in 2013-15.

Established in 1999, Phillip Adams BalletLab creates compelling contemporary performance through the artistic vision of director Phillip Adams. With over 25 years experience as a dancer and choreographer, Adams' work defies neat and easy categorization, scrutinising behaviour, sexuality and culture in a way that resonates with current societal concerns. Phillip Adams BalletLab brings significant artistic partners to their projects in order to create original, distinctive works that are proudly made in Melbourne for a global market. Since its inception, BalletLab has toured nationally and internationally, performing at festivals and venues in the USA, China, Denmark, Scotland, Germany, England, Korea, Mongolia, Romania and Bulgaria

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