Of the seven grants awarded, four went to Palerang - two to Bungendore and two to Braidwood.

Surya Bajracharya's grant is for professional development through a mentorship with Master printer John Loane. Surya will participate in a series of masterclasses in Lithography at Megalo Access Arts in Canberra. The outcomes will be shown in an exhibition at Braidwood's Studio Altenburg.

The other grant goes to the Silken Tent for a collaboration between Gill Burke and Canberra textile artist Julie Ryder. Their project 'Colours from the Land: natural dyes and the rural landscape' involves holding a series of workshops with the Gundillion Women's Craft group and a similar group in Tharwa, ACT. The workshops will be on Natural Dyeing, Tied resists, Block resist printing and Embroidered Embellishment. They will also involve collecting leaves and grasses from the bush for dye materials. The two groups will get together for a day's screen printing workshop at Megalo. The final works will be exhibited there.

Gill has already worked with the Gundillion group (see Braidwood Times 3rd October) and Julie with the Tharwa group. They have a healthy respect for the skills and competence of the participants and are looking forward to getting together with them to discuss the project and make plans.