About

Welcome to the BIG Kids Magazine blog

BIG Kids Magazine is the founding project of BIG, a creative arts organisation built with Bravery, Imagination and Generosity. The magazine promotes creativity in children, opportunities for innovative collaboration and world class artistic exchange.

Beginning as a 'Making of a Magazine' blog at the end of 2010, we have grown into a forum for much more than that. Since launching our First Flight in September 2011, the blog now features artists and projects from around the world, insights and reviews, and of course still the real-time journey of two mother artists burning midnight magazine-making hours in a process of collaboration and continual response. 

The creators of BIG are two professional Australian mother-artists and educators - dancer Jo Pollitt and visual artist Lilly Blue - working side by side on opposite coasts of Australia.  They are passionate about the rigor of quality art practice neither as elitist or hobby but as a holistic way of thinking and an everyday way of engaging viewing and responding to the world.

We are interested in sparking creative response and conversations between kids and artists, kids and parents, kids and kids.

BIG Kids Magazine was first published in October 2011, and is now available in every major art gallery in Australia and increasingly distributed worldwide. We are supported by the bravery, imagination and generosity of our contributors - incredible children and artists from all over the world who meet, inspire and transport the original vision far beyond where we thought possible. BIG is a passion project by two midnight magazine makers and their team. 

On the BIG blog you will also find:

#   Spreads and previews from each magazine.

#   Opportunities to contribute artwork and stories online and in print.

#   Information about creativity and kids.

#   An inside view of collaborations between artists and kids.

#   Insights into the mother dance through the Mother Artist Network (MAN).

#  Episodic stories and characters of the BIG world.

#   Business basics and renderings involved in the making of a magazine.

#   Pockets of poetic responses and pictures.

#   Platforms for creative choice and philanthropic potential.

A BIG mailout 

Jo is a dancer, teacher, writer and mother of three. She holds a Master of Arts in Creative Arts (WAPPA) and has worked with various companies and artists including Tasdance (dancer and education officer), Terrapin (role of 'Alice'), Rosalind Crisp (Sydney, Perth, Berlin). Most recently she has worked with  Paea Leach and Rhiannon Newton.  Jo is the director of the 'response project' - a practice of improvisation that involves writing and directing 'long distance dance' across various countries as well as close up in the studio.  Jo works as a sessional lecturer  at WAAPA, and is mentor to several Australian artists.  When not swinging a leg, or walking with her children, she lives here in BIG.

Lilly is a visual artist and educator with a background in physical performance, installation and community arts. She has lived across the world in places both vibrant and remote including 7 years in New York as Director of Arts Programming with Catskills IDEA, Artistic Director of Kidscirque and partner to Nancy Siegel developing creative programs based on yogic principles. Lilly continues to collaborate with Erin Maile OKeefe of CircusYoga and remains passionate about inspiring opportunities for connection, reflection and action through arts practices. Her  interest and research into co-authorship is fueled and fed by her partnership with Jo and the unbridled emerging world of BIG. Represented by Art2muse  and Galerie LWS  Lilly exhibits and sells her art work in Paris, New York and Sydney.

We value your view and would love to hear your thoughts and comments. You can email us atinfo@bigkidsmagazine.com or comment directly under posts and share your own perspective, stories and experiences. You can keep up to date with developments, launch dates and stockists by becoming a follower of the blog or by liking the BIG Kids Magazine facebook page.