[Midsumma] Save the Bears! (Free Entry)

Pilot episode of Summontown by Jimmy Twin

Bones is your ordinary queer skeleton ‘living’ in Summontown. They love nothing more than to spill the tea with their summoned creature neighbours. Unfortunately, though, Bones tends to be summoned into battle at the most inconvenient of times. Those necromancers know no manners! One day, Bones finds out that a nearby hippy ‘free love’ bear community has simply gone missing. Normally residents of Summontown disappear for a few minutes at most, but they have now been gone for a week. Bones has a mystery to solve!

“Save the Bears!” is the pilot episode of a new animated show Summontown by Jimmy Twin, inspired by fantasy role-playing games and 1980s sitcoms (complete with canned laughter). Although being a comedic show, the show focuses on positive body image, acceptance and freedom to be oneself. Despite depicting battle scenes, this production contains no real violence – it is a sitcom after all! Come and have a drink while viewing the pilot episode, followed by a Q&A. A small exhibition of concept artwork and select artworks by Jimmy Twin will also be on display. The creation of this event was possible through the VicBears Arts Grant.

Jimmy Twin (he/him) is a Melbourne-based artist who works in the field of science communication. His published works include two children’s books about a teddy bear sitting on a shelf, a comic book about the dating misadventures of a gay zombie, and a queer graphic novel Researchers of Justice where all scientists have super powers. Jimmy was awarded LGBTIQ Artist of the year at the 2020 GLOBE Community Awards, and won The Laird Hotel’s Men on Men art competition in 2017, and People’s Choice in 2012 and 2021.