Congratulations to the winners of the artsHub awards 2012
Building on the success of last year’s inaugural artsHub Awards, the 2012 awards attracted many nominations from across the country in a huge range of art forms. This year's awards include additional categories for young and emerging artists, as well as awards for innovation and community contribution. The awards recognise both individuals and organisations judged by both industry critics (Critics’ Choice) and popular vote
(People’s Choice).
The Critics' Choice Awards were judged by an independent panel from within the broader arts community. The winners are:
The Youth Arts award
Animate Me – Zhen
(Victoria)
Zhen’s interactive drawing performances
capture the activity and movement she sees around her. Her artistic
interpretations of these activities are streamed live to allow participants and
spectators to witness her drawing as it unfolds and evolves.
http://www.zhenart.net/-interactive-tablet-animations.html
Emerging Artist Award for an individual
Moving over the Shoreline – Sarah-Mace
Dennis
(Queensland)
Created for the new Queensland
Multicultural Centre, Moving over the Shoreline is a permanent public
projection work inspired by narratives associated with Yungaba house:
Brisbane’s purpose-built nineteenth-century immigration depot.
www.movingovertheshoreline.com
The Emerging Company Award for a group or small company
Lady Sings it Better – Blackcat
Productions
(New South Wales)
Lady Sings it Better take songs
written by the world’s most famous male musicians and reinvent them, exposing
the misogyny of pop culture and telling stories about women.
http://ladysingsitbetter.com
The Innovation Award for an individual
Digital Narratives - Bronek Kozka
(New South Wales)
Digital Narratives, adds to and
builds on the continuing research into representations of memory and remembered
moments, through the use of the tableau image as a printed image but also as an
interactive Photosynth tableaux.
http://www.alburycity.nsw.gov.au/www/html/196-event-details.asp?intEventID=2002
The Innovation Award for a group, organisation or company
It’s Dark Outside – Perth Theatre
Company
(Western Australia)
Commissioned by Perth Theatre Company
and created and performed by Tim Watts, Arielle Gray and Chris Isaacs, It’s
Dark Outside is a heartfelt, grand epic Western about death, redemption and
dementia.
http://www.perththeatre.com.au/whats-on/shows/its-dark-outside/
Contribution to the Australian arts community by an
individual
Ailan Kores – Erica Hart
(Queensland)
Ailan Kores was a major
community project bringing together a community choir from six islands in the
Torres Strait. Performing with the Queensland Youth Orchestra and six soloists,
a rich program of sacred music was created, blending a carefully researched mix
of Western iconic music and traditional Torres hymns.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKY5LS07eBQ
Contribution to the Australian community by a group,
organisation or company
The Namatjira Project – Big Hart Inc.
(Tasmania)
Working directly with the relatives of
Albert Namatjira from his Western Aranda homelands in the Central Australian
Desert this compelling project tells the story of the life of the central
desert painter
www.namatjira.bighart.org
The People’s Choice Awards were voted upon by artsHub readers as well as fans and supporters of the shortlisted nominees. Thousands of votes were received, with the following winners receiving the most votes in their respective categories:
The Youth
Arts award
The Pride – Side Pony
Productions
(Western Australia)
Side Pony Productions is a small scale projected based company operating from Perth Western Australia that supports the productions of
director Zoe Pepper. The Pride borrows from the drama of a lion's life mapping their social patterns onto human characters. It’s a dark comedy that looks at people’s readiness to
forgive, even in the face of gross moral misconduct.
http://www.sideponyproductions.com/#!__the-pride
Emerging
Artist Award for an individual
Set
design for Terrain by Bangarra Dance Theatre – Jacob Nash
(New
South Wales)
Jacob Nash is an Aboriginal theatre designer, painter and film-maker. Coming to Bangarra in 2010 on an emerging artist grant, his remarkable creative journey during the last 2 years includes designing five works for Bangarra
Dance Theatre including the sets for Terrain a show that explores the metamorphosis and
timeless beauty that is Lake Eyre.
www.bangarra.com.au/performance/terrain
The Emerging
Company Award for a group or small company
Lady
Sings it Better – Blackcat Productions
(New
South Wales)
Lady Sings it Better take songs written by the world’s most famous
male musicians and reinvent them, exposing the misogyny of pop culture and
telling stories about women.
http://ladysingsitbetter.com
The
Innovation Award for an individual
I
had a Dream (words come easy...) – Andy Wear
(Victoria)
By
crumbing and pan-frying a Sidney Nolan drawing artist Andy Wear embraced media attention and forged a performative extension of the work to highlight our perception of artistic value, and, by default, re-engaging the centuries-old philosophical debate about ‘taste.’
http://www.andywear.net/Home/Things_I_have_done_that_have_been_in_galleries_lately.html
The
Innovation Award for a group, organisation or company
Secret
Places - The Connections Project - Outback Theatre for Young People
(New South Wales)
Secret Places: The Connections Project is theatrical pen-palling;
the creation of new dynamic theatre works across large geographical, cultural
and social differences. The project aimed to break down entrenched ideas of
racism and cultural separateness by connecting young people from diverse backgrounds
and geographically distant communities and engaging them to work on a joint
creative process.
http://outbacktheatre.com/category/projects/secret-places/
Contribution
to the Australian arts community by an individual
Costume
Design for Terrain by Bangarra Dance Theatre – Jennifer Irwin
(New South Wales)
Costume Designer Jennifer Irwin’s career spans 30 years constructing & designing costumes for drama, opera, film and in particular for dance
& ballet. Her design of the costumes for Terrain was described as "masterful" by the Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/articles/192/dressing-bangarra?page=1
Contribution
to the Australian community by a group, organisation or company
No Added Sugar – Australian Muslim Women’s Arts Project - Casula Powerhouse Arts centre
(New South Wales)
An extensive national
initiative, developed over a number of years, No Added Sugar’s principal goal
was to support Australian Muslim women to engage their communities in the
creation of artworks for a presentation outcome for all Australian communities
to engage with.
http://www.casulapowerhouse.com/exhibitions/no-added-sugar.aspx
THE PANEL OF JUDGES
Deborah Conway
Deborah Conway is a significant and eloquent contributor to Australian music, singing songs that chronicle the essential elements of life, from the mundane to the spiritual. Her powerful voice and presence has fascinated audiences for the past 30 years. A rare female agitator in a time when the music industry was male dominated; Conway continues to be a role model for young women and a mentor to emerging artists.
Conway has pursued a career of extra curricular activities alongside her core business of writing and performing her songs. These have included producing a national concert series called Broad of all female singer/songwriters and most recently taking on the role of Artistic Director for the Queensland Music Festival . Conway's QMF programs in 2009 and 2011 presented over 200 performances and events and sixty discreet productions including twenty new commissions that took place across the state of Queensland.
Currently Conway is recording her 9th studio album with her partner Willy Zygier, due for release in early 2013.
Lisa Dempster
Lisa Dempster is the previous Director of the Emerging Writers' Festival and has just been announced as the new Director for the Melbourne Writers' Festival. She is responsible for delivering dynamic, diverse and accessible events to develop the skills and confidence of writers at all stages of their career; she is also the Founding Director of EWFdigital, an innovative online programming stream for writers. Lisa is a professional writer and editor with five book titles, including travel narrative Neon Pilgrim and The Melbourne Veg Food Guide. She is the former publisher at Vignette Press, and created the popular subcultural journal The Mook.
Steven Maxwell
Steven has been the Creative Producer for Markwell Presents since 2002 and his primary roles are the business management of the company, script writing & creative development, production management & marketing, filming and editing, workshop and residency facilitator. Since 2003, Steven has co-written and produced Loose Ends, What Simon Said, Of Love and Separation, Rocks in my Head, Advanced Screening 2010, The Social Me, Cents&Sensibility, and The YAiR Project 2011 & 2012. Steven has also worked as a cinematic theatre producer and visual designer for La Boite Theatre Company on Sex:Cubed, Strings under my Fingers and The White Earth, Sally McKenzie's Episodes, Zen Zen Zo's Sub-Con Warrior 2.0, QTC's August Moon, Motherboard on La Voix Humaine and.
Steven is currently on the board of YPPA and chair of YAQ.
Barry Strickland
Barry Strickland has been freelancing as an independent consultant within the arts, culture, heritage and tourism arenas since 2000. He is formerly a Senior Project Officer with ArtsWA and a broadcaster with ABC Radio National. In 2011, Barry was Coordinating Producer for HELIX, a solo dance work created for Daryl Brandwood, which won three WA Dance Awards, and has been nominated for three Australian Dance Awards. Barry served for six years as a Perth International Arts Festival board member and currently serves on the boards of Artrage Inc, Deckchair Theatre and the WA Chamber for Arts and Culture.
Simon Abrahams
Simon Abrahams is Arts Centre Melbourne's Program Manager, Artistic Development, with responsibility for commissioning of new works, artist and artform development. Previously, Simon served as Executive Producer/General Manager and co-CEO of Polyglot Theatre, where he produced 17 international tours of Polyglot's works to the world's leading arts centres, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Royal National Theatre in London, the National Theatre of Korea as well as La Ji Da Bian Shen, a Chinese language co-production which premiered at the Chinese National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Prior to joining Polyglot, Simon worked at Gasworks Arts Park as Marketing and Development Manager and as a Producer, where his projects included the Art of Difference international conference and arts program. Simon has also worked at the Melbourne University Student Union at Union House Theatre, and was Festival Producer of Mudfest, Australia's leading student arts and cultural festival.