50 years of ANU Creative Arts Fellows, 1965-2015

This dazzling video, showcasing 50 years of ANU Creative Arts Fellows, was made by Gabriela Vayas Rodriguez, an ANU Masters student and digital artist. The H.C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship was established in 1964 at the instigation of Dr H.C. Coombs, ANU Pro-Chancellor at the time, to encourage creative work in the arts in Australia. Fellowships were filled by invitation rather than by public advertisement, and fellows selected by the Vice-Chancellor in consultation with an advisory committee. It was hoped other Australian Universities would follow the ANU example and establish similar schemes for the encouragement of creative artists. The fellowship has supported prominent Australian artists such as Judith Wright, John Perceval, Arthur Boyd, Fiona Hall and Robyn Davidson. The invited fellowships are offered to visual and performing artists and writers on a rotation basis. From its inception, the term creative artist was interpreted quite loosely, musicians and architects being initially the only definite exclusions, and during the course of the fellowship the University has hosted musicians such as Don Burrows, Don Banks, Judith Clingan, George Golla, George Dreyfus, film maker Arthur Cantrell and writers Alan Gould, Rodney Hall, Xavier Herbert, Christina Stead, Penny Tweedie and Clive Scollay. Visual artists have included painters, ceramists, printmakers, sculptors, tapestry-weavers, graphic-designers and artists interested in the use of computers, scientific equipment and techniques in artistic creation.