Nine talented artists awarded prestigious Creative Australia Fellowship

Creative Australia has announced this year’s recipients of the prestigious 2023 Creative Australia Fellowships valued at $80,000 over two years. Open to established artists, the Fellowships support creativity and professional development.

Amongst this years’ nine Fellowship recipients are First Nations musician Shellie Morris, well-known writer Alice Pung, and award-winning theatre maker of Counting and Cracking S. Shakthidharan.

First Nations composer Brenda Gifford will use her Fellowship to compose a new string quintet song cycle, describing her own (Yuin) and other First Nations peoples’ connections to water. She will undertake research and collaborate with traditional Maori composers and musicians in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Navajo composers and musicians in New York State.

Other recipients include Tristan Meecham who has become a leading creative voice within the LGBTIQ+ community nationally and internationally. He will use this Fellowship period to develop and deliver new projects in collaboration with three communities across Australia: youth, older people, and LGBTIQ+ communities.

Eliza Hull was awarded the Arts and Disability, contemporary music Fellowship. Eliza is an award-winning musician, writer, and disability advocate. She recently released ‘Running Underwater’ a song recorded with ARIA Award-winning producer Pip Norman. It is the first song Eliza has written about living with ‘Charcot Marie Tooth’, a disability which she has lived with since the age of five.

Creative Australia CEO, Adrian Collette, said

“I congratulate all nine recipients of Creative Australia’s Fellowships. Each one will have a significant impact for the practice of these artists over the next decade. This funding emphasises how important it is to invest in artists at key moments in their careers. I look forward to seeing the work that results from these Fellowships.”

Head of ANU School of Music is thrilled for the fellowship outcome:

“Brenda has been associated with the ANU School of Music for over 7 years, initially as a founding member of our Ngarra Burria program with Chris Sainsbury, then as a very successful Masters student, and from 2023 a Casual Sessional Academic at the School. Brenda is teaching our Indigenous music course and lecturing into composition. She is an admired and respected academic creative artist at our School.”

2023 Fellowship recipients:

• First Nations: Brenda Gifford
• Community Arts and Cultural Development: Tristan Meecham
• Dance: Vicki Van Hout
• Emerging and Experimental Arts: Jen Rae
• Literature: Alice Pung
• Music: Shellie Morris
• Theatre: S. Shakthidharan
• Visual Arts: Zanny Begg
• Arts and Disability: Eliza Hull

Read more about the recipients.

The article was originally published in Creative Australia.