Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: Brenda Gifford  

The Australia Council for the Arts has announced the results of its recent round of grant funding, as well as its two-year fellowships. As a welcome development, music now gets two fellowships, with composer Cathy Milliken and drummer-improviser Laurence Pike the successful recipients of funding worth $80K over the fellowship period.

Other substantial funding was granted for projects involving composer Brenda Gifford ($21K for the Four Winds Festival for commissioning songs), Andrew Batt-Rawden ($27.6K for the development of a new work); Barney McAll ($18K for a new album); Johannes Luebbers ($11.6K for Inventi Ensemble for performances); Christopher Hale and Andrea Keller ($16.8K to record a new album also featuring Chloe Kim, Simon Barker and Gian Slater); Dobromila Jaskot ($15K for a new work for double string quartet for the Argonaut and Neo Quartets); Hilary Kleinig ($22.5K to develop a major new work); Thomas Meadowcroft ($25K towards the 'Country 'n Gamelan' collaborative project); James Rushford ($13.5K for a new album for his duo Ora Clementi); Jane Sheldon (10K for presentation of a new work in New York); Julia Reidy ($10K for a new work for the Australian Art Orchestra); Kezia Yap ($16K for new works by and for emerging female new music practitioners); Matthias Schack-Arnott ($15K to develop a new work in partnership with choreographer Lucy Guerin); Tim Humphrey ($16K for Witness Stand sound installation in public space); Peter Knight ($10K for a solo album); and Veronique Serret $21.5K to develop work for six-string electric violin and pedals. Also funded were projects by Natasha Anderson, Tammy Brennan, Aviva Endean and Chris Cody, among others.

Bundanon Trust received funding of $54K for 'Sonic Sites' immersive & participatory sonic performance led by percussionist Claire Edwardes. Chamber Made's $32.5K goes towards final development and presentation of Dragon Ladies Don't Weep, with involvement by the Singapore-born pianist Margaret Leng Tan and composer Erik Griswold. Genevieve Lacey was granted $42K to present Pleasure Garden in the UK, France and Finland; Matt Keegan $37.8K for a European/Australasian tour of his Three Seas project and a UK residency; Kieran Welch $30K for the Dots+Loops Nonstop Festival); cross-disciplinary performance-maker Sophia Brous $27.7K for a project. Miranda Hill was granted $22K for the 9th annual Homophonic! festival at La Mama featuring LGBTQI+ composers; and Rohan Drape $19.7K for the INLAND Concert Series 2019-2020. Guitarist Andrew Blanch got $19.4K for new work by Jessica Wells, Felicity Wilcox and Robert Davidson, for performances involving Ensemble Offspring and Topology.

Funding for organisations included $50K for Sydney Chamber Opera for presentation of six new Australian operas at Carriageworks in 2020; $100K for Substation (Melbourne); and $60K for the Sydney Improvised Music Association (SIMA).

A total sum of $6.2 million was announced as project and development grants for individuals, groups and small to medium arts organisations across all art forms.

> Awarded grants (Australia Council for the Arts) - see also: media release (9 September 2019)