2016 Sidney Myer Creative Fellows Announced

The Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships, awarded by the Sidney Myer Fund and The Myer Foundation since 2011, are some of the most generous and prestigious grants available to early and mid-career creative practitioners in Australia.

The Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships provide unrestricted support of $160,000 over a two year period to individual artists, art managers and thought leaders in the humanities. The recipients are assessed according to a criteria of outstanding talent and exceptional courage as they relate to the artistic and professional practice of each selected Fellow. 

The two philanthrophic entities that jointly initiated and support the Fellowships believe in defending and promoting the benefits of intellectual and creative life to our nation’s future. The selected artists are encouraged to reside in Australia for the duration of the Fellowship to contribute to growing independent and expert voices championing investment in Australian arts and culture.

The 2016 Sidney Myer Creative Fellows have been announced. UNSW Art & Design would like to congratulate all eight 2016 Sidney Myer Creative Fellows. They are:

UNSW Art & Design graduate, Khadim Ali, is a contemporary artist who creates miniature-style paintings. Born in Pakistan as a refugee, he was trained in the Mughul and Kabul miniature traditions. Ali’s works focus on contemporary issues in Afghanistan, in particular the plight of the Hazara minority.  His preferred materials are inks, gouache, and gold leaf, which he applies to the surface of sheets of wasli paper, a traditional paper that Ali makes by hand.

Mary Anne Butler is a playwright has collected a string of local and national awards, and has had three plays professionally produced including three seasons of the multi-award winning, Broken, and three seasons of Highway of Lost Hearts.

Recently appointed UNSW Art & Design Lecturer Bianca Hester’s artistic practice explores the convergences between social space, materiality, and embodiment as processes in motion. She examines ways of working that are open and inclusive, accommodating of multiple voices, materials, objects, actions and energies.

Sarah Holland-Batt is a poet, editor, and critic whose first book, Aria, received the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize in 2008 and went on to win the Arts ACT Judith Wright Poetry Prize and the FAW Anne Elder Award.

Alex Kelly is a producer and director working across multiple art forms including film, theatre, community arts and cultural development.

Gareth Liddiard is musician and founding member of the band, The Drones, with whom he has released seven studio albums and a solo album. Liddiard writes about Australia’s past and present in ways that question or contradict widely held, sometimes cherished versions of Australian history, folklore, and national identity.

Jonathon Oxlade is an artist and theatre designer dedicated to creating sophisticated, dynamic work through contemporary visual storytelling.

UNSW Art & Design graduate, Justin Shoulder, is a multidisciplinary artist working across performance, sculpture, video and community events. For the past ten years, he has worked on diverse projects in multiple roles: as artist, director, performer, curator and producer, creating a rich and multi-faceted body of work that continues to evolve and expand.