Dancer and choreographer Frankie Snowdon is among 10 young Australians to have been chosen for the finals of the British Council’s 2012 Realise Your Dream award.
She will be in the running to win one of three prizes, each of $10,000 and a trip to the UK to work with her professional “hero”.
Three panels of judges, featuring leading academics, arts managers and practitioners, were given the difficult task of choosing the 10 from over 650 applications, representing a huge range of art forms. Applications came from all over Australia, most markedly from Queensland, from which two of the finalists hail. British Council Australia says, “Realise Your Dream gives us an incredible snapshot of both the Australian creative industries and the potential partnership opportunities in the UK. The sheer talent, motivation and breadth of this year's finalists means the biggest hurdle we face is whittling down exactly which opportunities to support.”
Snowdon is a founding member and artistic director of 2ndToe Dance Collective, as well as having a large involvement in teaching and the development of youth dance in Melbourne, and maintaining a strong presence in the professional dance arena as a performer and collaborator.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on August 22.
The other finalists are:
Jolie Herzberg (festival director and
artistic producer, Qld)
Saskia Moore (producer and artist, Vic)
Kate Just (visual artist, Vic)
Phong Chi Lai (shoe maker, Vic)
Emma Swift (radio announcer and
producer, NSW)
Sukhdeep Boghal (rapper and educator,
NSW)
Et Al (photojournalism collective, Qld)
Sam Hodge (photographer, NSW)
Elmo Keep (writer and broadcaster, Vic)