This year's Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships have been announced, and three dancer/performing artists are among the lucky nine to have received the generous award.
Jo Lloyd, dance (Vic), Eric Avery, music/dance (NSW) and Latai Taumoepeau performance art (NSW) have been recognised alongside Alison Murphy-Oates (NSW), cultural leadership; Ellen van Neerven (Qld), literature; Hoda Afshar (Vic), photography; Joel Ma (Vic), music, multi-artform;performance art; Michele Lee (Vic), theatre writing; and Tjungkara Ken (SA), painting.
Lloyd is a highly respected independent Melbourne-based choreographer, performer and teacher. Avery is a Ngiyampaa, Yuin, Bandjalang and Gumbangirr artist renowned for being a classically trained violinist and composer, as well as a professional dancer. Taumoepeau is a body-centred performance artist. Her work has been described as sitting between dance and visual art.
Each Fellow is awarded an unrestricted tax-free grant of $160,000 over a two-year period. Since 2011, Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships worth over $14.5 million have been awarded to 91 artists.
The Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships recognise talent and exceptional courage in mid-career artists. "Unfettered in their artistic excellence, each Sidney Myer Creative Fellow has shown a passionate commitment to their practice and an unyielding belief in how the arts can make a positive contribution to community," the organisers said in a statement.
The national Peer Review Panel included Andrew Myer AM (Chair), Amos Gebhardt, Helen Marcou AM, Jeff Khan, Jo Dyer, Josh Wright and Tarun Nagesh.
‘’I am delighted to make this year’s announcement and extend my congratulations to these wonderful artists. It’s been a testing time for so many of us, and our arts community has suffered significantly with so many performances, exhibitions and theatres closed. It is my hope that this support will make a meaningful difference to support those that help us make sense of this world,’’ sais Andrew Myer AM, Chair of the National Peer Review Panel for the 2021 Fellows.
To be nominated for a Fellowship, artists and thought leaders must be within seven and15 years into their creative practice and meet two criteria: outstanding talent and exceptional professional courage. They are open to artists and arts managers across the entire spectrum of the visual, performing, interdisciplinary, new media and literary arts.
The Fellowship program is one of the many initiatives of the Sidney Myer Fund that support and enrich the cultural life of Australia.
See our interview with Jo Lloyd here.
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