The 2013 Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Wesley Enoch, Artistic Director of the Queensland Theatre Company. In I Don’t Do it for the Money, Enoch reflects on the past 20 years of developments in theatre.
He will project into a dystopian future when Australian theatre has been de-professionalised. When large funded companies curate and produce works that don’t pay artists, when funding bodies only partly fund projects, when the conditions of employment and collectively bargained awards don’t reflect how we want to make our work, when artists are no longer in the decision-making position… Are we living the dystopian future now?
Enoch will consider the burning questions facing the theatre industry: Is independent theatre eroding the rights of artists, and are its conditions becoming the new norm? Should the big companies find a way to be sustainable without government funding? Are the funded arts becoming the plaything of the rich and is funding derailing popular theatre? And how do you know when it’s over and you should really throw in the towel and get a ‘real job’?
The NSW Philip Parsons Fellowship for Emerging Playwrights (formerly the Young Playwright’s Award) is given annually to an outstanding playwright who is in their first eight years of professional practice. The winner will receive a writer’s commission and creative development of their play supported by Belvoir.
Past winners include Kit Brookman, whose play Small and Tired was part of Belvoir’s 2013 Season, Brendan Cowell whose play Ruben Guthrie was part of Belvoir’s 2009 Season, and Kate Mulvany whose play The Seed was part of Belvoir’s 2008 season and toured nationally.
The 2013 NSW Philip Parsons Fellowship for Emerging Playwrights finalists are: Phillip Kavanagh – Replay; Nakkiah Lui – This Heaven; Ian Meadows – Between Two Waves; Morgana O’Reilly – The Height of the Eiffel Tower; and Samantha Young – To the Edge of Reckoning. The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the lecture.
The 2013 Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture and the NSW Philip Parsons Fellowship for Emerging Playwrights will be held on Sunday 8 December commencing at 2.00pm. For more information, visit: www.belvoir.com.au for details.
Image: Wesley Enoch