Performance maker Victoria Hunt, whose multi-platform work draws on her Maori heritage, has been awarded the NSW Government’s $30,000 Rex Cramphorn Theatre Fellowship for 2016. The fellowship will allow Ms Hunt to create new works with Western Sydney-based Pacific Islander communities and take them to the world stage.
Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant congratulated Ms Hunt on being awarded this year’s fellowship, which she will use to undertake a residency in Fiji and a secondment with Lemi Ponifasio, based in New Zealand. “Ms Hunt is a highly talented artist and worthy recipient of this prestigious and longstanding fellowship,” said Mr Grant.
“As part of the fellowship, she will create two new works: one in collaboration with Blacktown Arts Centre and the Western Sydney Pacific Islander community, and one to be presented at Sounded Bodies Festival in Croatia. Ms Hunt was selected from a very strong field of 24 applicants. We look forward to seeing the works she creates as part of the fellowship.”
The fellowship honours one of Australia’s most innovative theatre directors, Rex Cramphorn, who passed away in 1991 aged 50. He emerged from the renaissance of Australian theatre in the 1960s and worked mainly as a freelance director and designer.
The fellowship enables the recipient to undertake a self-directed program of professional development including research, travel, mentorships and creating new works. For more information, visit: www.arts.nsw.gov.au for details.
Image: Victoria Hunt in Copper Promises: Hinemihi Haka – photo by Heidrun Lohr