Gaelle Mellis

Recipient of the 2020 Australia Council National Arts and Disability Award for an Established Artist

For more than 30 years, Gaelle has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to the vibrancy of Australian arts. Gaelle’s work traverses theatre, dance, circus, opera, disability arts, visual arts, installation, digital engagement and more.

Her award winning designs have toured Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and the United States to critical acclaim. Gaelle has received numerous awards throughout her career including the Adelaide Critics Circle Individual Award, South Australian Screen Award, Creative Australia Fellowship, Adelaide Fringe Festival Award for Design, Adelaide Theatre Guild Award for Best Show, Drama for ‘Take Up Thy Bed and Walk’, Creative Partnerships Australia & Arts Access Award Arts Award at the National Disability Leadership Awards. As one of Australia’s most critical cultural thinkers, Gaelle is a respected role model who continues to make significant cross-generational impact in the arts and disability sector.

Her outstanding and sustained contributions as a designer, maker, disability advocate and arts manager have also received significant national and international recognition.

Arnold has worked in the USA, Papua New Guinea, China, and across Europe and Southeast Asia. In 1998 he worked with curators to produce the script for Victoria’s Immigration Museum. He is a university lecturer and can often be found at writers’ festivals across the country.

In 2013, Arnold received the Voltaire award for the promotion of free speech and human rights advocacy. He is a patron of Sanctuary, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, the Eastweb Foundation, the Victorian Storytellers Guild, and a former member of the Victorian Immigration Museum advisory committee. He was also president of Melbourne Centre – PEN International for many years.

Arnold Zable is the 2021 recipient of the Australia Council Lifetime Achievement in Literature.