- Announcing the outstanding four recipients of ACCELERATE 2014
- Rupert Myer announces extended support from the Australia Council for the Arts $355,700 over three years
- Wesley Enoch’s rousing keynote
The 2014 recipients of ACCELERATE the British Council’s annual leadership award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People were announced today, at a special event held at Melbourne Museum’s Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre.
The four recipients of this year’s programme, who were chosen from a national call-out, are:
- Jacob Boehme a dancer/choreographer, theatre-maker and writer from Victoria
- Clotilde Bullen a visual arts curator from Western Australia
- Carly Lane a visual arts curator and arts advocate from Western Australia
- Lucy Simpson a designer of textiles and home wares from New South Wales.
The four ACCELERATE recipients will now move on to the first stage of ACCELERATE 2014, where they will undertake an intensive weekend with visiting UK trainer, Mark Wright of People Create. During the intensive, they will explore their own leadership more deeply and will also be connected with individual mentors who will work with them as coaches over the programme.
After these sessions, the four will work in consultation with the British Council and UK-based arts consultant Nicola Turner to design their bespoke UK professional placements. The group travels to the UK for three weeks in November this year.
At the event, Chair of the Australia Council for the Arts Rupert Myer AM announced extended three-year support to expand the ACCELERATE programme from 2014-16, totaling $355,700.
This will see: (1) an international leadership symposium led by ACCELERATE alumni in 2015 and 2016; (2) opportunity for ACCELERATE alumni to build artistic collaboration with the UK and; (3) increased mentoring and leadership training for ACCELERATE participants.
Rupert Myer said, An expanded ACCELERATE delivers across the spectrum of goals defined in our new Strategic Plan for a Culturally Ambitious Nation. We recognise that supporting leaders of the future is critical to the continued development of vibrant and inspiring communities. ACCELERATE is an important platform for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts leaders to drive the dialogue on Australian arts, locally and internationally. The Australia Council is very pleased to support ACCELERATE and its work in cultural leadership development.
The event was a celebration, hosted by NITV News presenter Natalie Ahmat and featuring amusical performance by Melbourne’s Skin Choir. Queensland Theatre Company Artistic Director and Chair of the Australia Council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Strategy Panel Wesley Enoch delivered a rousing keynote speech, which built on issues raised in his recently published Platform Papers essay, Take Me to Your Leader: the Dilemma of Cultural Leadership.
In his speech, Enoch said that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people occupy a unique position in this country.
We have both a moral authority gifted to us through our heritage, the history of injustice and continued connection with this landscape AND we have solutions that are based on the concept of putting the arts and cultural expression in the centre of society, Enoch said.
We express ourselves through our song, dance, storytelling, visual arts, music and craft. Our genealogy, geography, history, economy, legal system and sense of community come from expressing ourselves through the arts.
ACCELERATE 2014 is presented by the British Council and the Australia Council for the Arts in partnership with Arts NSW, Arts Victoria, Department of Culture and the Arts WA, technology and communications partner BT Global Services, transport partner British Airways, and media partner SBS NITV.
Further information at www.accelerate.org.au
For more information, photographs and interview opportunities, contact:
Ben Starick, Starling Communications
0411 029 393
ben@starling.com.au
ABOUT THIS YEAR’S RECIPIENTS
Carly Lane, WA
Carly Lane is a member of the Kalkadoon people of north-west Queensland and an independent art curator based in Perth. Lane specialises in Aboriginal art and anthropology and has over 15 years’ experience working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, art collections and exhibitions in Perth as well as nationally.
Lane has worked as a curator and researcher at a number of local, state and national institutions, including the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, The University of Western Australia, the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the National Museum and National Gallery of Australia. She was the inaugural curator of the Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards and the curator of the second National Indigenous Art Triennial.
Carly Lane continues to serve on various local/state/national boards and committees, including the Indigenous Art Code. As an independent curator, Lane works on an assortment of art projects, including co-guest editing the annual edition of Artlink Indigenous Art, 2014. Lane has a First Class Honours in Anthropology and was the first Indigenous graduand to present the Valedictory Address at The University of Western Australia in 2003. Lane continues in her pursuit of knowledge by researching and writing a PhD in anthropology about Aboriginal identity and art.
Jacob Boehme, Vic
Jacob Boehme is a Narangga/Kaurna man, descendant of the peoples of South Australia. He trained in traditional Aboriginal/ Torres Strait Island and contemporary dance at NAISDA College and holds Post Graduate and Masters Degrees in Puppetry (Victorian College of the Arts), trained by influential masters of visual theatre: Philippe Genty, Peter J. Wilson, RonnieBurkett and Mummenschanz. Jacob is now studying a Masters in Writing for Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Choreographic credits include the Hamer Hall Opening Concert 2012, Thuwathu Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair 2011, Lu’arn Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival, Tanderrum Melbourne Festival 2013, as well as Dreamtime at the G 2011 2013.
In 2011, Jacob founded IDJA, a Melbourne based Indigenous dance theatre and in 2012, premiered its first major production Lu’arn: a contemporary envisioning of an ancient Boon Wurrung Lore story, at the inaugural Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival.
Jacob also provides professional and skills development for Traditional dance groups. Jacob’s work with the Mornington Island Dancers led to the haunting traditional dance and puppetryperformance of Thuwathu Death of the Rainbow Serpent, for the Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair in 2011.
Jacob is now embarking on his first solo performance Blood on the Dance Floor (BOTDF), produced by ILBIJERRI Theatre Company. BOTDF is a contemporary text-based dance work, illuminating the experience of living with a chronic illness, in particular: living with and Indigenous attitudes toward HIV. Jacob is now Writer in Residence at ILBIJERRI, commissioned to write a new full-length play, Flash Blaks.
Clotilde Bullen, WA
Clotilde Bullen is a Wardandi (Nyoongar) and French/English woman from the south-west of Western Australia. She has held the position of Curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia since 2005 and since that time has curated 13 exhibitions, written numerous in-house catalogues and acquired significant artworks for the State Art Collection. Clotilde also writes for external publications, including Artlink: Contemporary Art of Asia and the Asia Pacific, and has conducted many lectures and talks, most recently as part of Next wave Festival’s Blak Wave programme.
Clotilde is a strong advocate for the Nyoongar and wider visual arts communities, seeking to empower arts workers in the visual arts industry, by being aware, responsive, inspirational and knowledgable.
Clotilde has also served on the development committee for the National Gallery and Wesfarmers Indigenous Arts Fellowship and was part of the national Indigenous curatorial lobby group to the Kemp Inquiry to introduce legislation for resale royalties for Indigenous artists.
Lucy Simpson, NSW
Lucy Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay woman based in Sydney. Lucy studied at UNSW College of Fine Arts [COFA] and is the founder of design house and home wares/accessories label, Gaawaa Miyay. Through her contemporary work in textiles and graphics, Lucy uses visual narratives and story to connect share and celebrate.
A graduate of the College of Fine Arts, Lucy is passionate about all aspects of thoughtful practical and sustainable Aboriginal design and visual storytelling. Through her own practice, community programs, industry events and public forums, Lucy lives to share her experience and insight into the beautiful, sophisticated and intriguing world of Indigenous design and contemporary Aboriginal culture.
