Image: Gregory Lorenzutti
Antony Hamilton’s work Meeting recently won two 2017 Bessie Awards for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Music Composition/Sound Design. The work pairs his own choreography with dancer and choreographer Alisdair Macindoe’s machine-making practice. The two performers share space with 64 robotic percussion instruments.
Antony applied through the Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups category in March 2015, and received $12,500.
Antony chose the Dance assessment panel and selected ‘international’ as his third assessment criterion, as the main focus of the activity was the engagement of international audiences.
The grant was to assist Meeting to tour seven venues across Europe and North America. An additional outcome of the funding will be the premiere of a new work, They Want New Language, commissioned by La Comete Scene National de Chalons en Champagne in France.
It was important – Antony’s producer Freya Waterson says – that the application demonstrate potential for continued international activity. ‘Fully confirmed fees and itinerary would have given the assessors confidence that this tour could be achieved as described within the application. We were also mindful of putting forward a grant request that was quite small in comparison to the whole project income. We wanted to show the assessors how persistent showcasing and smaller-scale touring can lead to much larger outcomes and opportunities.’
Image: Gregory Lorenzutti
‘We have made many grant applications in the past for touring and this was, by far, the largest (in terms of activity) and most detailed application we had made. It took over a year to bring this tour together, so we were confident of all of the detail before we started the application. In fact we had delayed making an earlier application to ensure that all partners were confirmed.’
Although Antony has applied for funding many times before, he still contacted Australia Council staff for advice before submitting his application. ‘It helps to bring context to your application and also raises awareness of what you are planning so that there is some knowledge of the application content before it’s received.’
You can find examples of Antony’s work, including details of the funded project here.