Ruby Awards 2018 finalists are shining examples of SA art excellence
THE state’s vibrant art scene is preparing for the industry’s night of nights. See the full list of nominees for every category of the Ruby Awards here.
AN international operatic tour de force, a blockbuster exhibition of European masterpieces, and local companies celebrating artists with disabilities are among the finalists in this year’s Ruby Awards.
Named in honour of late arts patron Dame Ruby Litchfield and presented by Arts South Australia, the 2018 Ruby Awards are the 13th annual celebration of the state’s arts and cultural sector.
Twenty-eight finalists have been announced across seven new or renamed categories, covering festivals, events, SA artists performing overseas or interstate, outstanding contributions, and youth, regional and community arts.
Premier Steven Marshall yesterday congratulated all the finalists on their nominations and said he looked forward to seeing the winners revealed at a gala event on Saturday, December 1, at the Queen’s Theatre.
“From performers to producers, artists to administrators, companies and organisations, the Ruby Awards is the State Government’s annual celebration of the best of SA’s arts and cultural sector,” Mr Marshall said.
“SA’s artists, creatives, and arts and cultural organisations illuminate and enrich our lives.
“The high calibre of this year’s finalists once again cements our reputation as an international cultural hub and centre of artistic excellence.”
Also new for 2018 is the Stevie “Gadlabarti” Goldsmith Memorial Award, recognising artistic and cultural achievement by an SA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-focused organisation or individual, and the Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award for an outstanding artist or arts worker aged under 35.
These will be announced at the awards night, along with a further three awards: the Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award, recognising community cultural development, the People’s Choice Award, and the Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.
This year’s judging panel comprised eight key industry and media figures: Adelaide Fringe director Heather Croall, Adelaide Festival co-artistic director Rachel Healy, SA Museum director Brian Oldman, ACE Open CEO Liz Nowell, artist Gavin Wanganeen, president of Recitals Australia Mark de Raad, Channel 7 News presenter Jane Doyle, and The Advertiser Arts and Entertainment Editor Jillian Attrill.
MADE IN ADELAIDE AWARD
Baba Yaga — Windmill Theatre
Set to have its Australian premiere as part of the 2019 Adelaide Festival, this quirky new take on the old Russian folk tale debuted at the 2018 Edinburgh International Children’s Festival to a sellout season and five-star reviews.
Backbone/A Simple Space — Gravity & Other Myths
This Adelaide acrobatic company, pictured, has gone from local Fringe favourite to international artistic powerhouse in less than 10 years, performing its two flagship shows — Backbone and A Simple Space — more than 800 times to more than 300,000 people around the world.
Intimate Space at Bleach* Festival (Commonwealth Games 2018) — Restless Dance Theatre
After winning the 2017 Ruby Award for Arts Innovation and Enterprise for its world premiere at the 2017 Adelaide Festival, this immersive dance theatre work – performed by artists with a disability – dazzled audiences and critics all over again on the Gold Coast as part of the 2018 Commonwealth Games arts and cultural program.
Things I Know to be True — State Theatre Company South Australia
Produced in partnership with London-based theatre company Frantic Assembly, and touring to Canberra and the UK, this play by award-winning playwright Andrew Bovell starred Paul Blackwell and Tilda Cobham-Hervey as members of a family struggling to define themselves beyond the picket fences of suburban Australia.
BEST FESTIVAL
Adelaide Festival 2018
With huge headline acts such as US pop punk diva Grace Jones, pictured, the Lost and Found Orchestra, and epic Glyndebourne opera Hamlet, the second Adelaide Festival from co-artistic directors Rachel Healy and Neil Armfield was programming on a grand scale, matched by ticket sales – the box office takings exceeded $4.5 million, the largest in the event’s 58-year history.
Adelaide Fringe 2018
More than 500,000 people watched North Tce buildings light up with colourful animations each night as part of the Parade of Light, one of the big drawcards of the 2018 Adelaide Fringe, which also saw more than 6900 artists perform across 1231 events across SA.
SALA Festival 2017
Venues of all kinds from cinemas to cafes, and pubs and tattoo shops were transformed into pop-up art galleries for the month of August as the SA Living Artists Festival (SALA) rolled out more than 600 exhibitions and events featuring works by about 6000 local artists.
WOMADelaide 2018
Featuring the thrilling and visually spectacular 40-piece Manganiyar Seduction from Rajasthan, and the spellbinding aerial-feathered angel installation by France’s Gratte Ciel, alongside musical acts from America, Cuba, Ghana and more, WOMADelaide brought a stellar program of music, arts, dance, and large scale outdoor spectacle from around the world.
BEST COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL EVENT OR PROJECT
AREA 53 — D’Faces of Youth Arts
Whyalla was overtaken by UFOs and aliens in this innovative show, pictured, devised and performed by youth arts group D’Faces. It saw audience members led through a “top secret government facility” to experience an alien invasion first-hand.
Collectors/Collections: Waikerie Films — Waikerie District Historical Society and OSCA — Open Space Contemporary Arts
Shop fronts lining the main street of Waikerie came alive with video projections and historic films by local filmmakers in this three-day event staged during SA History Month, offering a unique window into the town’s past.
Mi: Wi 3027 — Country Arts SA
Named using the Ngarrindjeri word for “soul”, this play-reading told the remarkable cross-cultural wartime story of Aboriginal Digger Roland Carter and the lifelong friendship he developed with Jewish-German ethnologist Leonhard Adam while in a German internment camp.
SCC Fringe 2018 — Art Engineers (Julianne Pierce), Ashley Sierp and Southern Cross Care
Aged residents of five Southern Cross Care homes and their families enjoyed a taste of the Adelaide Fringe in this special four-week program, which brought performances, visual art exhibitions, markets and more to them.
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION BY AN ORGANISATION OR GROUP
ActNow Theatre
Established in 2007 and run by 2015 Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award winner Edwin Kemp Attrill, ActNow creates interactive arts projects for social justice outcomes, empowering communities and audiences through art and theatre.
Stormfront Productions
Since 2004, award-winning singer/ songwriters Mark Tempany and Alison Hams have provided this “one-stop” music service in Whyalla, offering studio space, recording services, music lessons, mentorship and more for musicians across the region.
True North Youth
Theatre Ensemble
Established in 2014 by performer, playwright and director Alirio Zavarce, this initiative has grown to become one of Adelaide’s leading youth theatre organisations, engaging hundreds of young people in Elizabeth, Klemzig, and Marion.
Vitalstatistix
This nationally recognised arts organisation has been creating ground-breaking performance works for more than three decades, as well as delivering public programs, partnerships and advocacy for independent artists.
BEST WORK OR EVENT WITHIN A FESTIVAL
Hamlet — Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Adelaide Festival (Adelaide Festival 2018)
Neil Armfield’s universally lauded production of Brett Dean’s Hamlet for Glyndebourne Festival Opera was remounted in this Australian premiere to the 2018 Adelaide Festival that had a sellout season, rave reviews, and won four Helpmann Awards. The timeless tale of love, betrayal, and revenge was taken to new heights through Australian composer Dean’s vivid and richly lyrical music, performed by a stellar international cast, the State Opera of SA and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
In the Club — State Theatre
Company SA (Adelaide Festival 2018)
A critical hit of the 2018 Adelaide Festival where it had its world premiere, this bold and timely play by award-winning playwright Patricia Cornelius provided a raw, unflinching look at the sexual assault and abuse of women within the Australian football fraternity.
Wagt al-tagheer: Time of Change — ACE Open (Adelaide Festival 2018)
Presented by contemporary art gallery ACE Open as part of the 2018 Adelaide Festival, this exhibition featured sculpture, photography, textiles, painting, video and VR work by new Muslim Australian art collective “eleven”, in a thought-provoking exploration of the Muslim Australian experience.
Place des Anges — Gratte Ciel and WOMADelaide (Adelaide Festival 2018)
One of the smash hits of the 2018 WOMADelaide program, this spectacular aerial performance by French group Gratte Ciel, pictured, saw Botanic Park — and thousands of festival-goers watching from below — covered in white feathers every night as angelic acrobats soared over head.
BEST WORK, EVENT OR PROJECT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
AREA 53 — D’Faces of Youth Arts
As above.
Beep — Windmill Theatre
As above.
Neo — Art Gallery of South Australia
Teenagers get to take over the Art Gallery of SA in this fun, free, festival-style events program featuring talks, tours, live music, dance, performance, art and craft.
Ngarrindjeri Yanun (Aboriginal Artist Development Initiative) — Carclew Youth Arts
This community cultural development program for young people brought six local Aboriginal artists together with students at St Joseph’s School in Murray Bridge over the course of 18 months. The aim was to build greater cultural literacy, understanding, appreciation and a deeper respect for the Ngarrindjeri art, histories, and culture.
BEST WORK OR EVENT OUTSIDE A FESTIVAL
Beep — Windmill Theatre
Young children and critics alike were enthralled by this sweet story of friendship between an alien robot and the residents of the leafy village where she crash-lands, told through Windmill’s signature quirky puppetry and music.
Colours of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay — Art Gallery of South Australia
A blockbuster event in every sense, this exhibition of impressionist masterpieces from the renowned collection of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris broke attendance records for ticketed exhibitions at the Art Gallery of SA, with a record 159,442 visitors flocking to see more than 65 works by Monet, pictured, Renoir, Manet, Cézanne and more.
Impersonal Space — Company AT and Tutti Arts
Written by local playwright Emily Steele in collaboration with the performers of Company AT, who all have autism spectrum disorder, this poignant and funny play explored the ups and downs of life with the condition through the eyes of a newly diagnosed nine-year-old girl, showing that alongside the struggles, it can also result in rare and astonishing achievements.
On the Terrace — Chamber Music Adelaide
Art, history and music come together in this free, annual event that sees accomplished chamber musicians give a “tasting plate” of short classical music performances inside the museums and galleries of North Terrace.
Vote for your favourite in the People’s Choice Award online at rubyawards.com.au and grab a chance to win prizes, including Adelaide Fringe and Adelaide Festival vouchers and tickets to the Ruby Awards gala event.