Introducing the Stevie “Gadlabarti” Goldsmith Memorial Award, new to the Ruby Awards 2018

ARTISTIC and cultural achievement in the South Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is being celebrated with the new Stevie “Gadlabarti” Goldsmith Memorial Award.

AWARD: Jamie Goldsmith and his children Ilya, 10 and Yapuma, 11, in front of a mural of artist and Aboriginal leader Stevie Goldsmith. Photo: Mark Brake

ARTISTIC and cultural achievement in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is being celebrated with an award named in honour of the late Kaurna elder Stephen Goldsmith.

Jamie Goldsmith, of the Taikurtinna Dance Group, said it was “a great honour” for his father’s name to live on through the Stevie “Gadlabarti” Goldsmith Memorial Award.

“He travelled right around the world using music, song and dance to give a stronger knowledge of our people,” he said.

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“Knowledge within our own community is something younger generations have been deprived of.

“So a lot of what he did with music, song, dance and through his arts was much more than the art form itself, but more so using that art as a platform to teach greater knowledge of self, greater knowledge of the country’s original history and original heritage.”

The new award is part of the Arts SA Ruby Awards, an annual showcase of the best of the state’s vibrant arts scene.

The winners will be announced at a gala event on Saturday December 1 at the Queen’s Theatre in Adelaide.

The Ruby Awards will also pay tribute to local arts icon Frank Ford, who died in September, with a new award for young artists named in his honour.