Fellowship to fund actor’s new physical theatre work

Actor, writer and director Christopher Carroll. 2024 Capo Fellow. (Photo: supplied)

by Helen Musa

Actor, writer and director Christopher Carroll has been announced as the 2024 Capital Arts Patrons’ Organisation Fellow.

Carroll, one of Canberra’s busiest actors, will use the fellowship, which has a value of up to $15,000 and is jointly funded through the sale of donated art and business items at the annual fundraiser, to work on Crims, a new physical theatre work based on real-life stories from Sydney’s criminal underworld in the early 1900s.

The Mandy Martin Art & Environment Award was awarded to Erica Secombe, who will use the award to create new work exploring Laser-Cuts and AI imagery, while the Rosalie Gascoigne Memorial Award went to Surya Bajracharya to support a residency at Megalo Print Studio.

Other awards included:

• Sophie Dumaresq won an award to create an animatronic 6-metre-long shark.
• Rosalind Lemoh won an award to create new contemporary sculpture works in metal and glass.
• Elsa Huber has been funded to make audiovisual recordings of herself singing with an associate pianist.
• Alice van Meurs has funding for a new clothing collection with artist Sarrita King.
• Apeiron Baroque’s John Ma has been helped to fund student guest artists.
• The Outstanding Practice Award was won by Sarit Cohen for building plaster cast moulds for larger work.
• Belinda Jessup won an award for a solo exhibition of machine-embroidered textiles focusing on birds and trees of the ACT.
• Sammy Hawker was given an award to finalise production of new work for upcoming solo shows.
• Kevin Bradley won an award that will go towards the purchase of a CNC router.
• Two Performance Awards went to Apeiron Baroque and designer Samuel Townsend.
• An award was presented to John Brookes, which will go towards the exhibition Unconditional.
• Nigel Dobson won an award to assist with supporting a three-month residency in Paris in 2025.
• The Sculpture Award went to Madisyn Zabel to support Axis, a solo glass exhibition at Woollahra Gallery from April to May 2025.
• The Creative Writing Prize was awarded to Maura Pierlot to support a chapbook, The Archaeology of Loss.
• Emerging Artist Awards went to Lesley Andersen for a project encompassing a screen-printed edition of abstract works on paper; Jemina Parker who will develop a contemporary fiction young adult manuscript, Stitch by Stitch; Emily Kerr who will work towards developing advanced technical and artistic skills in residence at Kouraku Kiln in Japan; musician Micah Heathwood; porcelain artist Emily Kerr and artist Sophie Constable.

First published at Canberra City News, November 4, 2024