CAPO 2025 Art Auction Event and Grant Winners

2025 Grant Winners.

CAPO announced the winners of 24 awards last Saturday night at Belconnen Arts Centre. The most prestigious award, the Fellowship was presented by CAPO Patron, Genevieve Jacobs AM, to Lucy Irvine, a Canberra-based artist, educator, and researcher whose work brings together sculpture, textiles, design, and architecture. Lucy plans to use the Fellowship to innovate new weaving systems and sculptural forms during a residency in Budapest and to bring this new work to a Canberran audience.

Full list of winners:
Rosalie Gascoigne Memorial Award: Lisa Sammut
Megalo Print Studio Residency Award: Steven Mark Holland
Robert Foster Memorial Award: Phoebe Porter
Tall Foundation Award: Fenja T. Ringl
Shaw and Partners Award: Tom Buckland
Waldren Constructions General Award: Al Munro
Michele Black Memorial Award: Creations Manuka: Jessika Spencer

Craft + Design Canberra Outstanding Practice Award: Julie Ryder
Capital Chemist Award: Mio Kuhnen
MPS People Security Risk Management Performance Awards: Sarah Stewart and Nick Delatovic
All Insure Emerging Artist Awards: Adelaide Worcester, Olivia Kidston and Sophia Childs
Doubleshot Deakin Award: Sophia Cai
Canberra Weekly Award: Lynne Flemons
Home by Holly Award: Cassandra Dove
Radford & Co Sculpture Award: Emeirely Nucifora-Ryan
PhotoAccess Award: Ria Tierney.
Cook Creative Writing Prize: Samuel Townsend
Boris Property Emerging Artist Award: Fi Peel
Craft + Design Canberra Emerging Artist Award: Lisa Jose
Canberra Museum and Gallery Photography Award: Sari Sutton

Find out about each of the winning artists unique projects on our website here.

Exhibition + Public Programs.
Art Auction Event.

Our Art Auction on Saturday 18 October was a wonderful celebration of creativity and community.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us to the talented artists who generously donated their works, and to our sponsors whose support made the night possible.

A special shoutout to our amazing performers and hosts, Genevieve Jacobs, Venus Mantrap, Kokoloco Dance, The Two Step Trio, and Natasha Ruschka for filling the evening with energy, colour, and joy.

View the full album of images here.

View and Shop the exhibition.

The Art Auction exhibition will stay on display at the Generator Gallery at Belconnen Arts Centre until 30 Nov 2025.

Iconic Australian stage and screen legend Toni Lamond dies aged 93

By Kinta Walsh-Cotton, Showbusiness Reporter, Australia

The Australian entertainment industry is mourning the loss of Toni Lamond, after she died on Saturday at the age of 93.

The stage and screen legend was a pioneering entertainer Down Under, with 80 years of experience under her belt.

Born in 1932, Toni began her career at the age of 10, when she started singing on the radio and touring with her parents in variety shows.

Her son, Tony Sheldon, shared several photos to Instagram that documented their life together, including an image of her bottle feeding him when he was a baby. 

Entertainment reporter Peter Ford took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share his heartbreak over the loss.

'Very sad to hear of showbiz legend Toni Lamond’s death at 93. What a life and career!' he wrote.

Australian showbusiness is mourning the loss of Toni Lamond on Saturday
after she died at the age of 93. Photo: Getty Images

'A list of TV, stage and movie credits as long as your arm – both here and overseas. Fun fact – she was the first woman in the world to host a Tonight Show. 

'She won a Logie & performed on the opening night telecast of GTV 9. Her son Tony Sheldon continues the family showbiz dynasty.' 

Toni had a plethora of talents across musical comedy, dramatic plays, recordings, film, television and cabaret.

Her first starring role was in 1952 alongside Tommy Trinder during The Tommy Trinder Show.

She took to the stage for productions of Oliver, Annie Get Your Gun, The Pajama Game, Gypsy, 42nd Street, and The Pirates of Penzance, among many others.

As for TV, her credits include iconic hits like The Graham Kennedy Show, Bandstand, Murder She Wrote, The Bob Newhart Show, Starsky & Hutch and Denise.

The Mike Walsh Show, The Bert Newton Show, Parkinson in Australia, In Melbourne Today, Good Morning Australia, Division 4, Number 96, and Spicks and Specks are also credited to her.

Toni also starred in The Love Boat, Highway to Heaven, Eight Is Enough, Punky Brewster, The Pirates of Penzance and the films Spotswood and Razzle Dazzle.

Her son, Tony Sheldon, shared several photos to Instagram of his famous mother

She was previously married to performer Frank Sheldon in 1954, but tragedy struck when he died by suicide in 1966 while she was performing Oliver.

Producers famously made her perform the night after his funeral. 

Toni later jetted off to the US in the 1970s to live in Los Angeles, working between America and her home country of Australia for many years.

Her accolades are numerous, with Logie Awards, Mo Awards, and Variety Club Awards all with her name on them.

She also earned the Helpmann Awards Lifetime Achievement, Equity Lifetime Achievement Award, and Centenary Medal for Service to the Arts Community. 

The Victorian Honour Roll of Women and an Order of Australia for Service to the Entertainment Industry are also credited to Toni.

First published at The Daily Mail, November 29, updated November 30, 2025

Leisa Keen’s vocal group ‘really shines’

Leisa Keen and Opus Two – The Vocal Group on stage in Queanbeyan. Photo: Peter Hislop

Music / Opus Two – The Vocal Group. At the Q, Queanbeyan, November 25. Reviewed by SARAH BYRNE.

Canberra music aficionadi with long memories will fondly recall the ANU School of Music’s ensemble The Vocal Group, formed and directed by the redoubtable late Gery Scott.

Scott’s protege Leisa Keen, probably Canberra’s foremost jazz chanteuse, has recently revived the concept with her own Vocal Group, and this showcase of their repertoire featured 15 singers and the fabulous seven-piece backing band that is Leisa and the Keen Cats.

The program started with a bracket of arrangements by Kirby Shaw, originally for the Manhattan Transfer, opening with the Tommy Dorsey classic Opus One, and followed by Tuxedo Junction, Boy from New York City and Birdland.

A number of these featured scat solos for various members of the group; Keen told us that for most it was their first performance of improvisational vocals – at times this showed, but we don’t hear enough scat these days, and I, for one, am here for it. There is a lot of promise here and baritone Cal Clugston performed especially well, with Shennia Spillane also showing some innovative work.

It’s as an ensemble, however, that Opus Two – The Vocal Group really shines. Despite her location behind them, on keyboard, Keen has directed the group very thoroughly, with tight harmony, precise timing, effective dynamics and excellent diction, with opportunities scattered throughout for individuals to show their chops.

Mention must also be made of the truly excellent backing group, which never drew focus from the vocalists but gave us some absolutely blistering solos in the musical breaks. Band arrangements were, unsurprisingly, by the indefatigable Andrew Hackwill, here on bari sax, with sons Josh and Adam on alto sax and bass respectively, some gorgeous trumpet from Zach Raffan.

The next bracket consisted of gospel numbers, which Opus Two –The Vocal Group has now gained a reputation for performing at the annual ecumenical service at the Merimbula Jazz Festival – these included a medley of well-known spirituals and Keen’s own arrangement of Just A Closer Walk With Thee, a hymn much favoured by that other great off-shoot of the 1990s Vocal Group, the Idea of North.

Another moving Keen arrangement, It Is Well With My Soul, followed, and the first act closed with Andrew Hackwill’s arrangement of Revelation.

Despite the air-conditioning being on the fritz on an especially warm evening, the substantial audience entered the interval uplifted and refreshed.

The second act brought a series of great jazz classics, several arranged by Keen (C Jam Blues, Blue Moon, Bye Bye Blackbird), including a very lovely version of the White Cliffs of Dover sung in three-part harmony by the ensemble’s female voices. Other arrangements were provided by another 90s Vocal Group alumnus, Craig Schneider – an absolutely cracking iteration of I Could Write A Book, and an ambitious and interesting Green Dolphin Street.

Amongst these was also a lesser-known Jobim number, Brasilia, featuring Kylie Becvarik in the stand-out solo performance of the evening. After a solid Agua de Beber, the backing musicians were featured in the Aaberg arrangement of Jumping At the Woodside, supported by the vocalists in instrumental style, a nice touch.

The final piece for the evening was another Hackwill arrangement, of Minder theme song. I Could Be So Good For You, featuring a strong solo from baritone Stephen Hunter (whom I was startled to recognise from a former life in the APS – how very Canberra).

A fine play-out from the Keen Cats capped off a successful evening, with many audience members waiting in the foyer to meet and congratulate the performers. Under Keen’s direction I have no doubt this group will continue to improve and flourish.

First published at Canberra City News, November 26, 2025

Titanic passenger’s watch sets record at UK auction

More than $A6 million worth of Titanic-related memorabilia has been sold at auction. (AP PHOTO)

By Rod Minchin in London

A gold pocket watch recovered from an elderly couple who drowned during the sinking of the Titanic has sold for a record-breaking Stg1.78 million ($A3.61 million) at auction.

It was the highest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia, the auctioneers said.

The previous record was set last year when another gold pocket watch presented to the captain of a boat which rescued more than 700 passengers from the liner sold for Stg1.56 million ($A3.16 million).

The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen engraved watch was owned by first class passenger Isidor Straus, who drowned when the ship sank on its maiden voyage from England to New York in April 1912, costing 1500 lives.

Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were portrayed in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic film as the couple cradling each other as the Titanic goes down.

The watch was recovered from the body of Isidor Straus along with other personal effects and returned to his family.

He had been given the watch in 1888 as a gift for his 43rd birthday – the same year he became a partner in New York department store Macy’s.

During the night of the sinking, the wealthy couple made their way to the Titanic’s boat deck.

When Isidor Straus was offered a seat on a lifeboat due to his age, he replied that he would not go before other men.

Ida Straus refused to leave her husband and they were last seen alive sitting on deckchairs, facing fate by each other’s side.

They were among very few first class passengers to perish in the disaster.

The watch, which had remained in the family, was sold at auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire.

A letter written by Ida Straus on Titanic stationery and posted while onboard the ship fetched Stg100,000 ($A202,846).

A Titanic passenger list was bought for Stg104,000 ($A210,960) and a gold medal awarded to the crew of the RMS Carpathia by rescued survivors sold for Stg86,000 ($A174,448).

In total the auction of Titanic-related memorabilia reached Stg3 million ($A6.1 million) on Saturday.

Born into a Jewish family in Otterberg, Bavaria, in 1845, Isidor Straus emigrated to the US with his family in 1854.

In January 1912, he and his wife travelled on RMS Caronia to Jerusalem before returning to the US via Southampton on the Titanic.

“The world record price illustrates the enduring interest in the Titanic story,” Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.

“The Strauses were the ultimate love story, Ida refusing to leave her husband of 41 years as the Titanic sank, and this world record price is testament to the respect that they are held in.”

Published at Canberra City News, via AAP, November 23, 2025