The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, today announced appointments to the Australia Council’s Theatre, Literature and Dance Boards.
The Australia Council has seven boards that administer funding to Australia’s arts sector, and provide advice to the Council on the development of arts initiatives and grant programs.
“As well as substantial experience as practitioners in their artform, these board members variously bring management experience, sector knowledge, business acumen and the benefits of involvement in the arts out in the community,” Mr Garrett said.
Mr Fraser Corfield is appointed to the Australia Council’s Theatre Board for a three-year term. Based in Queensland, Mr Corfield has worked as a director, actor, writer, workshop facilitator and artistic director. He has been artistic director of Backbone Youth Arts in Brisbane since 2005. He was artistic director of Riverland Youth Theatre in South Australia from 2001 to 2003 and the artistic associate of La Boite Theatre from 1997 to 2000.
Mr Garrett also welcomed the appointment of Ms Margo Lanagan and Dr Gail Jones to the Literature Board for three-year terms.
Ms Lanagan is an Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction whose work has attracted worldwide attention. She has had works published both in Australia and North America. Ms Lanagan’s short story collection Black Juice won two World Fantasy Awards. She recently published her third collection of short stories, Red Spikes.
Dr Gail Jones is an associate professor in English at the University of Western Australia. In 2001, she won the Australian University Teaching Award in the Humanities and Arts category. Dr Jones is a multi-award winning author whose second novel, Sixty Lights, won the 2005 Age Book of the Year Award for Fiction, both the Fiction and Premier’s Prizes in the 2004 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards, and the South Australian Festival Award for Literature in 2006.
Mr Jeff Khan is appointed to the Australia Council’s Dance Board for a three-year term. Mr Khan is an experienced curator, writer and arts administrator who has developed many exhibitions, performance events and special projects. Mr Khan is the artistic director for the Next Wave Festival in Melbourne, a biennial festival dedicated to developing and presenting work by young Australian artists.
Ms Frances Rings is reappointed to the Dance Board for a further one-year term. Ms Rings is an award-winning dancer and choreographer. She joined Bangarra Dance Theatre in 1993 as a dancer, and made her debut as a choreographer in Bangarra’s Walkabout in 2002. Ms Rings, now a freelancer, has been awarded an IAF Innovation Award by the South Australian Critics Circle, Best Australian Work at the 2003 Helpmann Awards for Walkabout, the 2003 Deadly Award for Female Dancer of the Year, and the 2004 Ausdance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for Unaipon at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts in 2004.
The Australia Council is the Australian Government’s principal arts funding body. It enriches the lives of Australians and their communities by supporting the creation and enjoyment of the arts.
See www.australiacouncil.gov.au for further information.