“CITYNEWS” visual arts reviewer, Anni Doyle Wawrzynczak, has just been announced as the recipient of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences Publishing Prize.

Dr Wawrzynczak, who graduated with a PhD earlier in the year has received the prize for her doctoral dissertation, which centred on the evolution and history of the Canberra Contemporary Art Space, but ended up being an in-depth study of arts funding and practice in Canberra from 1912 to 2001.

The prize facilitates the publication of her manuscript, tentatively but not finally titled, “Transcending the National Capital Paradigm: the evolution of local arts in Australia’s National Capital”, which is to be published by the ANU Press later in 2018.

From the large chunk of the dissertation that “CityNews” has already read, this looks like an invaluable resource for Canberra artists and arts managers across the board, as it is by no means restricted in scope to the visual arts alone.

It might even help some individuals and organisations avoid the trap of repeating history.