IN A mighty affirmation of Canberra-made theatre, The Street Theatre was named on Tuesday (April 13) as a recipient of a 2020 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award.

Other recipients were Andrew Ford (Music, NSW), Metro Arts (Multi-Arts, Queensland), Kylie Bracknell (Theatre, WA), Sally Chance (Dance, SA), Second Echo Ensemble (Dance, Tasmania), Robin Fox (Music, Victoria) and Sean Pardy (Theatre, NT).

The awards were established in 1984 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the late arts philanthropist Sidney Myer.

They have awarded more than $4 million over 38 years and have this year been expanded from the usual three (individual, facilitator and group) to eight prizes of $25,000, including at least one in each Australian state and territory.

The 2020 awards were determined by a judging committee made up of Christie Anthoney, Fraser Corfield, Shelagh Magadza, Fiona Maxwell and Brian Ritchie, chaired by Andrew Myer (who did not vote). The committee was asked to recognise past achievements and also the potential to continue contributing to society through the performing arts.

Artistic director and CEO at The Street, Caroline Stacey, also a former “CityNews” Artist of the year, described the announcement as “deeply gratifying”.

“When the pandemic struck, we held our people close and reached out further nationally and internationally. We did all that we could to care for our company and community whilst championing creativity in the digital theatre space with no embargo on ambition or risk.”

Stacey said she and her team had held fast to their passion for our artists and the commissioning, developing, and producing of Australian performance work that talked to the here and now.

“We’ve stayed with our commitment to grow and strengthen Canberra’s professional and independent live performance community, and ensure it’s part of the national conversation,” she said.

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