Some of the best and brightest of South Australia’s arts and cultural professionals have been recognised at the 2013 Ruby Awards.
Among them, ceramics artist Milton Moon AM won top honours with the Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement. Milton has worked as a ceramics artist for some six decades, both as a lecturer and practising potter. He has been a key figure in developing links between Japanese studio pottery and Australia.
Geoff Cobham, the creative talent behind the look and lighting of many successful Australian productions, festivals and venues, was recognised for Sustained Contribution by an Individual. Geoff’s energy and talent can turn the many facets of an event – from lighting to the space itself – from the ordinary to the sublime.
Arts worker Ollie Black was awarded the Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award for her more than three-decade contribution to community theatre, including co-founding Vitalstatistix Theatre Company in 1984.
Adelaide Cabaret Festival – the largest of its kind in the world – won Sustained Contribution by an Organisation, and the Art Gallery of South Australia’s blockbuster Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master was Best Event.
The first major exhibition of iconic British artist Joseph Mallord William Turner’s work in almost 20 years lured more than 92,000 visitors to the Art Gallery, a record number of them from outside of South Australia.
The Awards were announced at a gala industry event held last night at the Dunstan Playhouse at Adelaide Festival Centre.
The Ruby Awards were introduced in 2006 by the Government of South Australia and are presented by Arts SA. They are non-monetary and open to artists, facilitators, volunteers, cultural sector workers, community participants, private enterprise and not-for profit organisations, as well as State and Local Government and regional organisations.
The Awards are one of the most important ways in which the Government acknowledges and celebrates the contribution of the arts to the cultural life of South Australia.
The full list of winners in each category are:
- Best Work: Pinocchio, Windmill Theatre
- Best Event: Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master – Art Gallery of South Australia
- Community Impact Under $100,000: Auburn Courthouse Cultural Centre, HATs Inc.
- Community Impact Over $100,000: Just Add Water – 2012 Regional Centre of Culture, Country Arts SA & Alexandrina Council
- Innovation: If There Was a Colour Darker than Black, I’d Wear It – Rising Damp, Illuminart & Country Arts SA
- Arts Enterprise: Illuminart, Illuminart Productions
- Sustained Contribution by an Organisation or Group: Adelaide Cabaret Festival
- Sustained Contribution by an Individual: Geoff Cobham
- Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award: Ollie Black
- Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement: Milton Moon AM
Photo: The 2012 Ruby platter
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