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BIG WEEK FOR AWARDS
It's been a big week for award ceremonies too many indeed to mention in detail.
Among them the ARIA Awards where music legend Rolfe Harris was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
The Australian Dance Awards which, after a decade in Sydney, have moved to Melbourne until 2010. Among those honoured was Lucy Guerin's work 'Structure and Sadness' about the collapse of Melbourne's Westgate Bridge in 1970 and 'Honour Bound', a work inspired by David Hick's detention in Guantanamo Bay.
And the Sydney Film Festival's inaugural Official Competition has been won by 'Hunger' directed by UK artist Steve McQueen, in collaboration with Irish playwright Enda Marsh. McQueen's feature debut is about the prison life-and-death of IRA hunger striker, Bobby Sands, in Her Majesty's Maze prison near Belfast in the early 1980s.
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BIENNALE OF SYDNEY
The Biennale of Sydney opened on June 18th and has evoked mixed responses.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that views among crowds at exhibition venues, including Cockatoo Island and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Circular Quay, ranged from impressed to shocked and disappointed.
Among the works which caused controversy was a figure of Christ crucified on a US war plane, a stuffed horse suspended in leather strapping above visitors and a retrospective of the work of Mike Parr including scenes of self mutilation.
The exhibition is spread across several big Sydney venues including the Sydney Opera House, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Gallery of NSW and Cockatoo Island. It is open until September 7.
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PICASSO SALES SET RECORD
A painting by Pablo Picasso has sold for $6.9m, setting a new record for a painting sold at auction in Australia. The previous record price of $3.48m was paid for a work by Australian artist Brett Whitely.
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WA PREMIER'S INDIGENOUS ART AWARDS
The inaugural Western Australian Premier's Indigenous Art Awards, worth $1.1m over four years, have been launched in Perth.
According to the Minister for Culture and Arts Sheila McHale, the awards are part of the Carpenter Government's $73-million Ignite cultural package.
The principal award is valued at $50,000, with a second award of $10,000 for a Western Australian artist who is developing significant work.
The winner of the People's Choice Award of $5,000 will be decided by popular vote during the exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia where nominated works will be on display from November 1 until January 11, 2009.
Nomination forms can be downloaded from the Art Gallery of Western Australia website: http://www.artgallery.wa.gov.au.
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HUME LEAVING PERTH FOR SYDNEY
Leaving Perth is the former artistic director of the Perth International Arts Festival Lindy Hume.
She has been appointed as Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Sydney Festival for the years 2010 to 2012.
Hume was the first female and the first Australian to direct the Perth Festival in its 55-year history where she oversaw the 2004 to 2007 festivals.
Hume's legacies include pioneering the Wesfarmers Arts Commissions that instigate new Australian works, the creation of the Ngalla Koort Boodja artwork with the Noongar community, and the world premier of Richard Mills' opera 'The Love of the Nightingale', which she also directed.
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BLAKE POETRY PRIZE
In NSW, a poetry prize has been announced to compliment the Blake Prize for Religious Art.
This national prize is based on the theme Bliss, Blasphemy and Belief and is aimed at providing Australian poets with an opportunity to explore religious and spiritual themes through the written word.
All entries will be bound by the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders to form a permanent record of the 2008 Blake Poetry Prize. The book will go on display and tour with the Blake Prize for Religious Art.
Each entry costs $15 and forms can be downloaded from the website of the NSW Writers Centre: www.nswwriterscentre.org.au.
Entries close on 27 June.
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BOY BANDS MANAGER PEARLMAN JAILED FOR SWINDLING
Lou Pearlman, who launched boy bands Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for swindling investors and US banks out of more than $US300 million.
But US Judge G Kendall Sharp gave Pearlman an unusual chance to cut his prison time. He will get a one-month reprieve for every $US1 million he helps a trustee in bankruptcy recover for his victims.
Theoretically then, Pearlman could cancel his entire 300-month sentence by repaying the $US300 million debt.
But one investor James Taylor was not impressed. 'When Pearlman comes out of prison," he said, "he should be turned over to us."
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