Individuals Fund 2021 recipients

14 Jul 2021

Arts Queensland's Individuals Fund 2021 will support 29 Queensland artists and cultural workers with funding of $185,764 helping emerging and established artists further their careers.

The 29 successful projects, spanning contemporary music, dance, theatre, visual arts and writing, show original thinking and the opportunity for major sector growth through learning, creating connections and developing new work.

Sunshine Coast musician Ayla Scanlan will take a major step in her career with funding to support her debut album featuring collaborations with a celebrated list of artists including Reuben Styles (Peking Duk), Sam Cromack (Ball Park Music), and Danny Harley (The Kite String Tangle).

Cairns-based Patrick Mau to host a PowerVerse live stream podcast at Bulmba-ja, while Gympie-based, autistic artist Aspy Jones will work on a creative collaboration with ARIA award-winning producer Pailie Bromley and Steve Summers for a new body of work to be launched in 2022.

Simone Eisler will create a major coastal sculptural installation of futuristic adaptive large scale marine and terrestrial animals with plant forms that cling, climb and hang from trees that are virtually transformed by augmented reality overlay into a world underwater iridescent coral flowers and creatures swimming amongst the trees.

Investment will also support Jessica Connell to expand her industry experience as an emerging Brisbane photographer under the guidance of mentor Aaron Walker, and contemporary dance artist Riley Baldwin to develop his original creation Wild Card (see image) through his self-established youth contemporary dance company RB.Corp. Instruction.

Ashleigh Musk, Elysha Rei, Andrew Tuttle, Maddie Nixon and Bianca Bality will undergo creative and professional development projects and programs in their respective artistic disciplines.

Individuals Fund 2021 recipients:

• Jahlias Oshen $7,000 – contemporary music: Supporting the creative and professional strategic development with six months of mentorship from Craig Spann and Deb Gann.
• Jessica Connell $6,828 – visual arts, craft and design: mentoring and full day studio session exploring the merging of circus and achieving a portfolio. 
• Ashleigh Musk $5,954 – dance: Professional Development in Dance Dramaturgy and offering assistance to six Queensland artists working on a range of projects across 2021.
• Elysha Rei $7,000 – visual arts, craft and design: Creation of a public art development program developed to elevate creative arts practice. 
• Anita Holtsclaw $5,892 – visual arts, craft and design: To undertake a mentorship with Artists Film workshop, create and develop a new body of ambitious artworks for Anita Holtsclaw’s exhibition The Sea, The Sea.
• Mason Hope-Kassulke $6,955 – contemporary music: Opportunity to record three songs with producer Shane Nicholson.
• Andrew Tuttle $6,125 – contemporary music: To support creative development (song writing, recording, mixing, mastering, and video development) of solo album, Fleeting Adventure.
• Mika Nakamura-Mather $5,670 – visual arts, craft and design: A collaborative installation between artist and local and international people for the 8th Nakanojo International Art Biennale 2021.
• Simone Eisler $7,000 – visual arts craft and design: A major art sculpture installation fof land and sea featuring a combination of actual and virtual augmented reality.
• Jacqueline Ryan $4,750 – writing: Audience expansion for award-winning comic book series ‘Burger Force’.
• Ayla Scanlan $7,000 – contemporary music: Supporting presentation and promotions of debut album that features collaborations with a list of celebrated artists. 
• Ethan Roberts $7,000 – contemporary music: A creative collaboration journey of Autism in Music with Aspy Jones and award-winning producers. 
• Anna Loren $2,347 – theatre: 8-week creative development for Anna’s play Comfort.
• Melanie Myers $6,920 – writing: A literary project that will result in a full-length work of historical bio-fiction.
• Courtney Coombs $7,000 – visual arts, craft and design: Development and production of new work for public presentation during Horizon Festival. 
• Bianca Bality $7,000 – theatre: 6 month professional career development with support from Playlab Theatre, as well as engaging and participating in professional creative developments facilitated by Playlab.
• Riley Baldwin $6,913 – dance: Enhancing the staging of the self-established youth contemporary dance company to further elevate profile and status within the dance sector.
• Ashlee Becks $6,600 – visual arts, craft and design: Residency at Salamanca Art Centre to create a series of paintings.
• Daniel Parsons $6,928 – contemporary music: Recording of a debut album & a collaborative project with singer/songwriter Tracy McNeil.
• Susan (Suzi) Lucas $7,000 – visual arts, craft and design: Design, build, exhibit a two-part ethically sourced sculptural installation.
• Maddie Nixon $5,997 – theatre: Creative development of new work The Parable People in order to pitch to future presenting partners/touring opportunities.
• Egan Sun-Bin $3,777 – theatre: Two-day script development giving the artists necessary exposure to industry for a new Brisbane-based play. 
• Kuweni Dias Mendis $7,000 – visual arts, craft and design: A bespoke world-classic artistic mentorship that supports continued research, design and development. 
• Deborah Spann $6,150 – contemporary music: Debut solo album.
• Patrick Mau $7,000 – multi-arts: host a podcast live stream event.
• Qingmin (Jenny) Gao $7,000 – visual arts, craft and design: presentation of silk embroidery artwork done by Qingmin and students.
• Sean West $6,958 – writing: support advanced editing and development of full-length poetry collection.
• Tim Ellis $7,000 – visual arts, craft and design: creation of video artwork on LED video wall for exhibition ‘Call of the Running Tide’.
• Victoria Carless $7,000 – writing: creation of middle grade novel of around 50,000 words.

Header image - Running Rivers Mentorship supported through the Individuals Fund. Image: Distinct Raw Marks, Kuweni Dias Mendis.