Soaring success

While sport is hogging the spotlight ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games, two Adelaide choirs have just had their golden moment on the world stage with impressive wins in separate competitions in Aotearoa New Zealand and France.

For the Festival Statesmen Chorus, formed 15 years ago by Jonathan Bligh as a way for young men to explore singing, the World Choir Games in Auckland was their first international outing. The event sees 250 choirs from 40 countries – that’s around 11,000 singers in total – vying for medals (based on score thresholds) as well as world champion titles.

The local ensemble, which performs diverse styles and repertoire from classical to contemporary pop music, won gold in the “Pop Ensemble” and “Sacred A Cappella” categories, as well being crowned world champions in both categories. They can be seen in action here, and will be performing a concert at Elder Hall on August 10 to celebrate their 15^th birthday and triumphant homecoming.

Meanwhile, members of Young Adelaide Voices’ flagship youth choir have also hit the high notes, taking out the top prize for a youth choir at the International Choral Festival in France with the highest-ever score in the history of the competition.

Led by artistic director Christie Anderson, the group – YAV’s First Concert Choir – comprises 21 choristers are aged 13 to 21 who performed a repertoire that included their own version of “Waltzing Matilda”, Australian composer Stephen Leek’s “Kondalilla”, and pieces in Indigenous languages.

The International Choral Festival, held in Provence, included choirs from Europe, the US and Asia, bringing together more than 1000 choristers of all ages. In addition to winning first prize in the Youth Choir category, the YAV choir came second in the Sacred Music category and third in Folk Music, going on to be placed second overall for the Grand Jury Prize.

“These young Australians are true ambassadors to our country,” Anderson says. “They won the hearts of the festival and their positive engagement is a lesson that we all can take something from – that and the power of music to bring us together.”

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The group is spending three weeks touring France and Italy, and if you check out YAV’s Facebook page you can see a wonderful clip of their impromptu singing in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame D’amiens.

World of wonder

The recipient of Country Arts SA’s 2025 Breaking Ground award, Susie Althorp, plans to use the professional development opportunity to experiment with how viewers interact with the natural world.

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“It’s about making visible that world that no one gets to see,” says the Yorke Peninsula artist, whose practice encompasses ceramics, sculpture and installation, often combining art and science. “I remember vividly the sense of awe I first experienced as a child looking down the eyepiece of a microscope at a new world. I aim to create that feeling of wonder and discovery for the viewer.”

The Breaking Ground award – announced this week – will see Althorp receive $10,000 to develop an exhibition to be presented at praxis ARTSPACE during next year’s SALA Festival, as well as $5000 towards a mentorship with her chosen mentor, Catherine Truman. Althorp says it will help her expand on ideas in her practice and experiment with new techniques, materials and installation.

Changing chairs at Carclew

Carclew is seeking a new chair following the announcement that Rachael Healy will step down from the role in September ahead of relocating to Queensland to become the new chief executive of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

Healy, the former joint artistic director of the Adelaide Festival, has served as the youth arts organisation’s chair for the past four years, with CEO Mimi Crowe ­thanking her for her contribution, including “successfully steering Carclew through a period of change and growth”.

The recruitment search for a new chair is being led by Hender Consulting general manager Andrew Reed, and expressions of interest are invited from people with relevant experience in areas such as governance and philanthropy.

“It is an exciting time to join Carclew in the role of chair,” says Crowe. “With the recent appointment of a new leadership team – Lisa Baker as head of programming, Robyn Jones as general manager and Jude Henshall as producer – Carclew is well positioned for the future.”

Beauty is in the eye of the artist

Painters and photographers are invited to submit work for the 2024 Kennedy and Nyland prizes, with prize coordinator Mark Kennedy anticipating that this will be one of the biggest years yet for the competition.

Both prizes are Adelaide-based but open to artists across Australia, who must engage with the theme of “beauty” (details here).

The Kennedy Prize, now in its 10^th year, is for painting and offers $25,000 for the winning work (entry deadline August 2). The Nyland Prize (deadline August 9) is a photography award launched last year and comes with $5000 prize money.

“It is our hope that these prizes offer much-needed support to the Australian arts community,” says Mark Kennedy, adding that the Kennedy Prize has “paved the way for artists to showcase and sell their work over the last decade as the prize has grown to become one of the most respected art awards in the country”.

Finalists will be revealed in August and exhibited in the Royal South Australian Society of the Arts at the State Library.

Fringe design time

A $10,000 cash prize is on offer for the winner of the 2025 Adelaide Fringe poster competition, which this week opened a callout for submissions based on the theme “One for all and all for one”.

“This theme highlights our commitment to collaboration, co-design, diversity, inclusivity and community, which are all at the heart of Adelaide Fringe,” says Fringe CEO and director Heather Croall. “We look forward to a design that captures the essence of our festival.”

The cash prize is an increase of $4000 on that offered last year, with the competition winner also offered free registration for an exhibition during Fringe. Their design will appear on the festival poster and other promotional materials. Entries must be submitted (here) before midnight on August 12.

Listen up

Adelaide’s ActNow Theatre has launched a new podcast series that aims to explore how organisations supporting artists can ensure the artmaking they facilitate is “culturally safe and accessible to all”.

It says the series, titled Let’s Do Better, will dive into the diverse lived experiences of South Australian artists and arts workers as they reflect on what works in the sector and what doesn’t.

Let’s Do Better is hosted by ActNow CEO and artistic director Yasmin Gurreeboo, who is joined by Jessica Zeng, Valerie Berry and Monique Hapgood in the first episode for a discussion about cultural and ethnic representation in the arts. You can listen here.

Green Room is a regular column for InReview, providing quick news for people interested, or involved, in South Australian arts and culture.

Get in touch by emailing us at editorial@solsticemedia.com.au