Proud as Punch – Our bloody great industry

I’ll admit, I’m a patriot.

Yes, The Man From Snowy River segment at the 2000 Olympic Games made me cry. Yes, my ears prick at the sound of an Aussie accent abroad. Yes, I am prodigiously proud of the many wonderful things my fellow Australian artists have achieved and yes, I am celebrating Australia Day today with gusto (and a fun little bucket hat I picked up from the Sunday Telegraph last weekend).

As many will now be aware, a very dear member of our Arts Community, our very own Geoffrey Rush, was yesterday awarded the great honour of being named Australian Of The Year, 2012.

Rush’s 40 year career in the Australian and International arts industries, his efforts as Patron of the Melbourne International Film Festival, Toowoomba’s Empire Theatre Foundation, the Spina Bifida Foundation Victoria and his ambassadorship of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and UNICEF Australia have all contributed to him being awarded this high honour.

That, and he’s a bloody great guy.

This Australia Day, I want to recognise all our ‘bloody great’ Australian Arts Professionals. Please join with me in applauding everyone who has contributed to our local arts industries, national arts industries, and international arts industry. I am starting a list below – but it is merely a formative list. If you wish to acknowledge someone that you believe has contributed to the arts this year, please (please!), comment in the box below and let us know! Consider my list the start of a very, very long list of recognitions. There are hundreds of names which should appear here – all I can make is a start.

Australians Contributing to Arts Overseas 

• Geoffrey Rush – Australian of the Year, 2012
• Liam McIntyre – starring in the popular television series Spartacus: Venegeance
• Tim Minchin – who wrote the music for the smash hit musical Matilda, currently selling out on the West End, London
• Ryan Kwanten – starring as Jason Stackhouse in the popular US television series True Blood
• Hugh Jackman – just played his final performance of Back On Broadway on January 1, 2012
• Tony Sheldon – starring as Bernadette (a role he created in Sydney, 2006) in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Broadway
• Cate Blanchett – Co-Artistic Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, taking Australian stage work overseas. Currently filming The Hobbit
• Ashley Wallen – Choreographer for Ghost The Musical on West End and Broadway. Wallen’s work will be making its way down under in 2013 when Ghost premieres in Melbourne
• Lockhart Brownlie – Tasmanian dancer who has landed a role on Glee! and is touring with Katy Perry.
• Adam-Jon Fiorentino – starred as Bert in Mary Poppins on Broadway, has appeared on tv series 30 Rock.
• Amelia Cormack, Lucinda Shaw, Ray Meagher – starred in Priscilla on the West End
• Jeremy Youett – WAAPA Graduate and current General Manager of the New York Music Theatre Festival
• Carmel Dean (WAAPA graduate working as Musical Director for American Idiot on Broadway)
• Erin Quill (Original Broadway cast of Avenue Q, writer and star of feature film The Mikado Project)

At Home

Everyone involved in creating new, innovative, revived and wonderful theatre in Australia:

STC, MTC, QTC, Black Swan, State Theatre Company of SA, John Frost, Tim McFarlane, Rodney Rigby, Louise Withers, Michael Coppel, Tim Lawson, Squabbalogic, Theatreworks, Magnormos, La Mama, The Malthouse, Opera Australia, Melbourne Opera, Opera Queensland, Belvoir, La Boite, Glen St, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Carriageworks, Australian Dance Theatre, Bangarra, Newline Productions, The Blue Room, Garry Ginnivan, Aaron Joyner, The Ensemble Theatre, Red Stitch, Bell Shakespeare…

Simon Phillips, Guy Simpson, Karen Johnson Mortimer, Nancye Hayes, Anthony Warlow, Todd McKenney, Anna O’Byrne, Ben Lewis, Sharon Millerchip, Simon Gleeson, Maria Mercedes, Michael Falzon, Amy Lepahmer, Rachael Beck, Peter Cousens, Lucy Durack, Amanda Harrison, Jemma Rix, Suzie Mathers, David Harris, Rob Mills, Bobby Fox, Glaston Toft, Stephen Mahy, Glenn Quinn, Alex Rathgeber, James Millar, Peter Rutherford, Verity Hunt-Ballard, Matt Lee, Trevor Ashley, Jaz Flowers, Jack Chambers, Marney McQueen, Toni Lamond, Jill Perryman, Graeme Murphy, Lyndon Terracini, Guy Noble, Peter Casey, Rohan Browne, Christie Whelan, Lucy Maunder, Shaun Rennie, Adam Rennie, Jason Coleman, Tyran Parke, David Atkins, Robyn Nevin, Kellie Dickerson, John Foreman …

The leaders of our Arts Festivals, the Directors of our Theatre Companies, the Creators of New Work (the Dr Zhivago-ers, the Love Never Dies-ers, the Moonshadow-ers, the King Kong-ers, The Hatpin-ners, the LoveBiters, the Dreamsongers)…

To New Musicals Australia, to Arts Centre Melbourne, the Australia Council, the Sydney Opera House, QPAC, State Theatre Centre of WA, Adelaide Festival Centre, The Star, The Regent, The Capitol, The Princess, Her Majesty’s, His Majesty’s, Burswood, The Theatre Royal, The Comedy…

To those who train our up-and-coming performers at NIDA, WAAPA, VCA, BAPA, AIM, ACTT, ACA, YPT, ATYP, Danceworld, Dance Factory, UDC, Sixteenth Street…

Unsung Heros

The stagemanagement teams, the production managers, the wig makers, the wig maintainers, the dressers, the costume makers, the designers, the publicity teams, the marketing teams, the rehearsal pianists, the audition pianists, the dramaturgs, the orchestras, the musical directors, the arrangers, the agents, the casting directors, the film makers, the photographers, the cold readers, the workshoppers, Equity, the company managers, the producers, the associates, the resident directors, the dance captains, the ensembles, the swings, the covers, the extras, the supers, the parents, the partners, the families, the punters…

To everyone in our Australian Arts Industry – You know who you are. Thank you for making our industry so bloody good.

Happy Australia Day, to the Aussie Arts World.

Add the names of Australians in the Arts that you wish to recognise in the DISQUS box below to create your own ‘Thank You’ list.

Additional Heros 

William Yang (Photographer), Scott Johnson, Ben Mingay, Matthew Backer, Elise Brennan, Jeremy Brennan, Emily Cascarino, Chris Durling, Michael Griffiths, Luigi Lucente, Cameron MacDonald, Cinzia Mahy, Enrico Marmarella, Daniel Scott, Jason Te Patu, Paul Whitely, Brenton Wilson, Teacan Wouters, Declar Egan, Connor Crawford, Ian Stenlake, Scott Irwin, Matt Young, Marina Prior, Lisa McCune, Conrad Coleby, John Batchelor, Matthew Holmes, Kristian Schmid, Saskia Burmeister, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Jay Ryan, David Lyons, Josh Lawson, Kirsty Lee Allan, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Danielle Horvat, Dominic Deutscher, Steve Bisley, Tammy MacIntosh, Blair McDonough, Geoff Morrell, Jesica Napier, Melissa Bergland, Virginia Gay, Zoe Tuckwell-Smith, Melanie Vallejo, Tom Wren, Stephen Phillips, Francis Greenslade, Denise Scott, Damien Bodie,Jack Pearson, Sarah Grace, Georgie Parker, Mikey Robbins, Jeremy Simms, Fiona O’Loughlin, James O’Loughlin, Aaron Jeffery, Rachel Carpani, Simmone Mackinnon, Bridie Carter, Myles Pollard, Michala Banas, Sonia Todd, Brett Tucker, John Jarratt, Doris Youane, Marshall Napir, Luke Jacobz, Lisa Chappell, Jacqueline McKenzie, Rhonda Burchmore, Simon Burke, Marcus Graham, HotHouse Theatre, Hayden Tee, Kaye Tuckerman…