University announces coveted arts fellowships for 2016

  

University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne has today announced the recipients of the University’s prestigious Arts fellowships for 2016.

The Robert Burns Fellow is Victor Rodger, of Auckland; the Frances Hodgkins Fellow is Miranda Parkes, of Christchurch; the Mozart Fellow, Dr Chris Gendall, of Wellington; and the College of Education/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence is Barbara Else, of Lower Hutt. The Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance is Val Smith, of Auckland.

“I am proud to announce that from an incredibly strong pool of talented people who applied for our 2016 fellowships, we have selected five individuals who are emerging or at the forefront of their pursuits in the New Zealand arts,” she says.

“I warmly congratulate all next year’s recipients and I look forward to seeing and reading their work, performances and installations, as they take their place among a long line of distinguished arts fellows at Otago.”

Former fellows include literary luminaries Janet Frame, Keri Hulme, James K Baxter, Michael King and Maurice Shadbolt, the artists Ralph Hotere and Grahame Sydney, not to mention many of New Zealand's significant composers, dancers and children’s book writers.

The Fellows receive a stipend for between six months and one year and space on campus to indulge in their creative projects. Past Fellows have created dance performances, orchestral compositions, poetry, novels and children’s books during this time.

Robert Burns Fellow Victor Rodger

Victor Rodger is a New Zealand-born playwright of Samoan and palagi descent. His first play, Sons, won four Chapman Tripp theatre awards, including Best New Play and Best New Writer, while his award-winning play Black Faggot has performed to sell out houses in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Edinburgh and throughout New Zealand.  A long-time writer for Shortland Street, Victor is currently adapting Black Faggot for the big screen.

“I was on the outskirts of Paris when I woke up in the middle of the night and discovered I'd been awarded the Burns Fellowship…..  I am proud to be the first writer of Samoan descent to be part of the illustrious list of awardees.  And I’m excited at the thought of working on two new works which are both real departures for me as a writer,” he says.

His planned works are "Jean's", an Irish family drama, and "Bethlehem” - a dark Kiwi variation of Thelma and Louise. 

He would also like to work on "Doll," a piece that deals with race and race relations set in Scotland.

Frances Hodgkins Fellow Miranda Parkes

Miranda Parkes graduated with Distinction in 2005 with a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Canterbury. Since that time, she has continued to receive numerous prestigious scholarships, prizes and residencies for her contemporary, abstract painting and installations. She has exhibited widely mostly in New Zealand, but more recently overseas, including in London, Shanghai and Sydney.

“I feel honoured and thrilled to receive the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship. I'm very much looking forward to moving to beautiful Dunedin and spending the year developing some exciting new aspects of my painting practice,” she says.

College of Education/Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence Barbara Else

Barbara Else is the author of six novels for children and six for adults starting with her best-selling adult novel The Warrior Queen. Books in her children’s series Tales of Fontania have won several awards including the Esther Glen Medal and prestigious IBBY and White Raven Awards. She has also written short stories and plays for children, and has edited several much-loved children’s anthologies. She is co-director of a Wellington literary agency and manuscript assessment service and was Chief Judge for the 2014 NZ Post Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards. In 1999 she was the Victoria University of Wellington Writer in Residence and has been awarded an MNZM for Services to Literature. 

“My reaction to the news was hours of speechlessness. This honour is a fabulous opportunity. I’m very proud of being a graduate of Otago and want to contribute what I can to the university community,” she says.

She wants to write a children’s novel that begins in ancient times and moves to a contemporary New Zealand sea-side settlement.

“It’s a challenge that will extend my range and have direct relevance to New Zealand children.”