PABL Response to the Australia Council announcement

13/05/16

Co-Chairs of Phillip Adams BalletLab, Phoebe Dunn and Caroline Dever, alongside Artistic Director, Phillip Adams and Executive Producer Amelia Bartak are extremely disappointed with the news that we are losing stable core funding from The Australia Council for the Arts as a Key Dance Organisation, after five years of investment from 2012-2016.

Phillip Adams BalletLab has worked tirelessly over the last few years to prepare a robust strategy including diversifying our funding streams.  We have done this both to help to secure the future of one of Australia’s pre-eminent small to medium dance organisations, and to minimise the impact of this negative decision, on the understanding that many organisations like us would likely face this very real scenario. 

Accordingly, while this result is deeply destabilising on many levels, we have an exciting future, and couldn’t be more inspired by our plans including establishing a new company headquarters and studios, together with an extensive program of national and international collaborative projects.

Phillip Adams BalletLab is committed to continuing to contribute to Australia’s cultural profile in significant ways into the future, providing jobs and opportunities for many independent artists and designers to engage in our leading edge works.

We extend support to our colleagues in the community at this time as we process these decisions inflicted on Australia's vibrant arts sector.

Co-Chairs Phoebe Dunn and Caroline Dever comment, “Phillip Adams BalletLab will continue to demonstrate the extraordinary reach and impact of the company on the Australian and international cultural sectors, that led to achieving Key Organisation status and core funding. Despite the significant impact of funding cuts and budget uncertainty that hit the sector in 2015 and now, Phillip Adams BalletLab has continued to commission, collaborate, develop and deliver an exciting and challenging range of projects.”

“Phillip Adams BalletLab is about to launch into a new era for the company, having secured its first permanent space, realising a long term ambition of Phillip Adams, our esteemed, energetic and ever resourceful Artistic Director.  ”

Artistic Director, Phillip Adams, comments, “We are a great creative asset to the Australian dance sector and we will remain an organisation that the dance community looks up to for inspiration and soon to be more, with our forthcoming headquarters and studio space, the Temperance Hall,”

Executive Producer, Amelia Bartak, noted, “Phillip Adams has a wide following and critical reputation within Australian contemporary dance. Our history - one of continual innovation and striving to create and present incredible ideas and experiences for audiences – will stand us in good stead in the coming period. We have achieved many amazing works over the years with support of pivotal stakeholders at key moments and this is just another such moment. Phillip is a committed artist, always will be, and we will continue to punch above our weight on every level.”


ABOUT PHILLIP ADAMS BALLETLAB

Phillip Adams BalletLab (PABL) is an award-winning, interdisciplinary dance company, celebrated nationally and internationally for diverse, provocative works presented in theatres, festivals and increasingly, gallery and museum settings. Since its inception in 1998, Phillip Adams BalletLab has made more than 17 major works, undertaken international commissions and residencies and toured widely. They have performed in Australia, USA, Asia, UK and Europe, winning numerous awards and high critical praise. Artistic Director Phillip Adams works collaboratively with cross-disciplinary artists. His process is an investigation through mediums of music, design, fashion, architecture, cinema and visual arts; embracing the unorthodox, popular culture, science and sociology to create extraordinary experiences for audiences.

Please contact Amelia Bartak, Executive Producer (03) 9645 9937 or 0417 508 870 for more information at this time.

Download a media release

Read The Australia Council Announcement

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