Helpmann Awards 2016 – for Australian Theatre

Musicals – Plays – Opera – Dance – Creative – Lifetime Awards

Click a Link for all Results

Helpmann Awards 2016 Lifetime Achievement

2016 Sue Nattrass Award

Michael Lynch

Live Performance Australia (LPA) is honoured to announce Michael Lynch CBE AM, as the recipient of the 2016 Sue Nattrass Award™.

The prestigious 2016 Sue Nattrass Award™ honours exceptional service to the Australian live performance industry shining a spotlight on people in service roles in a field which may not enjoy a high public profile.

Michael Lynch CBE AM is an exceptional arts administrator with an enviable reputation worldwide.  Here in Australia, he has held the positons of General Manager of Sydney Theatre Company, The Australia Council for the Arts, and CEO of Sydney Opera House, as well as operating at board level for the ABC and Film Victoria. His experience also extends to the international arena through his roles as Chief Executive of London’s South Bank Centre and CEO of the 40-hectare Hong Kong arts precinct West Kowloon Cultural District Authority where he worked since 2011 until recently returning back to Australia.

The great generational shadow of Michael Lynch looms large over the universe of those of us that work in service of the arts. Michael has proved and continues to prove that leadership is about doing. He has demonstrated that you can be a leader; that brave bold words can be consistently spoken. 

Across Australia and internationally, Michael Lynch reminds us that leading an institution is a profession, a series of skills that are built across a life- success on success, mistake on mistake; a practice. Over his career when others have seen places as too hard, too broken or too risky all Michael Lynch can see is opportunity, consistently articulating a compelling vision that can magic things from the ruins – Lisa Havilah, Director of Carriageworks. 

2016 JC Williamson Award®

Stephen Page

Live Performance Australia (LPA) is honoured to announce Australian choreographer/director, Stephen Page, Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, as the recipient of the 2016 JC Williamson Award®.

The JC Williamson Award® is bestowed on an individual who has made a truly outstanding contribution to the enrichment of Australia’s live performance culture and shaped the future of the industry for the better.

This year Stephen Page celebrates his 25th anniversary as the Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre. He has developed a signature body of works that have redefined contemporary dance in Australia. His creative credits span not only dance but theatre, opera and film. Offstage Stephen has mentored and created opportunities for countless Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and youth, and has been a champion of social justice for Indigenous people. He has recently premiered Nyapanyapa at the Sydney Opera House, his 23rd work for Bangarra, inspired by the paintings of Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, as part of the OUR land people stories triple bill.

LPA President Andrew Kay AM said “The JC Williamson Award is bestowed only on the greatest of the greats of our live performance industry. Stephen Page’s contribution to Australian culture over the last 25 years has been nothing short of extraordinary. His body of work seamlessly crosses genres.”

“He continues to reinvent Indigenous storytelling across those genres. He has directed and or choreographed dance, opera and theatre as well as major events such as the Indigenous Sections of the 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies.”

“In this his 25th year at the helm of this great company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, there is no better time to recognise his exceptional contribution to Australia and Australian culture than through this award.”

Stephen Page said:

“I have been fortunate to have worked with so many inspiring communities, artists and creatives during my 25-year tenure as Artistic Director of Bangarra. It is a truly unique Australian company and I am so proud of everything we have achieved. The stories we share are truly distinctive and I feel privileged to play a role in the vital care taking of these stories, through the intimate weaving of culture and contemporary dance.”