2018 Ruby Awards winners

Carroll, director of Ku Arts and artist of much acclaim, was announced as the winner of the Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Ruby Awards’ annual gala, which was held at Queen’s Theatre on Saturday, December 1.

“I am delighted to present the Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement to Alison Milyika Carroll who is not only one of our most significant contemporary artists, but an important cultural leader and ambassador for South Australian Aboriginal arts,” Premier Steven Marshall said in a press release.

The night also saw the unveiling of two new awards: the Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award and the Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artistic and cultural achievement. Ngarrindjeri elder, former Greens candidate and founder of Tal-Kin-Jeri Dance Group, Major Moogy Sumner, won the inaugural Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award while outgoing conductor of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Carter, took out the Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award.

Other Ruby winners include Windmill for Best Work or Even Outside a Festival for their hit young children’s show Beep, Port Adelaide-based arts organisation Vitalstatistix won Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation of Group while acrobatic troupe Gravity & Other Myths won the Made in Adelaide Award for their shows Backbone and A Simple Space.

The Ruby Awards are presented annually by Arts South Australia, which was incorporated into the Department of Premier and Cabinet this year after cuts to the arts by the State Government. Below are the winners of the 13^th, and hopefully not last, Ruby Awards.

Winners

Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement
Alison Milyika Carroll

 Best Festival
Adelaide Fringe 2018

Best Work or Event Within a Festival
Hamlet – Adelaide Festival and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Adelaide Festival 2018)

Best Work or Event Outside a Festival
Beep – Windmill Theatre Co

Best Community or Regional Event or Project
AREA 53 – Defaces of Youth Arts

Best Work, Event or Project for Young People
Ngarrindjeri Yann (Aboriginal Artist Development Initiative) – Carclew Youth Arts

Made in Adelaide Award
Backbone and A Simple Space – Gravity & Other Myths

Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation or Group
Vitalstatistix

Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award
Nicholas Carter, Principal Conductor, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award
Major Moogy Sumner

Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award
Nick O’Connor, Director, Northern Sound System

People’s Choice Award
True North Youth Theatre Ensemble