The Arts Centre has awarded the annual Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts to director, theatre maker and acting teacher Robert Draffin.
The award is presented annually by the Arts Centre for outstanding and distinguished services to the performing arts and includes a $5000 cash prize.
A director of 68 productions, Robert Draffin (Draf) has a body of artistic work spanning 36 years, with productions performed nationally and internationally. He has worked with mainstream theatre companies, including the Playbox Theatre, but primarily works in alternative and experimental theatre with companies such as the Church Theatre, Whistling in the Theatre and the Mill Theatre and now Liminal Theatre and Performance, focusing on researching performance-training practices and evolving new works .
“It’s important that we celebrate the careers and contributions of individuals to the performing arts and creative endeavours through awards like the Kenneth Myer Medallion. Robert is a most worthy addition to the Award’s long line of previous winners and I congratulate him on this achievement,” said Judith Isherwood, Chief Executive, the Arts Centre.
Festivals where his work has appeared include the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Canberra Australian Theatre Festival, Nagoya World Park Festival (Japan), Sparks Festival (Esplanade Festival Centre Singapore), Brisbane Arts Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Castlemaine Theatre Festival.
Robert’s work been funded by many production houses and festivals and he has attracted independent funding through various organisations including the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Australia China Council and Australian Indonesian Institute.
Robert has taught acting and theatre practice at Melbourne University, Monash University, Latrobe University, Deakin University, Opera Victoria as well as various Victorian high schools. In 1996 -2000, he was a lecturer in acting at the School of Drama, Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and was a foundation acting lecturer at the Theatre Training Research Program in Singapore 2000-03. He has continued to work on a sessional basis with the VCA in the School of Drama and the Centre for Cultural Partnerships.
Robert’s work has on many occasions linked with Asia and in 2005 he was awarded an Asialink residency to China, working at Shanghai Theatre Academy researching Chinese Arts Practice and Theatre directing. He has also been a recipient of a Fellowship from the Australia Council of the Arts to explore the interchange between Traditional and Contemporary Arts Practice in Asia and the West.
Through Liminal Theatre and Performance Robert continues to research and create new works and set up collaborations with Asian artists.
The Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts was established to commemorate Kenneth Myer’s contribution to the Victorian Arts Centre Trust. It came into being on the occasion of his retiring from the Chairmanship of the Trust, after 24 years at the helm. He had been crucial to the development of the Arts Centre project from the first day he signed on in 1956.
Previous recipients of the Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts include choreographer Helen Herbertson; jazz musician Robert ‘Bob’ Sedergreen; comedienne and performer Mary Kenneally; theatre director Ariette Taylor and writer Daniel Keene; designer Anna French; and entrepreneur Clifford Hocking.