Grants new

Grants Recipients for 2018

The Board reviewed and considered several grant applications during the year, assessing each application to ensure it fulfils the criteria set out in the Grants Policy and aligns with the School’s values and objectives.

The following Grants were awarded in 2018:

Cementa Inc. — $10,000

Cementa Inc is a not-for-profit regional arts organisation based in cement town, Kandos NSW, that runs a biennial 4 day contemporary arts festival called Cementa. Between festivals Cementa Inc. runs a robust program of artist residencies, workshops, special events and projects both in Kandos and other regional towns with the goal of cultivating contemporary art practice in Regional NSW and engaging the community. The grant enabled several successful creative arts workshops to be held with Primary and Secondary students in regional communities.
cementa.com.au

The Julian Ashton Art School — $6,000

Established in 1890, the Julian Ashton Art School is Australia’s oldest continuous fine art school. Based in The Rocks, their former students include Sir William Dobell, John Olsen, Brett Whiteley, Thea Proctor and many other prominent Australian artists. The grant funds two scholarships.
julianashtonartschool.com.au

The Scholars for 2019 (awarded in November 2018) are:

Full-time Scholarship — Phillip Went
Part-time Scholarship — Anna Terrey.

Kyds Youth Development Service — $5, 760

KYDS Youth Development Service is a free counselling and early intervention service for young people aged 12 to 18 years, and their families, who live across Northern Sydney. Highly qualified counsellors and psychologists work alongside young people, building skills to manage issues as broad as grief, loss, anger, drugs, alcohol, self esteem and body image concerns, study and exam stress, anxiety, depression, self harm and suicidal thoughts. The funding enabled 5 young people to access high-intensity mental health support with specialist KYDS clinicians over 62 individual counselling sessions.
kyds.org.au

ASCCA — $5,000

Australian Seniors Computing Clubs Association (ASCCA) is the National Peak Body for seniors and technology. It is run by seniors for seniors. ASCCA’s services are provided by volunteers to assist older and disabled Australians to access technology. Over the last 20 years, ASCCA has become a catalyst to enthuse, encourage, empower and assist seniors to explore the satisfaction and advantages of using technology. The grant supported the preparation of updated educational training material for use by paid and volunteer trainers in seniors’ computing clubs.
sydneystoryfactory.org.au

Moorambilla Voices — $5,000

Moorambilla Voices is a multi-arts development program that connects talented young people from rural and remote NSW with some of Australia’s finest composers, musicians, choreographers and regional artists. The grant supports the Moorambilla Arts Pathways (MAP) initiative in providing senior participants in Moorambilla Voices’ MaxedOut program with one-on-one mentoring relationships.
moorambilla.com

Newtown School of Arts — $5,000

The Newtown School of Arts was founded in 1899 and its 1916 heritiage building at 5 Eliza Street, Newtown is a rare example of an intact School of the Arts, retaining all of its features and fittings and some of its contents. Managed by Trustees, ‘5 Eliza’ offers a much needed home for Sydney’s independent performing and visual arts practitioners and audiences. The grant has been put towards the costs of cleaning, preparing and painting the communal areas and repairing broken windows with special attention to preserving the heritage features.

Poetry in Action — $5,000

Poetry in Action (PIA) engages some of Australia’s most acclaimed actors, writers, directors and poets, touring of four high quality, low cost theatrical performances nationally in order to ignite a deep curiosity about poetry in secondary students across Australia and New Zealand. Through a dynamic mode of theatre that provides a unique merging of poetry, literature and drama in ways never offered before by any other Australian theatre company, PIA transforms the experience of poetry and literature into a relevant and exciting journey that engages and captivates our young audiences. The funding was used to engage a professional writer to develop the script for a new theatrical piece, in consultation with PIA’s creative team and Educational Council.
poetryinaction.com.au

Mechanics’ Institutes of Victoria — $4,000

The Mechanics’ Institutes of Victoria (MIV) was formed in 1998. It aims to foster the preservation and restoration of the social, cultural and physical heritage of Mechanics’ Institutes through the development of information exchanges and systems of mutual support. In 2000, MIV organised the first Mechanics’ Institutes of Australia National Conference, which has been repeated several times since, including in November 2018. MIA 2018 strengthened wider cooperation in the Mechanics’ Institutes movement. The grant from SMSA contributed to the costs of funding MIA 2018 to take place and to sponsor the Keynote Speaker to attend.
mivic.org.au

The National Council of Women (NSW) — $3,000

The National Council of Women (NSW) is a non-government umbrella organisation with broadly humanitarian and educational objectives that celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2016. The grant has been used to fund NCW (NSW) Australia Day Award scholarships for women who are excelling in their post-graduate studies, often while having to overcome significant hardship.
ncwnsw.org.au

The 2018 recipients (to be presented in January 2019) are:

Saba Vasefi, PhD Candidate, Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University
Rosa Didonna, PhD Candidate, Earth and Planetary Science Department, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University
Ashleigh Parkin, PhD Candidate, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, University of New South Wales

Little Fictions — $1,000

Little Fictions Productions is the performance and production side of the multiplatform publishing company, Spineless Wonders which specialises in short Australian stories. Its mission is to produce and showcase the work of Australian authors working in the field of the short story. Apart from publishing books and ebooks, Little Fictions collaborates with artists from other disciplines to produce live performances, podcasts and videos, and will host an annual short film award and festival, the Microflix Film Awards. The funds will be used for an award in the Made on SmartPhone Category. This category aims to encourage low-budget, creative filmmaking by people without ready access to filming and editing equipment, not enrolled in formal study of film or without links to the industry.
shortaustralianstories.com.au

Prizes

In years past, the Board of the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts gave sums of money to the University of Sydney, the University of Technology, Sydney and the University of Western Sydney, providing an endowment for prizes to be awarded annually at these Universities.

The following prizes were awarded for work in the 2017 academic year and presented in 2018:

University of Sydney

Maxwell E Arthur Prize in Australian Literature — Claire Moser

University of Technology, Sydney

Award in Adult Education — Bronwyn Crome and Lisa Sweeney

University of Western Sydney

Award in Professional Writing — Idrew Alcantara
Award in Theoretical Studies — Megan Varley
Award in Humanities — Rebekah Ward
Award in Social Science — Lisa-Marie Jackson
Award in Health — Louise Shanahan
Award in Nursing — Renee Callins

Other Activities

The SMSA continues to provide discounted rates for venue hire for qualifying Not-For-Profit and volunteer organisations. This has been a long-standing tradition which benefits both the SMSA and the organisations involved.

Grants & Awards

On occasion, the Board provides grants or awards to external individuals, groups and organisations who meet the criteria defined in our Grants and Award policy in support of activities that are consistent with the School’s objectives.

Further details and full criteria can be found in our Grants and Awards policy:

Grants and Awards Policy (2018)

Applications

The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts is currently inviting Grant applications for 2019.

Applications must be submitted to the Secretary using the form below by post, to Level 3, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 or by email to secretary@smsa.org.au.

Applications will close at 5pm on Friday, 26 April 2019.

All applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application at the end of July, once the assessment has been completed.

Potential applicants are welcome to contact the Secretary on 02 9262 7300 to discuss the Grant and Award program.

SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)