Creative Australia Announcements
18 May 2012
Jazz vocalist and composer Gian Slater is among the Creative Australia Fellowships recipients
Gian Slater is a jazz vocalist, composer, lecturer and director of 18-piece vocal group Invenio. Gian will use this two year early career fellowship to develop her practice through mentorships with Meredith Monk and Theo Bleckmann in the US, and Paul Grabowsky and Lucy Guerin in Australia. In partnership with local choreographers, she will develop a new work for Invenio and dancers. Her fellowship will also see her focus on making Invenio a strong and sustainable company so that it can have a long future in creating and performing new works, and fostering new talent.
Matthew Hindson, Chair of the Music Board says “Gian is one of the most talented, interesting and challenging artists working in what we loosely call “jazz”. At 29 she has already produced a strong body of work as a singer, composer and choir leader. Gian’s vocal work is very much about the body – the body being the “instrument” in her work – so it’s an elegant connection for her to work with a choreographer, who also makes work using the body.”
Gian graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2003 with a Bachelor of Music Performance where she received numerous awards and scholarships. She was a finalist in the prestigious Freedman Fellowship (2004 & 2010), The National Jazz Awards (2005) and the Bell Awards for ‘Best Jazz Vocal Album’ (2010) and was awarded the MJFF APRA composers commission (2011).
Gian has released four albums under her name, In My Head (2005), Our Galaxy (2007), Creatures at the Crossroads (2008) and Gone, without saying (2011). She has recorded for ABC Jazz track (2003) and was featured on Andrea Keller’s ABC Aria nominated album Angels and Rascals (2005). She formed a band with US based pianist, Barney McAll, called Sylent Running, releasing their debut album Empathy Chip (2009). She has performed at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival, Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, Stonington Jazz and the Brisbane Jazz Festival.
Creative Australia Fellowships is a major new initiative to support the professional development of outstanding artists working across the sector and Australia. The Fellowships are the centrepiece of the Federal Government's Creative Australia Artist Grants initiative, with $10m going to individual artists over five years, delivered by the Australia Council. The Fellowships consist of two categories: established artists (each valued at $100,000 over one year) and early career artists (each valued at $60,000 over two years).
This year the Australia Council has awarded 11 Fellowships across both categories. A full list of the successful recipients can be found in the Creative Australia Fellowships Assessment Meeting Report.
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