A new $100,000 per year fellowship to support the development of significant dance works by leading Australian choreographers was announced today (26 May).
Funded by New York philanthropists, the inaugural Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship has been awarded to Wiradjuri and Gamillaraay man Beau Dean Riley Smith, an award-winning dancer, choreographer and actor.
Riley Smith performed with Bangarra Dance Company from 2013 until 2022. More recently, he was in Queensland Theatre Company’s musical theatre production The Sunshine Club and Sydney Theatre Company’s The Visitors, with both productions directed by Wesley Enoch AM. He was also commissioned to choreograph a work for Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed program in 2023.
The Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship is supported by the New York-based Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation, and is awarded and administered by Sydney’s Shaun Parker & Company.
It is one of the most significant investments in the Australian dance sector since Lucy Guerin Inc announced a ‘transformative’ $2 million bequest in 2022, which supported 10 individual $100,000 fellowships for mid-career artists and an additional 10 separate $50,000 fellowships for independent artists.
Shaun Parker launches fellowship – quick links
A ‘life-changing’ fellowship
Beau Dean Riley Smith said he was ‘thrilled and humbled’ to be selected as the inaugural recipient of the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship.
‘This opportunity will give me the room to go deep, without cutting corners, and allows me the time to explore all facets of the work to create a really thought-provoking piece,’ he said.
‘Having two years to develop a work is an incredibly rare opportunity and one I am endlessly thankful for. It allows us to respect the creative process, having this time, to respect and honour the work. Particularly, when the works I create are pulled from the lived history of this country.’
Riley Smith will receive $100,000 a year for either two or three years, depending on how long Miyagan takes to develop. The finished piece is expected to premiere in early 2028.
He added, ‘Getting to work with Shaun Parker & Company’s nine outstanding dancers is a dream, there is a real feeling of commitment from everyone, which bonds and connect us, creating Miyagan as we all become the caretakers for this story.’
Choreographer Shaun Parker, the Artistic Director of Shaun Parker & Company, tells ArtsHub the fellowship is a ‘life-changing’ experience for all concerned.
‘That $100,000 also pays the dancers for four-week to six-week blocks each year,’ Parker explains, as well as ‘the incredible Paul Mac’, who is composing an original score for the piece.
‘Some of the soundscapes are stunning already, so that’s very exciting as well,’ Parker adds.
Creating career opportunities for Australian dancers
Parker’s vision for developing the company’s ensemble of dancers was a key aspect, he believes, of the fellowship’s appeal to the Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation, which is usually focused on education, philanthropy, voluntarism and human services, primarily in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, and not the Australian arts sector.
‘They really liked what I had planned for Sydney in terms of dance, because none of our dancers are on a full-time salary and currently we’ve got nine dancers in the studio working with Beau,’ Parker explains.
‘They’re mostly the same nine [dancers] that I’m using in my new work and some of my other work, so I’m trying to build sort of, like, a mid-scale ensemble here so the dancers can have a proper career. They’re really good dancers, so for them to have a sustainable career trajectory is really important,’ Parker says, adding that he wants them to have the same experience he had when he was selected by Meryl Tankard for her then-new Australian Dance Theatre ensemble shortly after graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1992.
‘I danced with Meryl for all of the 90s,’ Parker says. ‘I went from VCA into full-time work with a master choreographer, you know? I learned so much over that decade, and I want other young dancers, particularly in Sydney, to have that same opportunity – to be able to have a proper career and really go to the next level.’
Working with the Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation
The Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation was previously a regular donor to Shaun Parker & Company, and are now the company’s only global partner.
‘I think they were [initially] very much attracted by the humanist nature of our choreography and by The Yard, our anti-bullying program … it just was sort of serendipitous when I originally came to their attention. That’s blossomed into this long friendship and relationship and philanthropic partnership,’ Parker says.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation said: ‘Our relationship with Shaun Parker is one that has grown organically, and with great warmth, over many years. We have seen that Shaun has a rare gift for making one see the world through a different lens. Shaun’s capacity to design intricate movement, engaging full-length work and highly conceptual frameworks is what drew us to his company in the first place.
‘We have watched and supported Shaun’s vision for his company with deep admiration, and when the opportunity arose to support this fellowship, we felt wholly confident that he could steer his fellows in the creation of groundbreaking new work.
‘We hope this contribution paves the way for the extraordinary artists who will benefit from it, for a broader conversation about what Australian dance can be, and sets a precedent for who can support it.’
Inspiring Australian philanthropists
Parker hopes the Denise and Michael Kellen Foundation’s support of the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship will inspire Australian philanthropists to make similar donations in the future.
‘I really hope it inspires other philanthropists to see the absolutely life-changing effect it will have on the whole dance sector – not just for my nine dancers, but the entire sector in Sydney,’ he tells ArtsHub.
Having just returned from the International Society of Performing Arts conference in Singapore, where he learned about a government incentive to significantly encourage arts philanthropy through tax law reform, Parker ponders the benefits a similar scheme could have in Australia.
‘In one of the [ISPA] seminars, someone from Singapore was talking about not-for-profit donations, and there’s a 250% tax deduction there. Not 100% but 250%. I wrote it down in my notebook and I thought, “Oh my gosh, that’s a great one”. Wouldn’t it be great in Australia if we had [something similar], particularly now with the cultural policies being under review?
‘In terms of policy and government, you know, if the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Arts have a look at that model and think, “Wow, how incredible, a 250% tax deduction of the amount they donate, that will really inspire philanthropists to give”. How incredible is that? I would definitely donate a lot more, and I’m just a poor artist, so imagine,’ he says, speculating about what Australia’s major philanthropists might do if such a policy was introduced here.
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What’s next for the Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship?
Parker expects the development of Riley Smith’s Miyagan will be a three-year journey from conception to opening night, meaning the next Shaun Parker & Company Choreographic Fellowship recipient will be supported to create work in 2028 or 2029 and beyond.
‘So then [after 2028] and for the following two to three years, I’ll select another recipient, and it is just such an honour to curate and choose [the next fellowship recipient],’ Parker tells ArtsHub.
He adds that he already has someone in mind. ‘I would love the next recipient to be an elder, a dance elder … I’ve got someone already in mind, a female elder, a choreographic elder who’s got an incredible track record.
‘We’re a little bit ageist in Australia, where choreographers get put to pasture and I feel that that’s a shame, because they don’t do that so much in Europe. There, they build on the knowledge and skills that people have learned … and my gosh, I just feel it would be incredible to get a dance elder in. That’s my gut feeling, so that’s two or three years down the track,’ Parker says.
