Creative Australia’s Asia Pacific Arts Awards, recently presented in Perth/Boorloo on 23 February, are an important reminder that ‘arts and culture give us a grammar of belonging,’ as Creative Australia’s Zainab Syed, Director, International, said in her speech at the event.
‘They affirm that identity is not singular; that one can belong to multiple soils and waters at once. In a world that feels fractured, culture flows like a waterway between hearts and communities, carrying memory, imagination and the possibility of shared futures – here at home and across our region,’ Syed said.
Asia Pacific Arts Awards
How the Asia Pacific Arts Awards amplify existing practices
Speaking with ArtsHub, Syed says the Asia Pacific Arts Awards (first held as a one-off event in 2013 and becoming an annual event in 2024, following the introduction of the Revive national cultural policy) help amplify the remarkable work being done across Australia and the Asia Pacific region by artists with deep and abiding connections to countless diaspora communities.
‘Being able to amplify such work on a national stage, I think, really cements how important it is for us to not just engage with the Asia Pacific but to understand that actually, there is a massive diaspora in Australia that is woven into the very fabric of our society – a diaspora who are shaping how we think, how we celebrate, how we come together, how we move forward. And for me, the Awards are really a way to shed a light on a lot of work that has been invisible for so long,’ Syed explains.
Since 2024, the Asia Pacific Arts Awards have seen a $25,000 cash prize go to each winning artist, collective or organisation in the six award categories, which include Innovation, Impact and Legacy.
‘As we know, a lot of the people who have been working for a long time across the Asia Pacific, before it was a stated priority of the [Federal] Government, have done so as independent artists or small companies. A lot of it has been through the labour of time and engagement, as most independent artists do. And so for us [at Creative Australia], it was really important to make sure that artists and organisations were not only recognised but also rewarded for the work that they had done’ Syed explains.
Celebrating long-term creative commitment
Collectively, the Asia Pacific Arts Awards recognise and celebrate Australia-based artists, collectives and organisations whose practices demonstrate long-term commitment to creative collaboration – in some cases over many years – across the Asia Pacific region.
‘It’s a way to acknowledge that these incredible artists and organisations have been working in this space for such a long time without recognition,’ Syed says. ‘And not just the artists, but also the communities that make us all the richer.’
Award winners at the recent Perth ceremony, held at Government House, included respected photographer William Yang, who received the 2026 Legacy Award; Art Centre Melbourne’s Asia Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts (Asia TOPA) 2025, which took home the Inspire (Organisations) Award; and installation artist Haji Oh, who received the Innovation Award.
Other award winners included Western Australian intercultural theatre company ENCOUNTER, which received the Connect Award, and the music, film and performing arts project Small Island Big Song, which received the Impact award in recognition for uniting the islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean through artistic collaborations.
The Inspire (Individuals, Collectives, Groups) Award was presented to contemporary music ensemble Hand to Earth, whose members include vocalists Sunny Kim and Daniel Wilfred (who sings Yolŋu Manikay, or songs, in language from North East Arnhem Land that can be traced back over 40,000 years), trumpeter/sound artist Peter Knight and clarinettist Aviva Endean.
Centring diaspora artists
According to Syed, holding the awards ceremony and performances at Western Australia’s Government House sent a significant message about the centrality of diaspora artists in Australia’s cultural life.
‘We are really starting to celebrate all of the communities that would not previously have seen themselves in spaces like Government House, noting also the sobering history of the land we stood on as so generously shared with us by Uncle Neville. One recipient noted…they’d been in this country for 47 years, and they’d never been able to step into Government House before, because it had inaccessible to them. They sort of did a shout out to their mum: “I’ve made it!”.’
Celebrating work that had previously occurred across communities, but on the margins, sends out another important message, Syed adds.
‘It is really a validation and a legitimising of people’s very being; it reinforces the idea that you can be from here and from somewhere else, and that doesn’t water down your identity but actually makes it all the richer. And it tells communities that your voice is just as important as anyone else’s – we are proud to have you in Australia and really, we rely on you to connect us to the rest of the world.’
