Bart Willoughby, Dave Arden receive Australia Council fellowships

Drummer Bart Willoughby and singer/ guitarist Dave Arden have received fellowships as part of the Australia Council’s National Indigenous Arts Awards, held at the Sydney Opera House this week.

Willoughby, who founded No Fixed Address in the 1970s and is now a member of the Black Arm Band, was the first Indigenous artist to record on the Melbourne Town Hall organ. For his two-years fellowship project he will stage a series of concerts featuring him playing the organ. He will also promote his album We Still Live On, inspired by the instrument.

Arden, best known for his work with Archie Roach and The Black Arm Band, worked with Paul Kelly on his latest release, Freedom Called. It is a song of remembrance for Indigenous service men and women. Arden’s fellowship project is The Dave Arden Songman Storyteller Showcase.

The awards also included the $50,000 Red Ochre prize which went to South Australian senior visual artist Hector Tjupuru Burton, and the $20,000 Dreaming award, for artists aged 18 to 26, which went to NSW interdisciplinary artist Tyrone Sheather.