Creative arts innovation and education in South Australia will receive a big lift in 2020 with the appointment of Australian Dance Theatre Artistic Director Garry Stewart as Professor of Creative Arts at Flinders University.
The world-renowned choreographer will continue at the helm of ADT while sharing his global experience and skills with students and staff at Flinders University.
“I am absolutely delighted to have been offered the position of Professor of Creative Arts at Flinders University,” says Garry, who will arrive at Flinders in January next year.
“As the Artistic Director of an internationally renowned performing arts organisation, I have developed a substantial national and international network of artists and thinkers and I look forward to the possibilities resulting from their engagement with Flinders.
“I look forward to working with staff and students on transforming the creative endeavours of the university, provoke radically new modalities of thinking in the creative field and work with other Flinders colleagues to elevate Flinders to the top tier of innovative creative arts.”
After celebrating 20 years with ADT, making him the longest serving artistic director in the company’s 54-year history, Garry Stewart is planning another ambitious program in many artistic fields in 2020 – including his first wholesale foray back into university life.
After leaving the University of New South Wales at 20 to pursue a career in dance, Professor Stewart later studed video and new media production and cultural theory at the University of Technology Sydney and is working on a Research Masters in Fine Arts at the University of NSW.
In 2014, he was Artist-in-Residence at the National Institute for Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney and was Thinker-in-Residence at Deakin University in 2012-2013. He has written pieces for various journals and publications, including Shaping the Landscape: Celebrating Australian Dance published in 2011.
Listed as one of the leading Fifty Contemporary Choreographers (Routledge), Garry Stewart has a full dance card at ADT next year, his projects including a major new work in the Dunstan Playhouse, a European tour, presentation of a large-scale community project and a new work for the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
“We are delighted to offer the position of Professor Creative Arts to someone of Garry’s calibre,” says Professor Vanessa Lemm, Vice-President of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University.
“He brings a vast amount of overseas and national experience to our Bachelor of Creative Arts students and will join an impressive number of other leaders in creative arts teaching at Flinders.”
Garry Stewart has danced with the ADT, Queensland Ballet, Expressions Dance Company and The One Extra Dance Company (Onex), and performed with the Sydney Theatre Company.
He has choreographed more than 15 performances at ADT as well as video and live performance installations and film. His awards include Best Choreography at the Australian Dance Awards and the national Helpmann Awards, and a Centenary medal from the Australian Government for his service to Australian society and dance. In addition to a number of prestigious fellowships and scholarships, Garry was awarded the inaugural Australia Council Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2015.
Flinders Creative Arts has taken leaps and bounds towards an exciting and varied student offering in 2019, and this is set to grow even more in 2020. See more appointments here.
Flinders Creative Arts is ranked No. 1 in SA in undergraduate Creative Arts for full-time employment, overall quality of educational experience, skills development and teaching quality (The Good Universities Guide 2020, public SA-founded universities only).