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Awards + Reviews

Public recognition

Big hART’s work draws strong media attention to the issues explored in communities, and is recognised by many awards from diverse areas of government and the community.

“Big hART’s headline festival performances are the publicly visible part of much larger, long-term community engagements… It’s this profound level of engagement which gives the production its sense of authenticity”

Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes

Our awards

 

  • 2022 – ATOM (Australian Teachers of Media) Awards – Finalist Best Educational/Training Video or Website (Primary/Secondary School) – NEO-Learning
  • Tas ICT Best Innovation from Regional Tasmania, Best Digital Inclusion Initiative and President’s Award – Project O Digital
  • Classical: NEXT Global Music Award, Innovation Award – Acoustic Life of Sheds
  • VIC Health Award – Project O
  • 2020 Art Peace Award Finalist – Songs for Peace, Roebourne
  • 2019 – CEO Scott Rankin as Tasmanian Australian of the Year
  • 2018 – APRA / AMCO Art Music Award – Acoustic Life of Sheds
  • 8 Australian Institute of Criminology Crime and Violence Prevention Awards – (1993 – 2009)
  • World Health Organisation (WHO) Safe Community Award (2006)
  • 2017 Telstra Tasmanian Business of the Year
  • 2017 Telstra Tasmanian Charity of the Year
  • 2016  Tasmanian Human Rights Award – Big hART, Project O
  • 2016  Theatre Council of Tasmania Awards (Errols) – Blue Angel
  • 2016  Gold Ledger for Excellence in Australian Comics – Neomad: The Complete Collection
  • 2014  Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards: Shortlisted, Digital Narrative – NEOMAD
  • 2013  Helpmann Award: Best Regional Touring Production – Namatjira
  • 2013  ATOM Awards – Best Game/Multimedia production – NEOMAD
  • 2013  New Media Film Festival, Los Angeles, Official Selection,  – NEOMAD
  • 2013  17th Japanese Media Arts Festival: Jury Selection Manga Divison –  Ngurrara
  • 2012  Arts Hub Awards, Contribution to the Australian Arts – Namatjira
  • 2012  FWA Favourite Website Awards – Love Punks
  • 2011  El Capitan Award, Yosemite Film Festival (USA) – Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji
  • 2011  Global Social Change Film Festival, Semi-finalist – Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji
  • 2010 Indie Fest, Award of Excellence – Drive
  • 2010 First Factual Films Festival, Special Mention – Drive
  • 2010 Foxtel Australian Documentary Award, Finalist – Drive
  • 2010  Australian Directors’ Guild Awards, Finalist – Drive
  • 2010  Tasmanian Community Project of the Year Award – Drive
  • 2010  ABAF Community Award- Yijala Yala
  • 2010  Sydney Theatre Awards: Best New Australian Work  – Scott Rankin, Namatjira
  • 2010  Sydney Theatre Awards: Best Newcomer  – Derik Lynch, Namatjira
  • 2010  ATOM Awards Finalists – Drive, Nothing Rhymes with Ngapartji and Ngapartji Ngapartji Memory Basket
  • 2008  NT Innovation Awards Finalist – Ngapartji Ngapartji
  • 2008  Sidney Myer Performing Arts Group Award – Big hART Inc.
  • 2008  Deadly Award – Most Outstanding Achievement in Film, TV & Entertainment – Ngapartji Ngapartji
  • 2007  NSW Local Govt. Association Cultural Award – Junk Theory
  • 2003  World Summit on Information, Best E-Inclusion Product – Nuff Stuff
  • 2003  Darwin Fringe Film Festival, Best Production
  • 2003  International Youth Foundation, Youth Action Award – Nuff Stuff
  • 2003  Down Under International Film Festival, New Media Award – Nuff Stuff
  • 2002  Get Real Drug Campaign, National Winner – Handle With Care
  • 2001  Flickerfest, Best Documentary – Hurt
  • 2000 Sydney International Film Festival, Dendy Awards, Honorable Mention – Hurt
  • 2000  Law Foundation Award, Nominated by NSW Police – Hurt
  • 2000  Australian Film Institute Award – Best concept in a non-feature film – Hurt
  • 2000  Australian Film Critics Circle, Honorable Mention – Hurt
  • 2000  Cork International Film Festival: Honorary Mention – Hurt
  • 2000  NSW Law Foundation: Justice Fellowship of the Arts – Philip Crawford, Hurt
  • 2000 ATOM Awards: Most Creative Innovative Production, Finalist – Hurt

 

 

Our reviews

  • BIG hART

    “There is no company I admire more in Australia”Robyn Archer, OA

  • BIG hART

    “Instead of being locked into the machine of theatre, Big hART and its performers sit on ‘the evolving edge of the authentic moment”, being here and now but not compromising about making great work”The Age 2014 (Hipbone Sticking Out)

  • BIG hART

    “Big hART's headline festival performances are the publicly visible part of much larger, long-term community engagements... It's this profound level of engagement which gives the production its sense of authenticity” Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes, 18 August 2011

  • BIG hART

    “The company is famous for nationally touring works such as Namatjira, Stickybricks and Ngapartji Ngapartji, bilingual creations forged from months or even years of community interaction.”The Australian 2016

  • BIG hART

    “The company has a long history of combining award winning theatrical quality – such as a double Helpmann for Namatjira – with social impact.”Arts Hub 2016

  • STICKYBRICKS

    “…this is not oral history or tenant life narrative. It’s rather a façade-cracking and joyous slice of life, a self portrait in hope, possibility and pop songs.”Sydney Morning Herald 14 – 15 January 2006

  • ACOUSTIC LIFE OF SHEDS

    “Absolutely marvellous”Michael Cathcart, ABC Radio National Books & Arts 2017

  • HIPBONE STICKING OUT

    “Big hART’s Hipbone Sticking Out is gobsmacking in its ambition and its achieve¬ment. It’s a landmark work of Australian theatre that writes its own rules (and then breaks them).” Alison Croggon – ABC Arts

  • ACOUSTIC LIFE OF SHEDS

    North-West sheds…converted into concert halls and art galleries”Burnie Advocate (2017)

  • HIPBONE STICKING OUT

    “The ‘imported’ cast are uniformly excellent, and those from the Roebourne community are a revelation. The sets, costumes, sound and visual effects are stunning, the technical production faultless.”David Zampatti – The West Australian

  • ACOUSTIC LIFE OF SHEDS

    “This is an opportunity for us and for other regional land managers to participate in the community. The digitalised economic framework we live in these days can be isolating and to be able to participate in the arts scene is … building a sense of community and broadening peoples' ideas.”Tulip Farmer Paul Roberts-Thomson 2017

  • NAMATJIRA

    “Namatjira is confident, articulate and beautifully made theatre”The Age

  • NGAPARTJI NGAPARTJI

    “This is searingly truthful, vital theatre that pierces the heart of glossed-over periods of Australia's indigenous history. It is wonderfully performed and told, and is certain to be remembered as one of the memorable productions of the year.”The Daily Telegraph

  • BLUE ANGEL

    “This show is bold ...with big knotty things to say, it takes an eclectic form; comedy, concert, documentary, portraiture, installation, interaction, cabaret, drama…” The Mercury, Australia

  • NEOMAD

    “It’s an incredible achievement for a group of students who hail from a remote 1,000-person town perched on the northern shoulder of WA, surrounded by miles and miles of the Pilbara’s swirling red sands.”The Guardian 2016

  • NAMATJIRA

    “Every so often a theatre performance will come along that has the rare power to touch the heart, lift the spirit , make us laugh, move us to tears and change the way we view our world. Namatjira is such a production”Canberra Times

  • STICKYBRICKS

    “It’s hard to resist a community show that so joyfully welcomes the public in to gawp … best are the memories that seem to leak out of the brickwork and windows of this extraordinary place…”The Australian 6 January 2006

  • ACOUSTIC LIFE OF SHEDS

    “The Acoustic Life of Sheds see(s) power pop performed in a calving shed at Flowerdale, haunting experimental music fill a hay barn at Boat Harbour, opera ring out in an old stables and steel guitar bring a shearing shed to life at Table Cape.”The Mercury, 2017

  • ACOUSTIC LIFE OF SHEDS

    “Big hART’s production of Acoustic Life of Sheds is an absolute delight. From the performers, designers, volunteers, and of course, the farmer’s generosity and community spirit for allowing their sheds to be available for this very sublime experience.”Audience Member Kenneth Gregson, Launceston Examiner 24/3/17

  • STICKYBRICKS

    “If Linehan (Sydney Festival Artistic Director – Fergus Linehan) was looking for resonance Stickybricks has so much it’s almost bouncing off the walls.”The Australian 12 January 2006

  • ACOUSTIC LIFE OF SHEDS

    “The Acoustic Life of Sheds is an experiential concert series taking place in five sheds across the NorthWest Coast…produced by participants in Big hART’s 20+20 and Project O initiatives, which seek to build the skills of young people in the community.”The Burnie Advocate 2016

  • NEW ROEBOURNE/ TJAABI

    “Churnside’s songs and stories are alternately comical and reverential. He sings about the warmth of the first rising sun in Martuthunira country near the Fortescue River, the scent of rain, the rustle of leaves. ”The Australian 2016

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “A new chapter… written in the history of one of Australia’s most celebrated artists”Canberra Times (2017)

  • PROJECT O

    “People in Wynyard aren't talking to me about girls at risk anymore. There are still girls at risk, but there is now also this group of girls who have stepped up and faced their challenges and found their voice… These young women now have a positive profile in our community, and they set an example for themselves and their peers and the rest of us about what girls in our town can do and be.”MHA Roger Jaensch (as quoted in Launceston Examiner (27/11/16)

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “'HISTORIC' is the only way to describe this morning’s signing at the National Museum of Australia of a deed setting in motion the Namatjira Legacy Trust.”Helen Musa, City News 2017

  • PROJECT O

    “I had the pleasure of seeing the work of the remarkable young women from Big hART’s Project O, who are taking positive action in rural communities affected by family violence. I am thrilled to see that this primary prevention project is now going national and promoting generational change.”Rosie Batty, 2016

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “The grand-daughters of pioneering Indigenous artist Albert Namatjira…engaged in a battle to reclaim copyright of their grandfather's multi-million dollar legacy. ”Lateline, ABC TV (2017)

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “The Namatjira Trust… help right an historical wrong”The Feed, SBS TV (2017)

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “Albert Namatjira left behind our most famous Indigenous art estate, so why does his family have no say in how it is run?”The Weekend Australian 2017

  • NEW ROEBOURNE/ TJAABI

    “Incredible.. I think there’s a really, really big thirst and desire for this culture to be shared across the country.”ABC Radio 2016

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “His legacy is enormous, he is one of our great painters… The mission is to set up… this foundation to raise the amount of money to buy back the copyright”Fran Kelly, ABC Radio National (2017)

  • PROJECT O

    “Young women in rural communities build strong personal agency to help prevent family violence, foster resilience and change their story.”The Monaro Post (2017)

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “It is very appropriate for family to have access to that art legacy.”Colin McDonald 2017

  • PROJECT O

    “An initiative which aims to help young women speak up, take action and make strong decisions”The Mercury 2016

  • NAMATJIRA DOCUMENTARY / TRUST

    “A deal perceived by many as a serious cultural injustice…The Namatjira Legacy Trust aims to set up a lasting legacy for the family”Eleanor Hall, ABC World Today 2017

  • SKATE

    “Tap Dogs with skateboards”Sunrise 2016