The Blake Poetry Prize is an Australian poetry prize for a new work of 100 lines or less, focused on non-sectarian spiritual and religious topics, connected to the Blake Prize, an art prize. The prize, worth A$5,000, is presented biennially by the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC) in conjunction with the bookshop Westwords.
The prize was established in 2008 by the Blake Society in conjunction with the New South Wales Writers' Centre (now Writing NSW), [1] funded by Leichhardt Council in Sydney. The Blake Prize takes its name from visionary poet and artist William Blake. [2] [3]
After the Blake Society had lost sponsorship for its art prizes in 2015, CPAC and Liverpool City Council announced that they would be funding and managing the prizes from 2016, with the exhibition and awards moving to Casula in Western Sydney. [4] [5]
From 2017, it was intended that Liverpool City Library in conjunction with CPAC, would deliver the Blake Poetry Prize as a biennial event. [6] However, WestWords (Western Sydney's Literature Development Organisation) took over the partnership from the library. [7] [8]
A A$5,000 prize is offered every two years for a new poem of 100 lines or less exploring a non-sectarian religious or spiritual theme. [7]
Casula is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 34 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool.
Casula railway station is located on the Main South line, serving the Sydney suburb of Casula. It is served by Sydney Trains T2 Inner West & Leppington and T5 Cumberland line services.
The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been awarded biennially.
Marion Borgelt is a contemporary Australian artist based in Sydney. Borgelt originally trained as a painter and now her practice encompasses painting, installation, sculpture and mixed media. With a career spanning over 40 years, she has held more than 50 solo exhibitions and participated in over 180 group shows globally. Borgelt's work is currently held in public collections including the National Gallery of Australia and Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art, and in international museums such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA and New Zealand's Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
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Patricia Larter (1936–1996) was an Australian artist who worked across mail art, video, photography, performance and painting. She was "one of the leading figures in the movement known as 'international mail art'". She is credited with coining the term "femail art" that was taken up by other mail artists around the world.
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Lisa Havilah is the CEO of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, Australia. She has previously directed various arts centres in Sydney, including Carriageworks and Campbelltown Arts Centre.
Eugenia Raskopoulos is a contemporary artist notable for her photographic and video work critiquing language, processes of translation, and the body. Raskopoulos' work has been shown in numerous Australian and International exhibitions, and was the winner of the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Award for her work Vestiges #3, 2010.
Raquel Ormella is an Australian artist focusing on multimedia works such as posters, banners, videography and needlework. Ormella’s work has been showcased in many exhibitions in galleries and museums, including the Shepparton Art Museum and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Working in Sydney and Canberra, Ormella’s pieces are known to encompass themes of activism and social issues in many forms and has received praise.
Barbara Steinman D.F.A. is a Canadian artist known for her work in video and installation art.
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Rosemary Anne Crumlin RSM OAM is an Australian Sister of Mercy, art historian, educator and exhibition curator with a special interest in art and spirituality. She was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours for service to the visual arts, particularly the promotion and understanding of contemporary and religious art, to education, and to the community.
Zanny Begg is an Australian artist-filmmaker. Begg works between documentary and fiction using experimental forms of storytelling to explore hidden and/or contested histories. Begg is a participatory and collaborative artist who has exhibited in multiple exhibitions around the world including the Istanbul Biennale (2010); Taipei Biennial (2008), Sharjah Biennale (2011); and The National New Australian Art (2017). Her work consistently returns to themes of gender, spatial justice and resistance.
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), commonly referred to as Casula Powerhouse, is a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Casula, a south-western outer suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Before being renovated and converted into an arts centre, the building was known as Liverpool Powerhouse. Since 2016 CPAC has hosted the Blake Prizes, comprising two art prizes and a residency, as well as the Blake Poetry Prize.
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