NOMINATION: Luminary - State and Territory
The Luminary Awards seek to honour individuals and organisations who, through sustained contribution (demonstrated over a period 3-5 years prior), have impacted their communities on a state or territory level through visionary leadership, fearless trailblazing, high-level artistic practice, and championing of Australian repertoire.
Nominations for individuals should demonstrate a program of activities or a range of projects rather than (for example) the recording and release of a single album. Nominations for a single work or project should be made in the Work of the Year or Excellence categories.
If you believe you are nominated in the wrong category or the details of your nomination to be incorrect, please contact the AMC via email at awards@australianmusiccentre.com.au before proceeding with the nomination.
Art Music Award guidelines →
Nominee
Stevie McEntee
Nominated Project/Activity
Artistic Director of Clarence Jazz Festival; Artistic Director/Founding Member of Lutruwita Art Orchestra
State/Territory
Tasmania
Nominator Statement
Stevie McEntee has made a ground-breaking contribution to musical life in Tasmania in the past 5 years. Their musical practice embodies a commitment to social justice, diversity and inclusion, and they are changing the face of Tasmanian music through their leadership of two significant entities.
As the Artistic Director of the annual Clarence Jazz Festival, Stevies visionary leadership has fostered the evolution of the festival into the most significant jazz event on the state calendar. The festival comprises 4 days of free and accessibly priced events ranging from secondary school and community ensembles to performances of the highest artistic quality by Tasmanian, mainland and international artists.
CJF has a deliberate policy of changing the norm of representation in jazz and improvised music to include those who have traditionally been side-lined by the jazz mainstream. A number of initiatives make CJF stand out:
- a focus on female and non-binary artists with male/female ratio approaching 50/50;
- female guest Jazz Ambassadors - Sandy Evans, Michelle Nicolle, Kristin Berardi (Australia/Switzerland) and Shannon Barnett (Australia/Germany);
- artists from non-English speaking backgrounds;
- Tasmanian Aboriginal artists;
- artists from Launceston and the Northwest;
- securing of federal and state grants to support the creation of new work by local artists;
- presentation of acclaimed mainland artists such as Vince Jones, Andrea Keller, Sam Anning, Julien Wilson, Kyrie Anderson, Bobby Singh and Carl Mackey in addition to the above;
- Jazz Scholars program offering lessons, workshops and performance artists to secondary school level emerging jazz artists.
The CJF has been transformed from an enjoyable local event featuring straight ahead, competently played jazz, to an event which has a growing national reputation and a significant artistic footprint.
https://www.clarenceartsandevents.net/events/clarence-jazz-festival-2025/
Stevies most recent initiative has also had a significant state-wide impact. The Lutruwita Art Orchestra grew out of a community project (Creek Road Art Orchestra) at Kickstart Arts which drew together musicians from across multi-cultural Hobart. The musicians all wished for the project to continue, which prompted Stevie and arts administrator Frances Butler to found the LAO, incorporated in 2023. LAO has just completed its first season with Stevie at the helm as artistic director. It is a 15-piece improvisational ensemble with members from Columbia, Mexico and Iran, as well as Australians of European descent with classical, folk and/or jazz backgrounds.
The ensemble spent several months in creative development and then did performances of the show Songs that We Carry in Hobart, Launceston (Junction Arts Festival), Queenstown, Wynyard and New Norfolk. The second project was a series of ceremonies over three nights led by Tasmanian Aboriginal musician and culture-bearer Dewayne Everett-Smith. These were deeply moving events inviting the audience to reflect on the uncomfortable truth of the history of colonisation in Tasmania.
In short, Stevie is a mover and shaker, a centre of musical gravity in the state, and a wholly worthy nominee for State Luminary Award.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Lutruwita-Art-Orchestra-100091808417800/
Nominee
Stevie McEntee
Nominated Project/Activity
Artistic Director of Clarence Jazz Festival; Artistic Director/Founding Member of Lutruwita Art Orchestra
State/Territory
Tasmania
As the Artistic Director of the annual Clarence Jazz Festival, Stevies visionary leadership has fostered the evolution of the festival into the most significant jazz event on the state calendar. The festival comprises 4 days of free and accessibly priced events ranging from secondary school and community ensembles to performances of the highest artistic quality by Tasmanian, mainland and international artists.
CJF has a deliberate policy of changing the norm of representation in jazz and improvised music to include those who have traditionally been side-lined by the jazz mainstream. A number of initiatives make CJF stand out:
- a focus on female and non-binary artists with male/female ratio approaching 50/50;
- female guest Jazz Ambassadors - Sandy Evans, Michelle Nicolle, Kristin Berardi (Australia/Switzerland) and Shannon Barnett (Australia/Germany);
- artists from non-English speaking backgrounds;
- Tasmanian Aboriginal artists;
- artists from Launceston and the Northwest;
- securing of federal and state grants to support the creation of new work by local artists;
- presentation of acclaimed mainland artists such as Vince Jones, Andrea Keller, Sam Anning, Julien Wilson, Kyrie Anderson, Bobby Singh and Carl Mackey in addition to the above;
- Jazz Scholars program offering lessons, workshops and performance artists to secondary school level emerging jazz artists.
The CJF has been transformed from an enjoyable local event featuring straight ahead, competently played jazz, to an event which has a growing national reputation and a significant artistic footprint.
https://www.clarenceartsandevents.net/events/clarence-jazz-festival-2025/
Stevies most recent initiative has also had a significant state-wide impact. The Lutruwita Art Orchestra grew out of a community project (Creek Road Art Orchestra) at Kickstart Arts which drew together musicians from across multi-cultural Hobart. The musicians all wished for the project to continue, which prompted Stevie and arts administrator Frances Butler to found the LAO, incorporated in 2023. LAO has just completed its first season with Stevie at the helm as artistic director. It is a 15-piece improvisational ensemble with members from Columbia, Mexico and Iran, as well as Australians of European descent with classical, folk and/or jazz backgrounds.
The ensemble spent several months in creative development and then did performances of the show Songs that We Carry in Hobart, Launceston (Junction Arts Festival), Queenstown, Wynyard and New Norfolk. The second project was a series of ceremonies over three nights led by Tasmanian Aboriginal musician and culture-bearer Dewayne Everett-Smith. These were deeply moving events inviting the audience to reflect on the uncomfortable truth of the history of colonisation in Tasmania.
In short, Stevie is a mover and shaker, a centre of musical gravity in the state, and a wholly worthy nominee for State Luminary Award.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Lutruwita-Art-Orchestra-100091808417800/