- Arts Centre Melbourne
- Tait Performing Arts /
Tait Memorial Trust - Ballarat International
Foto Biennale - Victorian Opera &
The University of Melbourne - RISING
The John Truscott Prizes
The John Truscott Prizes celebrate the discovery and support of creative talent, with a focus on practitioners involved in the creation of memorable public spaces, public events and performances.
The program is supported by principal sponsor, The Hugh D.T. Williamson Foundation which supports and strengthens communities through its many valuable programs, including enhancing the cultural life of all Victorians through the arts.
Prizes are managed in partnership with a number of Victoria’s leading cultural organisations.
2025–2026
Arts Centre Melbourne
Recipient: Details embargoed until Arts Centre announcement in early April – please revisit this site for details.
The Tait Performing Arts Association
Recipient: To Be Announced
Support for a performing arts student from Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School to train with either the Royal College of Music or Royal Ballet School in London.
The achievements of the five Tait brothers are an intrinsic part of the history of theatres and performing arts in Australia and New Zealand. Isla Baring, daughter of Sir Frank and Lady Viola Tait established the Tait Memorial Trust (UK) in their honour and continues to support new and emerging talent from her base in London through the Melbourne-based Tait Performing Arts Association.
2025
Ballarat International Foto Biennale
Recipient: Dave Jones, Animator & Designer
Assistance for the design and production of 'Life Force – Illuminated Moth' public artwork at the National Centre for Photography, Ballarat.
In acknowledgment of the birthplace of Hugh Williamson whose legacy, through The Hugh Williamson Trust, has garnered the respect and appreciation of so many people and organisations involved in cultural initiatives throughout Victoria.
2024–2025
Victorian Opera & The University of Melbourne
Recipient: Ishan Vivekanantham, Set & Costume Designer
Career development working on the Victorian Opera production of
The Lyrebird's Voice, a children’s opera.
This prize is part of a new, five-year collaboration with the Victorian Opera and the University of Melbourne, supporting graduates of the Victorian College of the Arts.
It marks a relationship between John and the (then) Victorian State Opera from the late 1970s when John returned to Melbourne from Hollywood to design the new Victorian State Opera’s much acclaimed Idomeneo and The Pearl Fishers.
2023–2024
Recipients:
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO with Byron J Scullin and Thomas Supple for The Rivers Sing 2024
Genevieve Lacey and Erkki Veltheim
for Consort of the Moon 2023
Amber McCartney
for Tiny Infinite Deaths 2023
The Foundation welcomes this special relationship with RISING in this city, on its stages and in the imaginative theatres of public spaces, marking a welcome return of John Truscott’s name to be associated with Melbourne’s major arts festival.
Consort of the Moon
