Paul Kathner designed and painted sets and backdrops for the most significant ballets, operas and musicals in Australia. He trained under William Constable and Elaine Haxton, assisting their work with the Borovansky Ballet. Early in his career he designed for the Independent Theatre, Elizabethan Opera Company, St Martin’s Theatre Melbourne (as resident designer), and the Melbourne Theatre Company. Design credits include: Le Carnaval (the Australian Ballet), The Pirates of Penzance and Trial by Jury (Adelaide Festival Trust), and The Yeomen of the Guard (Australian Opera). In 1976 he and Ross Turner formed Scenic Studios, where he created settings for hundreds of ballets, operas and musicals. Paul’s design work included backdrops for St Paul’s Cathedral and painting Les Sylphides (Australian Ballet).

Paul painted many of Kristian’s set designs for The Australian Ballet, including Coppelia, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Nutcracker.
He had an instinctive understanding of Kristian’s design style and the ability to be able to execute the painterly quality, along with the brilliant team at Scenic Studios.

Applications for the 2024 Scholarship will open on the 2st October, 2023, and will close on the 1st December 2023.

For further details and the application form please click through to ‘APPLY’.

2009-2010 Victoria lamb

2011-2012 Anna Cordingley

2013-2014 Alicia Clements

2015-2016 David Fleischer

2017-2018 Michael Hankin

2019-2020 -

2021-2022 Isobel Hudson and Paula Levis

2023-2024  Applications open 1st October and close 1st December

Sir John Soane’s Museum in London is advertising artist residencies starting in 2023, with applications closing in October 2022.

You can find more information here.

For the first time the scholarship committee has decided to award two scholarships in 2022.
The standard of the applicants was extremely high which made this round highly competitive. We thank all those who applied for their time and energy.

Congratulations to Paula Levis from Victoria (below left) and Isabel Hudson from NSW (below right), who are the 2022 scholarship recipients.
Both Paula and Isabel are successful mid-career stage designers.

For those intending to apply for the scholarship:

Please note, upon receiving your application we will send a return confirmation email.

The Selection Committee for the 2022 The Kristian Fredrikson Scholarship For Design in The Performing Arts are:

DESIGNERS

Alicia Clements
Stephen Curtis
Anna French
Esther Hayes
Julie Lynch
Richard Roberts

DIRECTORS

Wesley Enoch
Lindy Hume

CHOREOGRAPHERS

Kate Champion

MAKERS

Musette Molyneaux
Shane Dunn

ESTATE

Fiona Reilly

William (Bill) Myles recently passed away and designer Anna French is putting a file together on his life and career for inclusion in The Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. He was a costume maker, and taught at WAPPA in Perth.
Anna is looking for reminiscences of him and his work and any work photos. Please email any information to: afrench50@optusnet.com.au

We are delighted to announce that applications for the the 2022 scholarship will be opening soon.
Applications will open on Friday 1st October 2021, and close on Wednesday 1st December 2021.

Please note due to the impact of Coronavirus, we will be extending the scholarship from two years to three.

Beleura House and Garden held the official opening of the New John Tallis Research Building and Gallery on Friday 21st of May 2021.

Beleura House and Garden in Mornington, Victoria, safeguards the bequest of composer John Tallis, who died in 1996 gifting Beleura, its contents and a supporting Foundation to the people of Victoria. John Tallis’s father was head of JC Williamson Pty Ltd, the world’s largest entertainment organisation of the 1920.

Today Beleura’s collections furnish a living museum as ‘a theatre of the past’, preserving for future generations Australia’s performing arts history and memorabilia acquired by gift and purchase.

Beleura’s Stage Design Collection is showcased in display areas, and builds upon the JC Williamson legacy from the end of the 1890s but costume and set illustrations are mostly from the 20th century. It includes William Akers AM and Roger Meyers gift of ballet-oriented collection of photographs and historical set and costume designs

In 2008, Beleura purchased 32 costume and set designs/models from a fundraising exhibition at the Arts Centre, held to establish the Kristian Fredrikson Scholarship for Design in the Performing Arts. The scholarship recipients regularly donate designs and set models to Beleura.

In April this year our collection more than doubled when a tremendous gift of 48 designs was very generously donated by the designers themselves, works realised in national and international productions of ballet, opera, drama and experimental performance. The instigator of these donations is patron of the collection, designer Anna French. Beleura is sincerely grateful to Anna for her foresight, imagination and desire to preserve theatrical design.