The Anywhere Festival has officially concluded for 2022 with its annual presentation of their Anywhere Awards, held at Elements Collective.
This year marked one of the festival’s biggest years, being its largest in ticket sales with an average of 70-90% of tickets sold across the festival in productions across Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa.
The Anywhere Awards are selected by the producing team behind the festival, judges and reviewers who attended the festival. Celebrating excellence in multiple areas, the awards acknowledge those who exemplified the values of the festival in their work.
Big winners included the University of Queensland for Outstanding Work as a Venue, ‘This Way For A Fireside Chat With Lucifer’ from Lighting Bolt Collective, Fini for their production of ‘Last Laugh’ and Vixens of Fall for ‘Boho
Babes, Ballads and Bush Poets’ for excellence in theatre-making. The final Anywhere Award recipient went to Creative
Producer Toni Wills, praising her work in expanding the festival since 2017.
Taking out the Audience Vote awards were BYTES’ Youth Theatre with their production of ‘Argonautika’ (Sunshine Coast),’ Introspect Theatre Co. for ‘Limelight’ (Moreton Bay), ‘Hello Stranger’ by The Drawer Productions (Brisbane), and Virgo Nash’s ‘THRONE’ (Noosa).
The Communify Queensland award went to ‘A Matter of Material’, a puppet-theatre show exploring waste and consumerism.
Queensland Theatre gave their Emerging Theatre-Maker award to The Drawer Productions for ‘Hello Stranger’, an immersive theatre tragicomedy about dementia.
The Drawer Productions’ ‘Hello Stranger’ picks up Brisbane City Council’s Audience Vote and Queensland Theatre’s Emerging Theatre-Maker award.
The Brisbane Immersive Award was taken out by Inscape Assembly with their immersive theatre show ‘Oberon 11’, which placed audiences in an intergalactic prison.
The m4m Agency award, which provides dynamic marketing support for a company went to Tits Akimbo, who also received the Fringe Brisbane award for their production of ‘The Politics of Vodka Lime and Soda’, which grants them a supported spot in the brand new, upcoming Fringe Brisbane Festival.
The Sydney Fringe Tour Ready Award, which gives artists a guaranteed spot at Sydney Fringe Festival to tour their productions went to Impro Mafia for ‘Murder at the Bowlo’ a distinctly Queensland murder-mystery improv show set in a 1980s bowls club.
Anywhere Festival has proven itself again to be a juggernaut in the South-East Queensland Arts ecosystem and fostered emerging artists as well as established companies to be creative, connect with the community and create unique art.
Congratulations to the award recipients, artists who presented work, and the organisations and creative individuals behind the festival!
For more information about Anywhere Festival, visit their website.
