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Hello friend

2022 saw the long-awaited return of in-person events. As the year draws to a close, we want to share some of its many highlights – from books and exhibitions to films, festivals and fundraisers. But first, a look back at our support for the UK/Australia Season…

A major cultural exchange between the Government of Australia and the British Council, the UK/Australia Season ran throughout 2022 with great success and critical acclaim.

More than 130 Australian acts and performances featured at the Edinburgh Festival, the largest Australian contingent to date. The Festival's opening night featured MACRO, produced by Adelaide's award-winning circus powerhouse Gravity & Other Myths and First Nations dance-theatre sensations Djuki Mala.

FANZA was delighted to support the UK/Australia Season in many ways, including via our website, newsletters and social media with grants made possible by generous donations to FANZA in support of the Season.

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FANZA Classica

February
Lotte Betts-Dean and Joseph Havlat
Kieran Rayner

Our first in-person event of the year was a classical music performance at the beautiful St Mary-at-Hill Church in the City of London. Award-winning musicians Lotte Betts-Dean (Australian, mezzo soprano) and Joseph Havlat (Australian, piano), joined New Zealand baritone Kieran Rayner, in a programme featuring British, Australian and NZ composers. It was part of the FANZA Festival to complement the Australia/UK Season of Culture.

Love is Only Love

May
Love is Only Love

When spring emerged, we were thrilled to host a special performance of the joyful musical, Love is Only Love – written by and starring Australian actor Sam Harrison. As part of the UK/Australia Season, the acclaimed show took us on a journey with a tender, funny and uplifting celebration of love as a young boy's life is changed forever when he discovers the passionate romance of American musicals.

Vee Speers retrospective, Metamorphosis

July
Vee Spears - Metamorphosis exhibition

In the summer, we were proud to support Metamorphosis, the brilliant retrospective exhibition by Paris-born Australian artist, Vee Speers. The evolution of Speers' work over two decades was displayed at The Photographers' Gallery, London, where her curated and stylised images touched on themes of identity that are both universal and extremely personal: childhood innocence, physical growth, and emotional awakening. Her subjects, depicted at different stages of life, don guises and props that evoke a fantastical existence, and hint at the tension between reality and performance.

House of Oz at the Edinburgh Festival

August
House of Oz wins Best Fringe Venue 2022 at Edinburgh Festival

Throughout the Edinburgh Festival, Fringe location House of Oz provided a venue for stunning Australian circus, comedy, art, music, cabaret and children's shows. During its month-long run, the King’s Hall was transformed into an immersive, engaging "home hub" for Australia on the Fringe, winning for House of Oz the Fringe accolade of Best Venue 2022.

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FANZA fundraiser at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery

November
FANZA fundraiser at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery

In late autumn, we hosted a special invitation-only event for FANZA's most loyal supporters and friends at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery in London. After viewing a stunning collection of tapa art from Papua New Guinea (which uses tree bark for paper or cloth, pounded roots and volcanic ash for pigment, grass for thread and sharpened bat-wing bone for needle) guests were shown a specially curated exhibition of Aboriginal and New Zealand art, some from Rebecca's private collection – hung for one night only. Matthew Sturgis gave a wonderfully insightful and almost lyrical talk as he moved from exhibit to exhibit, exploring each painting's provenance and meaning.

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Short stories and essays – perfect for holiday reading…

How to be a Bad Muslim by Mohamed Hassan

The breakout non-fiction book How to be a Bad Muslim by award-winning New Zealand writer, poet and journalist Mohamed Hassan, was published as an e-book in the UK in November. Described as funny, elegiac and chilling, it maps the personal and public experience of being Muslim through essays on identity, Islamophobia, surveillance, migration and language.

Fabulous Lives by Bindy Pritchard

Bindy Pritchard's Fabulous Lives is a powerful collection of funny and heart-rending short stories, spanning Australia and other continents. It embraces people with all their frailties and strengths, failures and hopes, as they reach critical junctures in their lives.

2023: a taste of what’s to come…

  • Kick-start the New Year with a spring in your step! The film version of Tim Minchin’s Matilda The Musical is released on Netflix in the UK in early 2023 following its global release via the streaming platform on 25 December. Starring Dame Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull, Alisha Weir as the iconic titular character, and James Bond star Lashana Lynch as sweet-natured teacher Miss Honey.
  • Pip & Pop: When Flowers Dream is the London debut for Australian artist Tanya Schultz, who works under the name Pip & Pop. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, features her pastel-hued 'food fantasia' inspired by mythology and folklore, and plays with the viewer's sense of perspective to draw them into a candy land. Opened this year, runs until March 2023.
  • Australian author Kate Morton's hugely anticipated new book, Homecoming, will be published in the UK on 13 April 2023. Morton, who has written six novels, is one of Australia’s biggest publishing exports having sold more than 16 million books in 42 countries.

The FANZA Team

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