Progressive arts chief sure for Western Sydney.
The FORM Dance Initiatives Board is happy to announce the appointment of a brand new Inventive Director.
Paul Selwyn Norton will begin as Inventive Director on 1 Might 2023. Paul’s tenure will construct on the legacy of outgoing Director, Annette McLernon, who developed FORM right into a dynamic presenter and producer of Australian up to date dance.
FORM will proceed to be proudly based mostly in based mostly in Parramatta, Western Sydney.
As an skilled senior arts chief, Norton will look to strengthen FORM’s function in supporting unbiased Australian dance artists and develop audiences for up to date dance. The FORM Board is especially drawn to Paul’s functionality as a sector innovator, and his important file of delivering acclaimed applications with each rising and internationally acclaimed artists.
Norton has a selected tackle unbiased arts apply, the place he sees it extra as a car of inventive entrepreneurship. He explains, “It is a very thrilling time to be becoming a member of FORM Dance Initiatives. With the present improvement in each the enterprise and cultural sectors in Parramatta, there’s a actual alternative to plug FORM into that entrepreneurial vitality and burgeoning local people.”
“Because the incoming Inventive Director, I’m thrilled to have the ability to add company, worth and connectivity to FORM’s good Board and devoted workforce, and collectively co-create a significant future for up to date dance in Western Sydney”, says Norton.
Whereas at STRUT Dance Paul delivered acclaimed large-scale performances and venue activations by means of the Perth Competition, the Forrest’s Minderoo Basis, WA Museum – Boola Bardip, and Fringeworld – probably the most notable being SUNSET, a inventive reclamation of Claremont’s Previous Males’s Hospital from Punchdrunk’s Maxine Dolye. One other venture – One Flat Factor, Reproduced from William Forsythe – was located exterior within the courtyard of the State Theatre Centre of WA. Each included unbiased practitioners because the core inventive, manufacturing and technical groups.
Paul additionally developed studio alternatives for dance makers nationally, delivered by regionally and internationally recognised luminaries like Ohad Naharin, Stephanie Lake, Annette Carmichael, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Crystal Pite.
The Board is wanting ahead to working with Norton and draw on his in depth expertise in growing a holistic program with and for dance makers, that’s supported by audiences in addition to non-public and public companions. FORM Dance Initiatives Chair, Mark Lillis explains, “Paul is a superb match for FORM as a result of we each worth innovation and risk-taking as a technique to construct strong partnerships. This method fosters neighborhood engagement and delivers beneficial outcomes for dance makers and audiences”.
Lillis continues, “FORM holds a well-established place…25 years sturdy in 2025…and is regionally and nationally recognised for its work. This subsequent part will be certain that FORM is future-fit to ship its mission and proceed its essential help of unbiased dance in Western Sydney and past.”