Awards Lashed

David Spicer reports.

Organisers of The Rob Guest Endowment Award have been accused of a “white-wash” by selecting a group of 30 semi-finalists for this year’s competition, entirely devoid of any representatives from the BIPOC community.

In response to criticism of the competition, organisers issued a statement which attracted a further social media backlash.

The statement in summary :

“We received a record 251 applications for this year’s award and the process does not make any attempt to identify a person’s ethnic background.”

“The only metric considered by our judging panel was talent. They did not consider race, religion or gender when choosing the semi-finalists.

“We clearly need to work harder on encouraging members of the BIPOC community as we are seeing few entrants from that community.

“The Rob Guest Endowment will continue to work on our message that diversity is good for our industry and continue to encourage and welcome the BIPOC community to participate in the competition.”

Some of the comments on the Rob Guest Endowment Award Facebook Page in response:

Fiona Scott-Norman:

“Mates. This is spectacularly tone deaf. I'm sure you were feeling pretty great about your female representation, and now your heads are ringing from being smacked upside. But I'm afraid this is on you. There is a seismic shift happening worldwide due to BLM. It's been a massive wake-up call to all, and you've been exposed for operating from a place of spectacular white privilege. Which is, let's face it, music theatre in Australia.” 

Ben Francis :

“You had the platform to demonstrate the change the theatre community wants to see. Then, when you whitewashed that, you had the platform to apologise and fix it, and set an example for theatrical organisations all over Australia.

"I hope many people look at this and use your bull…. response as a demonstration of how NOT to act.  So, so, so disappointing.”

James Burchett:

“People will only believe this shtick for so many years. At least have the courtesy not to blame the situation you yourselves have created on POC having 'few entries'. Just disgusting.”

Chris Baldock :

“As much as I agree and understand what is being said in these comments, I feel sorry for the kids who have been nominated. Can we please not diminish their achievement. The lack of diversity is not their fault and this debate must be demoralising.”