Ramsay Art Prize - The Art Gallery of South Australia

The Ramsay Art Prize is one of Australia's most prestigious, and lucrative, contemporary art prizes. 

Presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia and supported by The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation, the biennial prize seeks to celebrate new work across any medium, with the winning work acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia and the artist awarded $100,000. 

NeuroSurgical Research Foundation

University of Adelaide researchers will combine custom cognitive testing, cutting edge genomic analyses and computer modelling to predict who is most at risk of cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease. 

The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation have provided a grant over three years for the research which will be done in partnership with the NeuroSurgical Research Foundation and Parkinson’s SA to build the cohort of 300 needed for the study. 

Restless Dance Theatre

Our support of Restless Dance Theatre invests into their organisational capacity and leadership excellence.  It is Australia’s leading dance theatre company working with young people with and without disability to collaboratively create outstanding inclusive dance theatre. Restless premieried Zizanie directed by Meryl Tankard in the Space Theatre to critical acclaim in the 2019 Adelaide Festival.

Photo credit- Regis Lansac     Dancer- Kathryn Evan

Helpmann Academy

Three South Australian emerging artists will be undertaking career-defining opportunities thanks to Helpmann Academy Fellowships, supported by the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation. Now in their third year, the Helpmann Fellowships fund projects of significance, supporting early career artists to realise their visions and build sustainable practices, shaping their future and empowering them to transform the cultural landscape. Valued at up to $20,000 each, it is intended the Fellowships will enable artists to pursue professional development opportunities overseas or interstate.

Art Gallery of South Australia

The Foundation is pleased to support the Gallery as its Family Program Partner, enabling FREE activities for children and families through The Studio and START programs.  The Studio  is a dedicated and free learning activity space within the Art Gallery of South Australia for children, families and art lovers of all ages. The START program is held on the first Sunday of each month for children under 12 and their families. 

More than 270,000 children and families have engaged through these programs. 

Guildhouse

The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation is delighted to support The Guildhouse Fellowship.

The fellowship offers a transformative opportunity for one mid-career South
Australian visual artist, craftsperson or designer each year, by providing $35,000 to support
research, international travel and the creation of new work. Delivered in partnership with the Art
Gallery of South Australia, the opportunity will include a presentation outcome at the Gallery.

The establishment of this fellowship acknowledges the expanse of artistic talent in South
Australia.

Raising Literacy Australia

With support from the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation, the Raising Literacy Australia Author and Illustrator Mentoring Initiative will enable two emerging writers and two emerging illustrators residing in South Australia, to fulfil their dream of publishing a children’s picture book.

Patch Theatre

Patch Theatre Company creates world class theatre that captures the hearts and minds of young audiences.  The Foundation supports Patch Theatre to take their performances to regional and remote areas of South Australia to enable children to see a live theatre show.  Their productions reach reached 9,000 children in SA in 2015. 

The Foundation also supports Patch Theatre's professional development for its Artistic Director.

Capacity Grants

Applications closed until July 2019

The Foundation is able to award a small number of capacity grants. These are designed to help build organisation capacity, such as professional development, leadership skills and information technology.

For more information on capacity grants please call the Foundation office.

SAHMRI (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute)

Resilient Futures SA is a SAHMRI project that we co-fund with The Wyatt Trust. It is a three year, individualised mentor based program that will work towards building resilience and well-being for 850 disadvantaged young people.  It is expected that the measurements will show significant increases in mental health and physical well-being. This project won Philanthropy Australia's best large grant award in April 2016.

Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation

The Foundation has supported the Equity Tix program to enable approximately 500 disadvantaged school students to attend a live performance and arts workshop at the Adelaide Festival Centre.  The program targets children who may not have the opportunity to experience the wonder and magic of live theatre performance.

Youth Opportunities

The Foundation is currently supporting Youth Opportunities to run Personal Leadership Programs, this  is a one day per week training program that runs over a school term. It is offered to year 10 students in schools and organisations across metropolitan and regional South Australia. Using positive psychology and cognitive therapy, the program engages and extends participants knowledge and skills in areas not typically part of their schooling, but are crucially important to life.

The Australian Ballet

The Foundation is pleased to celebrate our partnership with The Australian Ballet (TAB) by providing seed funding for the creation of Story-time Ballet, a ballet for Children. Due to limited opportunities for children 3–11 to access ballet, TAB have launched a specially designed show for children. These special productions are now being performed in city centres and in regional communities to engage the next generation of ballet lovers. The Foundation also supports the STEAMDANCE program in schools which uses a dance-education approach to learning about STEAM subjects; science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.

Operation Flinders Foundation

Operation Flinders Foundation is an organisation that runs a world leading wilderness therapy program for young offenders and young people at risk. The program takes participants between the age of 14 and 18 years on an eight day exercise in the far northern Flinders Ranges, providing a transformational experience for its participants to break away from their past and grow as valued members of the community. The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation have supported significant infrastructure on the remote property where the program is run and is currently supporting teams that will follow on to do the Youth Opportunities program.

Philanthropy Australia

One of the Foundation's core values is to encourage greater awareness of and levels of philanthropy, particularly in South Australia. Philanthropy is not just about financial gifts, but the giving of one’s time and advocacy. The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation have highly engaged relationships with all of our partners, and were very supportive of Philanthropy Australia opening an office in Adelaide for which the Foundation provided seed funding.

State Opera of South Australia

The University of Adelaide

Early Intervention Research Project into youth mental health
The Foundation is funding a researcher at the University of Adelaide’s School of Medicine under the leadership of Professor Bernhard Baune, Head of Psychiatry.  The researcher will conduct bio marker analyses in plasma samples.  Once these analyses are completed, clinical trials will be developed that could radically change clinical practice in the treatment of psychotic illness, as methods of diagnosing such illnesses have not changed in the past 15 to 20 years. We are hoping it will one day help patients change the course of their illness and their lives for the better.