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. 

Carclew

Carclew Creative Experts (CCE) program brings together a diverse group of 18-29 year olds, supporting them to build a successful career within creative industries. The current twelve participants have a range of creative skills including costume design, film making, visual art, professional writing and music. The CCE program aims to highlight clear career pathways and build demand for work for young people in South Australia. Participants will work with Carclew and professional industry leaders in a development program aimed at identifying creative services for businesses and communities and with the assistance of Carclew, will take their services to market.

NeuroSurgical Research Foundation

This year urgent research to improve survival and recovery for children with a traumatic brain injury will start at the University of South Australia and Adelaide University thanks to funding from the NeuroSurgical Research Foundation (NRF) and the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation. The three year funded project will use cutting edge cerebral micro-dialysis technology to test a promising therapeutic agent that could drastically reduce death and disability in young head injury patients. Led by UniSA neuroscientist Dr Frances Corrigan, the research will also utilise Australia’s only pre-clinical paediatric brain injury model, developed in partnership with Adelaide University.

Helpmann Academy

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR 2020. 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. In 2019 the relationship between the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation and the Helpmann Academy expanded with the offer of a pro-bono office space. 

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

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. 

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. 

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.

Adelaide Youth Orchestras

The James and Diana Ramsay Foundation supports the Adelaide Youth Orchestras (AdYO) to deliver their “Schools Concert Tour” to disadvantaged schools in the greater metro Adelaide and regional South Australia. This program provides support for curriculum resources, school concerts and workshops. The unique nature of youth orchestra members performing to their own age groups has great benefit to school students. Seeing and hearing peers perform and introducing them to the powerful sounds of an orchestra often for the first time has lasting benefits for both audience and performers. The Foundation also supports the AdYO Professional Development Internship Program. 

Patch Theatre

Patch Theatre, Australia’s leading children’s theatre company has been making theatre shows in South Australia for 4-8 year olds since 1972, performing to over 1.8 million children around the world. The Foundation supports Patch Theatre in their research, development and experimentation of new creative works which will take the young audience of Patch Theatre on a new journey. The Foundation is also proud to support touring of performances in regional South Australia, to audiences who may not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy a live performance.  Over the past two years, Patch has reached over 70,000 children through their performances regionally and locally.

SAHMRI (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute)

Progressing from the success of the Resilient Futures SA program, the IndividuWell project we are funding through the SAHMRI Mental Health and Wellbeing Program, will look at investigating how different psychological interventions can improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes, and which factors underpin their impact. The research will inform the design of new technology which delivers psychological interventions based on someone’s personal characteristics; technology which will be used to build the mental health and wellbeing of people who need it the most. The results will inform future face-to-face courses and online psychological health programs, taking us one step closer to evidence-based precision mental health care. 

State Opera of South Australia

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 support the STEAMDANCE program in schools which uses a dance-education approach to learning about STEAM subjects; science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. Additionally, The Australian Ballet’s Education Team deliver professional development to teachers across Australia. Twenty-six South Australian teachers took part in a professional development session taught by members of The Australian Ballet Education Team, held in Whyalla. The session was designed to upskill teachers to continue using dance in the classroom to support the learning of other subjects.

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 has 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.

Capacity Grants

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.