Out Lesbian Indigenous Music Icon Deborah Cheetham Fraillon Receives Creative Australia Award
Image: Deborah Cheetham Fraillon
Out lesbian Indigenous Australian music icon Deborah Cheetham Fraillon has been named as one of the eight recipients of the inaugural 2023 Creative Australia Awards.
The First Nations soprano and composer was awarded the Don Banks Music Award.
“Music is my way of understanding the world I live in and giving meaning to it. It’s a privilege, a responsibility to do that to the best of my ability every single day,” Cheetham Fraillon said in a statement.
“I was completely blown away when I was told that I was receiving the Don Banks Music Award.”
According to Creative Australia, Cheetham Fraillon “has strongly advocated for both advantaged and disadvantaged communities including her proud support for the LGBTQI+ community, and the Stolen Generations as a person with lived experience.”
Invaluable Contribution
Cheetham Fraillon has described herself as a “21st-century urban woman who is Yorta Yorta by birth, stolen generation by government policy, soprano by diligence, composer by necessity and lesbian by practice”.
The other recipients of the awards are Dalisa Pigram – Creative Australia Award for Dance, Latai Taumoepeau – Creative Australia Award for Emerging and Experimental Arts, Alexis Wright – Creative Australia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature, Khaled Sabsabi – Creative Australia Award for Visual Arts, Annette Downs – Creative Australia Award for Theatre, Hannah Morphy-Walsh – Creative Australia Kirk Robson Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development, Jacinta Mooney – Creative Australia Ros Bower Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development.
“It is an honour to recognise these wonderful artists. They have all made an invaluable contribution to Australian art across genres and are thoroughly deserving,” said Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette.
“They are not only making transformative art but are also supporting the wellbeing of their communities and are role-models for the next generation of great Australian creatives. I thank them for their work and wish them continuing success.”
