The annual Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards have been announced, with new music group Ensemble Offspring, director Barrie Kosky and Artshub’s National Performing Arts Editor honoured in a ceremony at Cranlana, the home of Sidney and Merlyn Myer.

Richard Watts, Claire Edwardes and Barrie Kosky, winners of this year’s Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards. Photograph © Fiona Hamilton

Ensemble Offspring was awarded the Group Award of $90,000. Over the course of the ensemble’s 25 years in the industry, Ensemble Offspring has premiered over 300 new works, with a particular focus on marginalised compositional voices including female and First Nations Australian composers.

“Given the list of past recipients as well as the esteem in which the Myer family is held in Australia for their deep commitment to the arts, it is both humbling and totally exciting to win this award,” Ensemble Offspring’s Artistic Director Claire Edwardes told Limelight. “The fact that our work over the past 25 years has been recognised this way feels pretty amazing, given how tirelessly our musicians and team work to make it all happen on a shoestring budget.”

“It can’t be underestimated how significant the addition of an unbudgeted $90,000 is,” she said. “As...