Artists Awarded 2025 Veolia Creative Arts Scholarships
Four outstanding local artists have recently been awarded prestigious 2025 Veolia Creative Arts Scholarships, each receiving $4,000 to advance their creative endeavours over the next 12 months and enrich our region’s vibrant cultural landscape.
The Veolia Mulwaree Trust proudly announces this year’s talented and diverse recipients:
- Rosa Daniela Diaz – multi-disciplinary artist from Picton – Arts Practice Scholarship
- Austin Johnson – musician from Goulburn – Arts Study Scholarship
- Michele Barker – multi-media artist from Callala Beach – Arts Study Scholarship
- Barbara Nell – fine artist from Goulburn – Arts Practice Scholarship
At a ceremony in Goulburn, Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship Patron Jennifer Lamb OAM and Southern Tablelands Arts Executive Director Rose Marin presented the awards. Lamb noted this year’s selection process was particularly challenging, with the program attracting an almost record number of applications.
“The Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship initiative has invested more than $170,000 in supporting over 60 local artists throughout its 18-year history,” Lamb said. “This ongoing commitment continues to nurture and develop our region’s creative talent.”
Applications for the 2026 program will open to artists across all disciplines from the eligible local government areas of Goulburn Mulwaree, Upper Lachlan, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, Oberon, Shoalhaven and the former Palerang area.
CONTACT VEOLIA MULWAREE TRUST
For further information about the scholarship program, visit the Veolia Mulwaree Trust online or contact them via [email protected]
2025 Scholarship Presentation Photo: Attending the presentation of the Veolia Creative Arts Scholarships for 2025, from left, Scholarship Patron Jennifer Lamb OAM, 2025 scholarship recipients Austin Johnson, Dr Michele Barker, Barbara Nell and Rosa Daniela Diaz, with panel member Rose Marin, Executive Director of Southern Tablelands Arts.
ABOUT VEOLIA MULWAREE TRUST
Veolia Mulwaree Trust manages and distributes funds to not-for-profit community groups and organisations for the benefit of the former Mulwaree Shire Council area, as well as its immediate surrounds. Through the trust, Veolia has supported local schools and preschools, sporting facilities, parks and playgrounds, emergency services, charities and community service organisations. The trust also supports a range of academic and creative artist community projects, and academic and arts scholarships.
About the Award Winning Artists for 2025
Rosa Daniela Diaz, multi-disciplinary artist from Picton 2025 Veolia Creative Art Scholarship for Arts Practice
Rosa Daniela is from Picton in the Wollondilly Shire and her practice involves working with, found and repurposed textile materials and mixed media to create woven sculptural forms and installation. Daniela’s art celebrates women, ancient textile methodologies and craft. “I explore body, memory, matrilineal ancestry, and my Uruguayan cultural heritage, rooted in feminist care ethics, reparative practices and transformational processes,” she explained. The Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship will support Rosa Daniela to attend an international artist residency at the Vermont Studio Centre (VSC), Johnson, Vermont, United States. “While in residence, I will focus on making slow fibre works and exploring weaving techniques in response to the environment, which will be innately different to the Australian bush I am familiar with. The value of an immersive experience and environment will no doubt inspire me to bravely experiment, be completely and deeply focused and push boundaries that will take my artwork to new heights,” Daniela said.
*Photo credit: Rosa Daniela Diaz image courtesy of Campbelltown Arts Centre
Austin Johnson, a musician from Goulburn 2025 Veolia Creative Art Scholarship for Arts Study
Austin Johnson is a musician from Goulburn who performs and writes contemporary music. He is undertaking a double degree in Law and Creative Arts in Music at the University of Wollongong, which will be supported in 2025 through the Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship. “As a guitarist, the blues speaks to me on a deeper level – the emotion and storytelling resonate with my experiences and span across generations. I’ve come to understand that the blues is more than just a genre – it’s a feeling, a way to connect with others who have faced similar highs and lows. When I play, it’s not just about technique, but about expressing something real, something that others can feel, too. I honour the legends of the past, but I aim to bring my own energy to the music, mixing the classic with my own passion,” Johnson explained.
Johnson’s Bachelor of Music studies represent an exciting new chapter, offering opportunities to refine his musicianship, explore new techniques and challenge his creative boundaries.
“I have always enjoyed contributing to local community events and will continue to give back through performing and assisting. I am looking forward to being able to teach music locally,” Johnson said.
Dr Michele Barker, a multi-media artist from Callala Beach 2025 Veolia Creative Art Scholarship for Arts Study
Dr Michele Barker is from Callala Beach in the Shoalhaven and is a multi-media artist. She uses experimental cinematographic techniques to explore climate change leading to new kinds of embodied viewing experiences. In collaboration with Anna Munster, Michele is an award-winning artist and researcher known for producing deeply immersive experimental moving image and acoustic environments. “During the ‘black summer’ fires of 2019-20, the reality of climate change acquired a sense of personal urgency. It was real and it was on my doorstep,” Barker said. “Out of this, I began developing modes of filming and recording with aerial and underwater drones that documented the scars and ravages of climate change, but which also embraced and bore witness to the places.” The 2025 Veolia Creative Arts Scholarship Program will support Michele to acquire her aerial drone pilot’s licence and undertake training in drone cinematography (with a focus on wildlife and environment). This advanced training will enhance Michele’s capacity to document environmental changes in remote and regional locations, enabling her to capture compelling visual narratives of climate impact across Australia and internationally.
Barbara Nell, a fine artist from Goulburn 2025 Veolia Creative Art Scholarship for Arts Practice
Barbara Nell is from Goulburn and her area of creative arts is Fine Art, with painting, drawing and printmaking the core of her practice. “My practice explores the dynamic relationship between landscapes and the human presence within them. Through painting, drawing, and printmaking, I seek to capture the traces, rhythms, and narratives of people within the landscape, that unfold across natural and built environments,” Nell explained. Nell is both a practising artist and teacher, with multiple layers of experience to share with young artists. She will use the scholarship funding to mentor three artists with a disability, guiding them through the process of developing a body of work that reflects their unique perspectives and creative voices, culminating in a pop-up exhibition. “This project is a celebration of diversity, creativity, and resilience, demonstrating that when we invest in artists with a disability, we invest in a more inclusive and vibrant creative future for everyone,” Nell stated.
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