Revolutionary arts chief sure for Western Sydney.
The FORM Dance Initiatives Board is happy to announce the appointment of a brand new Artistic Director.
Paul Selwyn Norton will begin as Artistic Director on 1 Could 2023. Paul’s tenure will construct on the legacy of outgoing Director, Annette McLernon, who developed FORM right into a dynamic presenter and producer of Australian modern dance.
FORM will proceed to be proudly primarily based in primarily based in Parramatta, Western Sydney.
As an skilled senior arts chief, Norton will look to strengthen FORM’s position in supporting impartial Australian dance artists and develop audiences for modern dance. The FORM Board is especially drawn to Paul’s functionality as a sector innovator, and his vital file of delivering acclaimed applications with each rising and internationally acclaimed artists.
Norton has a specific tackle impartial arts apply, the place he sees it extra as a automobile of inventive entrepreneurship. He explains, “This can be a very thrilling time to be becoming a member of FORM Dance Initiatives. With the present improvement in each the enterprise and cultural sectors in Parramatta, there’s a actual alternative to plug FORM into that entrepreneurial vitality and burgeoning area people.”
“Because the incoming Artistic Director, I’m thrilled to have the ability to add company, worth and connectivity to FORM’s good Board and devoted group, and collectively co-create a significant future for modern dance in Western Sydney”, says Norton.
Whereas at STRUT Dance Paul delivered acclaimed large-scale performances and venue activations by means of the Perth Pageant, the Forrest’s Minderoo Basis, WA Museum – Boola Bardip, and Fringeworld – probably the most notable being SUNSET, a inventive reclamation of Claremont’s Previous Males’s Hospital from Punchdrunk’s Maxine Dolye. One other venture – One Flat Factor, Reproduced from William Forsythe – was located outdoors within the courtyard of the State Theatre Centre of WA. Each included impartial practitioners because the core inventive, manufacturing and technical groups.
Paul additionally developed studio alternatives for dance makers nationally, delivered by regionally and internationally recognised luminaries like Ohad Naharin, Stephanie Lake, Annette Carmichael, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Crystal Pite.
The Board is wanting ahead to working with Norton and draw on his intensive expertise in creating a holistic program with and for dance makers, that’s supported by audiences in addition to non-public and public companions. FORM Dance Initiatives Chair, Mark Lillis explains, “Paul is a good match for FORM as a result of we each worth innovation and risk-taking as a approach to construct sturdy partnerships. This strategy fosters neighborhood engagement and delivers precious outcomes for dance makers and audiences”.
Lillis continues, “FORM holds a well-established place…25 years robust in 2025…and is regionally and nationally recognised for its work. This subsequent section will make sure that FORM is future-fit to ship its mission and proceed its vital assist of impartial dance in Western Sydney and past.”
