The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust is a theatre and performing arts company that was founded in September 1954, with the aim of establishing drama, opera and ballet companies nationally.

Founding

In 1954 the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust was established under the guidance of H.C. Coombs, Governor of the

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...

, sir

Charles Moses Sir Charles Alfred Joseph Moses (21 January 19009 February 1988) was a British-born Australian administrator who was general manager of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) from 1935 until 1965. A 1918 graduate of the Royal Military ...

GM of the Australian Broadcasting Commission and

John Douglas Pringle John Martin Douglas Pringle, usually known as John Douglas Pringle (28 June 1912 – 4 December 1999) was a Scotland, Scottish-born journalist and author who moved in 1952 to Australia, where he became a prominent newspaper editor and social comm ...

of the

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

" to provide a theatre of Australians by Australians for Australians". Named to commemorate Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

's visit to Australia, the Trust raised £100,000 by a public appeal. The Trust had an agreement with the Commonwealth government to match public donations 'in the ratio of 1:3 and to provide ongoing funding'.Roger Wettenhall, 'Kaleidoscope, or 'Now We See Them, Now We Don't!', ''Canberra Bulletin of Public Administration'', No. 110, 2003, p. 32. With substantial contributions from both the public and the Commonwealth Government, the Trust commemorated the first visit of the Queen, who had taken the title "Queen of Australia" in 1953, and since then The Trust has been the only arts body to bear her name. The hope in 1954 was that there would occur in the arts a new "

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

" age, and as productive as the first in the sixteenth century.

Development of and support for performing arts

The Trust has nurtured and seen to independence many of Australia's most significant performing arts companies including

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of ...

and the

Australian Ballet Foundation Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

. The Trust also formed, maintained and administered two music Opera and Ballet orchestras, one each in Sydney and Melbourne, to accompany ballet and opera companies, and one smaller orchestra of Sydney freelance musicians named the Elizabethan Sinfonietta. The Trust played a key role in establishing

high culture High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society cons ...

in Australia through its involvement in setting up: * The Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company (now

) in 1956 * The Elizabethan Opera Ballet Company, a short lived ballet company set up in 1957, and with

J. C. Williamson Ltd J. C. Williamson's, formerly Williamson, Garner, & Musgrove and Williamson and Musgrove, was an Australian theatrical management company and theatre owner. With its beginnings in the theatrical productions of J. C. Williamson and his pa ...

the

in 1961 and the

Australian Ballet School The Australian Ballet School is the premier ballet training facility in Australia, located in Melbourne. History The Australian Ballet School was founded in 1964 as the primary training facility for The Australian Ballet by Dame Margaret Scot ...

under the direction of Margaret Scott * The Elizabethan Trust Orchestra in 1967, which in 1969 expanded into two orchestras, one each resident in Melbourne and Sydney. These orchestras became the

Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra The Opera Australia Orchestra (based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is a full-time salaried orchestra, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Opera Australia. It is one of three salaried orchestras in Sydney, along with the Sydney Symphony Orches ...

in 1991, and State Orchestra of Victoria in 1986. The SOV has since been renamed

Orchestra Victoria Orchestra Victoria is a full-time salaried orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia, and wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Ballet. Founded in 1969, the orchestra is now a principal performance partner for the Australian Ballet, Opera Austra ...

It has also supported: *

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

(NIDA) * Marionette Theatre of Australia * Australian Theatre of the Deaf *

Old Tote Theatre Company The Old Tote Theatre Company (1963–1978) was a New South Wales theatre company that began as the standing acting and theatre company of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). It was the predecessor to the Sydney Theatre Company. ...

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

South Australian Theatre Company The State Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA), branded State Theatre Company South Australia, formerly the South Australian Theatre Company (SATC), is South Australia's leading professional theatre company, and a statutory corporation. It ...

. Following the establishment of the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

in 1968, it ceased to be a funding body for opera and ballet in 1970. In 1974, Geoffrey Wynter Armstrong bequeathed a sum of money to the Trust to establish a memorial fund to be known as the Geoffrey Wynter Armstrong and Elizabeth Mary Martin Scholarship. The annual award is currently administered by Music & Opera Singers Trust Limited. In 1982 it helped to fund the tour of

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playwright

Bob Merritt Bob Merritt is the retired senior pastor of Eagle Brook Church in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, a megachurch. Early life and education Merritt's father was Calvin Merritt, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Neshannock Townsh ...

's play ''

The Cake Man ''The Cake Man'' is a 1975 play by Aboriginal Australian writer Robert J. Merritt, Bob Merritt, notable for being the first play written by an Indigenous Australian person to be published, televised and to tour out of Australia. A telemovie was ...

'' to the World Theatre Festival in

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Change in focus

During the 1980s the Trust scaled back its operations and in the 1990s had a Sydney focus and operated a ticketing agency and organised theatre parties. In 1990, the Trust went into provisional receivership and its operations were scaled back by its Administrator. Its arts promotion role passed to the Australian Council for the Arts (later the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

). /sup> Management of The Trust was given back to the Directors in 1992. In 2000, the Trust launched its international music scholarship program for Australian singers, musicians and conductors wishing to undertake overseas music study. This assists musicians, singers and conductors in all music genres in making a unique, original and valuable contribution to Australian culture. Since 2000 there have been 107 music scholarships awarded with a total value of $1,337,559. Of these there have been 29 awards to singers for study in The Netherlands, UK, France, USA, Germany and Italy. Musicians have received awards for chamber music, orchestral and solo study in UK, Europe and USA. There are no restrictions on scholars applying for further assistance and it is the Trust's view that it should stand by and support, when practical, a scholars' musical development for life. In 2004 the Trust purchased the Independent Theatre at North Sydney and undertook a major acoustical and heritage refurbishment of the venue. This initiative resulted in the production of a fine chamber music venue with an outstanding acoustic quality for both performers and audience. The Trust sold the Independent in 2013 to

Wenona School , motto_translation = That I May Serve , established = , type = Independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding , denomination = , educational_authority = NSW Department of Education , slogan = Empowering y ...

who have continued the chamber music programs.

Chairs of the Board

H. C. Coombs Herbert Cole "Nugget" Coombs (24 February 1906 – 29 October 1997) was an Australian economist and public servant. He is best known for having been the first Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, in which capacity he served from 1960 to 19 ...

(founding chair) *

Aubrey Gibson Aubrey Hickes Lawson Gibson (4May 190126March 1973) was an Australian businessman, arts patron and art collector. Born and educated in Melbourne, Gibson became a successful businessman in the city, establishing his own company, A.H. Gibson Indu ...

(1966-1972) * James Darling (1973-1975) *

Ian Potter Sir William Ian Potter (25 August 190224 October 1994), known as Ian Potter, was an Australian stockbroker, businessman and philanthropist. Potter was knighted in 1962. The Ian Potter Foundation, which he established in 1964, has made grants to ...

(1975-1982)Corrie Perkin, 'Philanthropist made his play', ''The Australian'', 4 May 2006. *David Griffin (1982) *Andrew Briger (1983-1989) *James Strong (1989-1990) *Hon. Lloyd D. S. Waddy (1992 – current)

References

THE TRUST the rise and fall of an Australian icon by Brian Adams (amazon.com.au) charts the history of The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust as told by its foundation members in extensive interviews with Brian Adams, former ABC TV Arts head. The book provides an authentic insight into the challenges and triumphs of this cultural icon, and its subsequent spawning of the independent performing arts companies of today and their educational institutions. *''The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust: the first year'', Sydney: The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, 1956 *Stephen Alomes, The search for a National Theatre, ''Voices'', Spring 1993, pp. 21–37.

External links