The Marten Bequest is an Australian charitable trust, from which

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

s are awarded by 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 ...

on behalf of the trustee,

Perpetual Limited Perpetual is an Australian investment fund and trustee group in the S&P/ASX 200. The company provides investment products, financial advice, philanthropic and corporate services to individuals, families, financial advisers and organisations. ...

. The scholarships are known as the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship or just Marten Bequest Scholarship. The trust was formed from the estate of John Chisholm Marten (1908–1966).

John Marten

John Chisholm Marten (1908–1966), who used Jon Marten as his stage and

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

, was born in the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, migrating to Australia at a young age and living in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

for most of his adult life. He trained in Spanish dancing in Spain, before returning to Britain to serve in the merchant navy during World War II. He took up dancing again with Californian dancer Doris Nile, and appeared in a royal gala performance at the Tivoli Theatre, Sydney, in 1954. when

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 Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

visited Australia. His career was as a

performing artist The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...

. Martn co-wrote ''The Bali Ballet Murders'' with Cornelius Conyn, which was published in Australia,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and also translated into Dutch and published in the Netherlands. He was also known for his

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and support of the arts. Marten established the trust in order to help young creative artists in several disciplines to pay for their training and study programs.

History

The first scholarships were awarded in 1975, when three scholarships were awarded, for ballet, singing and instrumental music. In 2013, the scholarships were worth each, awarded in nine categories, bring the total prize pool to . In 2017, there were 12 scholarships across six categories on offer, worth a total of A$600,000.

has been the trustee since 2014.

Scholarships

Administered by the Australia Council, the trust operates as a scholarship fund for various types of creators in the arts, including acting, architecture,

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

instrumental music An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

, painting, poetry, prose, sculpture and singing. Open to Australian citizens aged between 21 and 35 (or 17–35 for ballet), the scholarships are worth , and are paid over two years in instalments. The number of recipients has varied each year. In 2022 there were seven winners.

Selected winners

Many notable Australian creatives have won Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarships, including: *

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles ...

(1987), writer *

Susan Lyons Susan Lyons (born 1958, Sydney) is an Australian actress. Her television appearances include: ''A Country Practice'', ''Police Rescue'', ''Murder Call'', ''Farscape'', ''Something in the Air'' and '' All Saints''. Her film appearances includ ...

(1992), actress *

Delia Falconer Delia Falconer, born in Sydney in 1966, is an Australian novelist who became famous for her bestselling novel, The Service of Clouds. She has been nominated for multiple literary awards in recognition for her work. Biography Falconer is an on ...

(1997), writer *

Suneeta Peres da Costa Suneeta Peres da Costa is an acclaimed Australian author best known for her tragicomic novel, ''Homework'' (1999) and a novella, ''Saudade'' (2018). She began her career as a playwright and also publishes poetry, non-fiction and literary criticis ...

(2002), writer *

Rachael Coopes Rachael Coopes (sometimes credited as Rachel Coopes) is an Australian actress, best known for her character ''Sigourney'' in the SBS cult parody series ''Life Support''. After starring in her first acting role as Max Cullen's daughter in the A ...

(2004), actress * Anthony White (2007), painter *

Eryn Jean Norvill Eryn Jean Norvill (born 1984), sometimes spelt Eryn-Jean Norvill, is an Australian stage and television actress. She has mostly performed in Sydney Theatre Company productions, and frequently collaborated with STC artistic director Kip Williams. ...

(2015), actress *

Abdul Abdullah Abdul Abdullah (born 1986) is a Sydney-based Australian multidisciplinary artist, the younger brother of Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, also an artist. Abdul Abdullah has been a finalist several times in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes. He cre ...

(2021), painter

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marten Bequest 1975 establishments in Australia