Our Youth Rep impresses John Butler, one of Australia’s Top Musicians

Leah Barclay, our Youth Rep, is “the Sunshine Coast’s very own international music sensation,” says the Sunshine Coast Daily on 18 October 2008, plus she has been recently recognised by John Butler, musician and guitarist and vocalist for the John Butler Trio.

Would you like to know more? Read the full article here.

…And Receives the Premier of Queensland’s New Media Scholarship

As if impressing John Butler was not enough, Leah goes on to impress Premier Anna Bligh too. The prestigious National New Media Art Award stands as Australia’s most significant prize for new media art; a contemporary art practice that reflects the cutting edge.

An intergenerational group of 10 artists from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia were shortlisted for the Award which comprises a major prize and a tandem scholarship for an emerging Queensland artist.

On 31 October, the judges announced Peter Alwast as the winner of the New Media Award for his work Everything (2008) and the Sunshine Coast’s own Leah Barclay as the recipient of the Premier of Queensland’s New Media Scholarship. Leah’s award is valued at $25,000 and will fund a period of international professional development in which she will tour South America, USA and Canada in 2009 performing her experimental work.

Premier Bligh said, “The award celebrates everything Queensland wants to be. The short-listed artists for the inaugural award are some of the most challenging and thought-provoking artists in Australia today.”

And we, at Noosa Community Radio all say, “Congratulations, Leah! We are very proud of you!”