Rob Guest Endowment announces future changes
For over a decade the Rob Guest Endowment (RGE) has provided vital support and encouragement to young emerging performers, musicians and technicians, awarding over $400,000 in scholarships to assist them in their pursuit of excellence in their chosen discipline within the commercial musical theatre genre.
The competition seeks out the best emerging performers and works to broaden their experience, contacts and knowledge of the industry so they are equipped to further engage confidently into the world of commercial musicals.
The RGE has successfully navigated its charter since its inception and will continue to operate within this charter for years to come.
Managed by volunteer industry professionals who donate their time to the management of the endowment, there are three principal groups that make the endowment work – the leadership committee, the industry panellists and of course the contestants in each cycle of the competition.
Whilst the endowment is open to any emerging performer who is an Australian citizen between the age of 18 and 25, the 2020 endowment failed to attract many entries from Indigenous Australians, people of colour and other performers from diverse racial backgrounds.
They accept unreservedly that the leadership committee should have done more to ensure that contestants in the competition were drawn from a much more diverse cross section of emerging musical theatre performers across Australia. We apologise for our omissions and failures in the 2020 competition. The RGE is determined to do better in the future.
With this objective in mind, they have announced changes to the way the RGE is conducted, which will apply to future years. They look forward to playing their part in the quest to broaden the industry and to make Australia a richer nation through the participation of emerging musical theatre performers from diverse backgrounds.
To find out more about The Rob Guest Endowment leadership committee’s statement visit: www.robguestendowment.com.au