l e a h  b a r c l a y   c o m p o s e r . p e r f o r m e r . p r o d u c e r 

Leah has just completed several new commissions in Australia including Static Architecture www.staticarchitecture.com and is in the process of finishing Eco Sonus www.ecosonus.com. Sounds from Eco Sonus will also appear in the Sonic Babylon project with American internet pioneers Nora Farrell and William Duckworth, find out more information at the website; www.sonicbabylon.com

 Two of Leah’s new works “Nakshatra: Divisions of the Sky” and “Sleep, Hit Me” have been selected for the Australasian Computer Music Conference for 2009. Nakshatra will also feature at several events throughout Leah’s current international tour which covers concerts and recording projects in India, Turkey, Spain, Canada, USA and New Zealand. Leah’s next solo project “Akasha” will launch late 2009 during her Asialink Residency in South Korea.   

Leah Barclay has been selected for a prestigious Asialink Performing Artist Residency in 2009 where she will spend three months at the Art Centre Nabi in Soeul, South Korea. Asialink is Australia’s leading centre for the promotion of public understanding of the countries of Asia and Australia’s role in the region. 

Each year leading Australian artists, performers, directors, choreographers, writers, musicians and arts managers live and work for up to four months in Asia through the Asialink Arts Residency Program. Each person engages with communities, sharing and developing skills, ideas, networks and new projects. 

In residence at Art Centre Nabi, in Seoul, Barclay will draw on experience gained from working on projects that span film and theatre, interactive installations, live electronics and multi-platform production, to create a series of hybrid intercultural performances that can be diffused via broadband networks. She will also be creating a work for intercultural ensemble and electronics that will premiere in December 2009.

Leah's residency is supported by Arts Queensland and The Australian Council for the Arts. 

Premier Anna Bligh revealed the recipient of the inaugural Premier of Queensland's National New Media Art Award today. The prestigious biennial award stands as Australia's most significant prize for new media art; a contemporary art practice that reflects the cutting edge, innovative mores espoused by Brisbane's acclaimed Gallery of Modern Art. 

The judges were pleased to announce Leah Barclay as the recipient of the Premier of Queensland's New Media Scholarship. Barclay’s award is valued at $25,000 and will fund a period of international professional development in which the artist will tour internationally in 2009 performing her experimental work. 

Premier Bligh said the inception of the award would contribute to Queensland's' standing as a leader in the Australian arts community - despite her initial apprehension. She said that the notion of creating a high profile award for a new media artist as opposed to a "Queensland Archibald Prize" seemed risky at first, but she was later convinced and now couldn't be happier. "The short-listed artists for the inaugural award are some of the most challenging and thought provoking artists in Australia today." Ms Bligh said the Premier of Queensland’s National New Media Art Award celebrated the skill and creativity of Australian artists working in challenging and innovative ways with a range of new technologies. 

“The award underpins my Government’s commitment to supporting innovation and creativity in the visual arts and specifically new media, one of the country’s most dynamic new art forms.” The judges for this year’s award and scholarship recipient were – Tony Ellwood, Director, Queensland Art Gallery; Dr Melinda Rackham, Executive Director, Australian Network for Art and Technology; and Liz Hughes, Executive Director, Experimenta Media Arts.

The JB Seed Grant Program continues to nurture new talent and annually attracts a wide and eclectic range of applicants from around the nation. With the key theme of self sustainability the JB Seed allows artists to create new and innovative works
by offering strategic cash injections, so often essential, to help artists continue to provide inspiring and stimulating art for existing and ever growing culturally aware audiences.

Over the past four years The JB Seed has made its mark as a pioneering grants program, built for the arts industry by the arts industry. With the financial and in kind assistance of philanthropists from all facets of the arts, the program recognises excellence in emerging talent and originality and has recently announced another string of successful applicants for JB Seed in 2008. 

Sunshine Coast resident Leah Barclay is one of the fortunate artists, with two other Queenslanders among the recipients for 2008. Founder of the program, John Butler said he is “truly amazed and inspired by the depth and diversity of art submitted to The JB Seed.” The calibre of successful applicants certainly gives a promising insight into the next crop of Australian musicians. Leah’s work is no exception, a skilled and versatile composer who is rapidly developing a reputation in the international industry for her innovative work.
 
The JB Seed will allow Leah to work directly with a range of musicians in various parts of India during a three month tour. “As a composer I was drawn to the rhythmic innovation of carnatic (South Indian) music and the JB Seed has given me a great opportunity to further develop my performance, composition and improvisation skills” said Leah. Barclay’s India tour will take place November 2008 to March 2009 with a string of engagements ranging from hybrid new media works in the exhilarating city of Mumbai to recording projects in Kerala’s river villages.