ADSA Publication Subsidy Scheme


The ADSA Publication Subsidy Scheme provides support of up to $1500 for the publication of quality scholarly works on Australia, New Zealand or Pacific performance practices and culture.

ADSA is committed to supporting scholarship that examines historical and contemporary performance culture in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, and supporting members in disseminating such scholarship to widest possible audience.

The ADSA Publication Subsidy Scheme provides support of up to $1500 for the publication of quality scholarly works on Australia, New Zealand or Pacific performance practices and culture.

ADSA Publication Subsidy Scheme Award – Application Criteria

Applications are assessed based on the following criteria –

  • The publication deals with aspects of Australian, New Zealand or Pacific performance culture, for example historical and contemporary practices and practitioners, approaches, genres, media and / or audiences, in themselves or in the context of global performance culture practices.
  • The publication deals with aspects of Australian, New Zealand or Pacific performance culture, in themselves or in the context of global performance culture practices, which have not been the subject of detailed scholarship to date.
  • The publication includes rich media elements – for example, photographic, audio, video or online components which require rendering, formatting and permissions above and beyond typical scholarly publications – which could not be included or fully realised without some sort of publication support.
  • The publication is authored – or, in the case of edited collections, majority authored (75%) – by members of ADSA who can demonstrate excellence in scholarship and practice as appropriate to their career stage and opportunities.
  • The publication has the support of a publisher and peer reviewers.
  • The publication may not be published, or published in full, in the absence of some sort of publication support.
  • The publication does not have access to other sources of support.

ADSA is committed to supporting scholarship that examines historical and contemporary performance culture in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, and supporting members in disseminating such scholarship to widest possible audience.

Deadline: 1 October 2023. Written applications of up to four A4 pages in total addressing the above criteria should be sent to Rea Dennis (rea.dennis@deakin.edu.au), for consideration by the full ADSA Ltd Board. 


2022 Winner

Peter Beaglehole (Flinders University)
Narrating the Lives of Plays: Dorothy Hewett, Memory and Australian Theatre (1967-2009)

"This book contributes a rich new account of the productions of six principal plays by the Australian writer Dorothy Hewett. It demonstrates the worth of production-focused theatre history, revealing how comparing different productions across time can challenge understanding of a playwright’s contributions to social and cultural memory. With a detailed focus on the reception of specific productions, Beaglehole tracks shifts in the cultural significance afforded to Hewett’s work and reputation across more than four decades, showing how controversies attached to her writing, theatre and their productions have overshadowed more nuanced understanding of the relevance of her work. It is a significantly original contribution to study of Hewett’s work and to the history of contemporary Australian theatre and performance, with pertinence for broader Australian cultural history." --- Nicole Moore


Past Winners

2018 Laura Ginters

'The Ripples Before the (New) Wave: Drama at the University of Sydney, 1957-63, covers a period that is under-researched in Sydney theatre history. It deals especially, as the authors [Robyn Dalton and Laura Ginters] make clear, with a theatrical culture in which student and amateur theatre were much more influential than they are now. It convincingly argues that the years 1957 - 1963 had a much greater influence on the subsequent development of Australian theatre than has ever been realised, and it reaches backwards and forwards from that period to demonstrate some continuities that have not much been written about ... It will be of great interest to theatre scholars, in an area that has been neglected, and will have a wider impact. The atmosphere of student life and activity at the time is very well evoked' - John McCallum

2016 Meredith Rogers

The Mill: The History of a Brief Theatrical Experiment with a Long Tail has been awarded an ADSA publication subsidy on the basis of its documentation of an important regional, community theatre company, The Mill Community Theatre Project, established by James McCaughey in Geelong, Victoria in 1978. Meredith Rogers' manuscript has been accepted for publication by Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty. Ltd. The Mill places the company in the wider context of national and international movements in the 1970s and early 1980s that identified art and artists as agents of for cultural transformation. McCaughey's particular vision for the company of an approach to community engagement that was process-based and inclusive as well as artistically excellent and innovative is a vital element of this excellent documentation.

2015 Marianne Schultz

Performing Indigenous Culture on Stage and Screen: A Harmony of Frenzy is judged to be a very significant and valuable contribution to the documenting of the history of the performing arts in New Zealand in the period of the 1860s –1920s. It has been accepted by Palgrave for publication. Dr Stuart Young has noted that very little, if any, research on Māori and Pākehā collaborations has been documented from the time being researched. Performing Indigenous Cultures on Stage and Screen: A Harmony of Frenzy offers an intriguing set of chapters, each addressing performative events impacting on issues of identity creation within New Zealand indigenous cultures. It has the potential for a solid readership across a range of academic fields.