WRITER AND TRADE UNIONIST WINS KEY ARTS PRIZE
13 February 2005

Perth-based Bryn Griffiths, whose career is distinguished by a commitment to the principle of giving all Australians the right to access the arts, has received the Community Cultural Development Board’s 2004 Ros Bower Memorial Award.

‘As an artsworker, Bryn played a vital role in helping people to think critically about their experiences, particularly their working life, through art,’ said Community Cultural Development Board (CCDB) Chair Mr Chris Tassell.

‘He brought poetry, plays and music to factories, shipyards, hospitals and mining camps. As a writer, he documented these experiences in poetry and prose and founded his own publishing house to encourage community writing,’ said Mr Tassell.

In 1976, two years after migrating from Wales and settling in Perth, Mr Griffiths was elected inaugural Arts Officer to the Trades and Labor Council (TLC) of Western Australia. The position was funded by the Community Arts Board (precursor to the current CCDB) and was one of the first of such positions in Australia. Whether it was workers in remote line camps sharing an evening with a folk band or a classical music concert at Midland Railway Workshops, the TLC Arts Programme covered all the industrial areas of the state.

Read more here: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/items/pre-2010/writer_and_trade_unionist_wins_key_arts_prize