Top artists receive Laureate Awards

Left to right: Neil Ieremia, Bill Manhire, Julia Morison, Simon O'Neill and Ronnie van Hout. Picture / Brett Phibbs

A $50,000 Arts Foundation Laureate Award could mean a new lease of life for Black Grace founder Neil Ieremia's knees. Years of hard dancing have wrecked Ieremia's knees so badly he needs extensive surgery, which he has never been able to afford.

Ieremia, who has just returned from a successful Black Grace tour of the United States, said the Laureate Award - from the largest privately funded cash arts prize pool in the country - could change that.

"I've got a lot of scar tissue and worn cartilage, injuries through not allowing enough time to get them to heal properly," he said. "So I am going to inquire how much it costs to get fixed. And I want to go on holiday - I haven't had one for 10 years."

Ieremia received the Laureate Award last night at a ceremony at the Civic Theatre, with writer Bill Manhire, artist Julia Morison, opera singer Simon O'Neill and artist Ronnie Van Hout. It is the sixth round of Laureates, and the recipients join a group of 24 peers honoured in previous years.

Tenor O'Neill, who is based in London and New York, said he may use the money to invest in property in New Zealand so he would have a home when he eventually returned.

That may be a long "when" - on his return to London, he debuts at the Royal Opera House in a lead role in The Bartered Bride, and is already booked solidly until 2009 at opera houses such as the New York Met, Vienna Opera and Covent Garden.

Julia Morison, a senior lecturer at Canterbury University's School of Fine Arts with a 30-year painting career, said the award would give her time out from teaching to prepare for a major new survey show opening at Christchurch Art Gallery next July.

Manhire, who teaches writing at Victoria University in Wellington, said he was going to be sensible and bank the cash for a year, then take 2007 off to focus on a writing project. "The good thing about the award is that it recognises me as a writer, rather than just a teacher."

Melbourne-based Van Hout had already booked to return to Auckland this week to install a new show at the Ivan Anthony Gallery when he heard he'd won the Laureate as well. "I'm always living hand to mouth," he said. "You're often in very dire situations then you always seem to get saved at some point ... good things happen to those who wait."