As the arts were changing with COVID, so too were many of those who gave to the arts. This year’s winners of the Creative Partnerships Australia (CPA) Awards celebrate the philanthropists who created hope in the crisis.

‘The recipients of this year’s awards all embody a genuine love of the arts and culture, and a desire for them to be ambitious and to be shared as widely as possible,’ CPA CEO Fiona Menzies told ArtsHub.

This year’s Emerging Philanthropy Leadership Award is a prime example of that ambition. When this year’s winners, Nick and Sophie Dunstone returned to their hometown of Adelaide, they saw a need to invest in the city’s arts infrastructure. They founded their Light Cultural Foundation in 2020 in a heritage building in Adelaide’s West End, creating a venue like no other in the city.

Opening The Lab this year created a new space for artists. Nick Dunstone described it as ‘a performance space that is surrounded 360 degrees by wall-to-ceiling LED screens, which are incredibly lifelike, enabling you to transport audiences and artists anywhere’.

The timing was perfect for a COVID pivot but it was also about offering an enhanced digital offering for the performing arts.