Bursaries Help Talented Youth Achieve Their Creative Dreams

Although he has just completed Year 12, Leo Gorrion already has an impressive resume of stage production and design.
From set painting to lighting and sound for productions by both his school and the Mackay Musical Comedy Players, Leo is well on the way to a remarkable career.
Leo was named as this year’s recipient of the MECC’s Jack Sturgeon Bursary, which has tripled this year to $3000 thanks to a sponsorship by the Friends of the MECC.
The Mackay State High School graduate hopes to extend his passion for production design at the University of Melbourne in 2025, where he plans to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production).
This year, council has offered $6000 in bursaries for talented visual and performing arts students from our region.
The Jack Sturgeon Bursary was one of two bursaries presented by Mayor Greg Williamson at a special morning tea last week.
Mayor Williamson said Leo’s achievements in stage production at such a young age were inspirational.
“Leo has had his sights fixed on this dream for a number of years, and council is pleased to be able to support him to achieve his dream,” Mayor Williamson said.
“Pursuing an artistic passion as a career is far from easy and tertiary education is becoming more expensive every year,” Mayor Williamson said.
“You have to take your hat off to a young person who has the courage to back themselves and their creative talents by undertaking a tertiary degree, especially away from home,” he said.
The $3000 Artspace Mackay Foundation Bursary recipient for 2024 is Visual Art student Ebony Wright.
Ebony is studying a Bachelor of Visual Art at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, in Brisbane.
She is a Mackay local and attended Fitzgerald State School and Mackay North State High School.
“Ebony has been exploring collage as a new medium throughout her first year of art school,” Mayor Williamson said.
“She is doing this through prints, sculptures and painting and has found inspiration in the often-harsh truths we must face in the world and the beauty and resistance of nature,” he said.
“We are very pleased that Ebony hopes to return to Mackay after she graduates and encourage and establish a stronger community of emerging artists,” he said.

Jack Sturgeon Bursary recipient Leo Gorrion, second from left, and Artspace Mackay Foundation Bursary recipient Ebony Wright, second from right, with Mayor Greg Williamson, centre, Executive Manager MECC and Events Andrew Bobeldyk, far left, and Artspace Mackay Gallery Director Tracey Heathwood, far right

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