Ruby Awards honour a behind-the-scenes stalwart of Adelaide’s festival sector
One of South Australia’s festival leaders won the top gong at the annual Ruby Awards recognising the state’s best in the arts, cultural and creative industries.
A stalwart of South Australia’s flagship arts festival has paid tribute to her fellow arts workers “who take up the challenges behind the scenes” after receiving a top gong at the 2025 Ruby Awards on Friday.
Adelaide Festival’s longtime Head of Programming Lesley Newton was presented with the Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement at the ceremony, recognising her 30-year tenure wrangling the international arts festival through numerous directors, controversies, triumphs, and a global pandemic.
In her acceptance speech, Newton recognised the many colleagues like her who work outside the limelight to bring festivals and arts events into being.
“This one is for all the administrators, co-ordinators, secretaries, programming, production, business development and marketing staff, for all of those good people who take up the challenges behind the scenes, who often don’t get the accolades, who love what they do and who make the impossible, possible,” she said.
Adelaide Festival Executive Director Julian Hobba told InReview the festival team was proud to see Newton’s “incredible contribution” recognised.
“For three decades she has been a dedicated and trusted member of the team, instrumental in so many of the shows and events that stand out in our shared cultural memory over that time,” Hobba said in a statement. “She’s a wonderful colleague and a person with the deepest care for the arts in South Australia. The warmth and admiration she holds across the entire sector was clear the moment she received the award.”
This year marked the Ruby Awards’ 20th anniversary, presented at a gala event at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Hosted by actor and comedian Elaine Crombie, the night also included performances from Dusty Lee Stephensen, Adelaide Chamber Singers, WAYIN:THI Collective and Nat Luna.
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Other key winners included The Knowledge Project, an online initiative that raises awareness about Kaurna language, culture and history that won the Outstanding Community Event or Project Award. Led by Kuma Kaaru and its founder, Kaurna, Narrunga, and Wirangu man Jack Buckskin, the City of Adelaide-supported project includes several video components about history and spirituality presented by Buckskin, while inviting members of the public to anonymously submit their own questions.
The 15th anniversary celebration of Vitalstatistix’s long-running experimental theatre incubator Adhocracy was also recognised with Outstanding Work or Event Outside a Festival. The annual Adhocracy annual program invited creators from around the country to descend on the Waterside Workers’ Hall for a weekend of new and in-development works.
Writer, actor, and producer Katherine Sortini was awarded the Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award, the City of Unley’s Cultural Development Coordinator Matthew Ives received the Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award, while Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award went to Umeewarra Aboriginal Media Association.
Interdisciplinary arts studio – and regular subject of InReview‘s In the Studio column – Gray Street Workshop also received the Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation or Group award.
Songs Inside, an award-winning feature documentary that follows Barkindji singer-songwriter Nancy Bates as she leads a musical program with current and former residents at Adelaide Women’s Prison, won Outstanding Work or Event Within a Festival for its premiere as part of the 2024 Adelaide Film Festival.
View the full list of winners and finalists.
2025 Ruby Awards
Premier’s Award for Lifetime Achievement
Lesley Newton
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Outstanding Community Event or Project
Winner:
The Knowledge Project, Kuma Kaaru and Nucleus
Shortlisted:
Artists on the Inside – KuArts
The Walking Track by Karul
Outstanding Regional Event or Project
Winner:
Kalinma – Wellbeing Project, Anangu Schools Partnership
Shortlisted:
SALT on the Water: Message in a Bottle, SALT Festival
Frank Ford Memorial Young Achiever Award
Ms Katherine-Anne Sortini
Outstanding Work or Event Outside a Festival
Winner:
Adhocracy – 15th Anniversary, Vitalstatistix
Shortlisted:
HIGH, No Strings Attached
Gathering Light, JamFactory
Outstanding Work or Event Within a Festival
Winner:
Songs Inside, World Premiere, Adelaide Festival 2024
Shortlisted:
Radical Textiles, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide Festival 2024
The Art of Work is a Work of Art by Kim Munro, Vitalstatistix, History Festival 2025
Geoff Crowhurst Memorial Award
Matthew Ives
Outstanding Work, Event or Project for Young People
Winner:
Neo – Art Gallery of South Australia’s teen-led festival for 13 – 17 year olds
Shortlisted
Can Touch This, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE)
War of the Worlds, Riverland Youth Theatre BTS with Jess, BTS with Jess (Jessica McCall)
Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award
Umeewarra Aboriginal Media Association
Outstanding Collaboration
Winner:
nyilamum song cycles, Dr Lou Bennett AM, Paul Stanhope and the Australian String Quartet, in association with Binung Boorigan
Shortlisted:
The Lensical, Restless Dance Theatre, Michelle Heaven and Ben Cobham, Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network
Chihuly in the Botanic Garden, Botanic Garden and State Herbarium and JamFactory
Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation or Group
Winner:
Gray Street Workshop
Shortlisted:
Cirkidz Incorporated