Tom Oliver recognised with the 2022 Gold Matilda Award for the Wynnum Fringe
Wynnum’s very own Tom Oliver was the recipient of the 2022 Gold Matilda – a special open award presented for a standout production or performance element or in recognition of an individual company or group for their contribution to the industry – at the recent awards ceremony at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
The award recognised the huge amount of work that went into setting up the Wynnum Fringe back in 2020, explaining in the award presentation that…
When COVID struck in 2020 and Tom Oliver’s work evaporated, he turned his talents to launching the inaugural Wynnum Fringe Festival. Across two days in November 2020, Wynnum Fringe activated laneways, carparks, loading docks, parks, a beach and streets. In all 6,600 tickets were sold to 50 performances including 22 sold out ticketed events. Employment was created for 150 artists and 43 creative staff and 10,000 people came to Wynnum CBD. The 2021 Festival nearly doubled, engaging over 300 artists and 40 crew across 14 locations. By 2022 the Fringe attracted almost 30,000 people and the event had established itself as a nationally and internationally recognised Fringe Festival.
As the award was only announced at the ceremony recently, Tom was not around – in fact he was in Bath (not in the bath) in the UK and filmed this short video from there when he found out that he and the Wynnum Fringe had received the award…
It almost goes without saying that the Wynnum Fringe is the biggest and best event to hit Wynnum and we join the judges at the Matildas in giving Tom and his team a massive shoutout for the amazing work that they have done.
Congratulations and incredibly well deserved, we say!
The Matilda Awards were set up in 1987 to recognise and celebrate the theatre industry in South East Queensland. For more information visit https://www.matildaawards.com.au/.
