Creative Australia has announced the recipients of nine scholarships – seven under the Marten Bequest, the Lady Mollie Isabelle Askin Ballet Scholarship and the Sir Robert William Askin Operatic Scholarship.

The Marten Bequest awards $50,000 to support an exceptional emerging artist in pursuing interstate and international development opportunities. The Bequest is awarded to those who work in the fields of instrumental music, acting, painting and poetry.

Iolanthe (right) and Janet Anderson in Sistren. Photo © Brett Boardman

Iolanthe Gold has been awarded the Bequest for acting. Known mononymously as Iolanthe, the actress, writer and model made her playwriting debut with Griffin Theatre Company with SISTREN in 2025 and took home Best Newcomer at the Sydney Theatre Awards. She made her mainstage debut in 2021 in seven methods of killing kylie jenner.

Musicians Natalie Mavridis and Harley Coleman have also been awarded the Bequest for Instrumental Music.

Violinist Natalie Mavridis is a graduate of the Australian National Academy of Music. She has performed with groups including the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Melbourne, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, and is a member of both Ensemble Apex and the Rosina Quartet.

Sydney-based composer and guitarist Harley Coleman has also been awared.  A prolific performer and improviser, he has collaborated wth musicians including Jonathan Zwartz, Cameron Mundy, Andrea Keller and Sam Anning. In 2025, he performed with Luminescence Chamber Singers in a national tour to premiere Andrew Ford’s Red Dirt Hymns.

Other recipients of the Marten Bequest include Victorian-based painters Alexandra Peters and Mau Lui Kung, and poets Eunice Andrada and Sanja Grozdanic.

Nathan Bryon. Photo © Valentina Sadiul Photography

The $30,000 Sir Robert William Askin Operatic Scholarship has been awarded to tenor Nathan Bryon. A recent graduate of the San Francisco Conervatoriy of Music, Bryon has performed with the San Francisco Opera and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and at the Aspen Music Festival. His awards include the 2023 Dame Heather Begg Memorial Award. He also recieved the 2024 Michael Byne Vienna State Opera Award and the German-Australian Opera Grant, which saw him join the Hessisches Staatstheater for its 2025/26 season in Wiesbaden.

Choreographer and dancer Cooper Tate has been awarded the Lady Mollie Isabelle Askin Ballet Scholarship, also worth $30,000. A graduate of the State Ballet School Berlin, he will be joining Ballett Dortmund, where he featured in its production of Swan Lake. In 2021, he was awarded Ballet Theatre Queensland’s Jodie White-Bivona Memorial Scholarship.

“These recipients are already making a powerful contribution to their fields, and these scholarships will help them take the next step in their creative journeys. We’re proud to support their development as they build new skills, deepen their practice and connect with opportunities here and around the world.”

More about the scholarships can be found here.