Margie Fischer

Hello, everyone. This is the award I won last year. I thought I would bring it and show it to you. I thought it was a giant sex toy when I got it. Looks like a sort of vibrator. But it was given to me when I got the award and I didn't know that what the Fund does was commission an artist to make you something, and this was made by Cath Cantlin, who is here today, so you can all have a feel of it after. It's a very beautiful object.

Okay, so I am supposed to do an interesting presentation so I will just tell you what I did this year. This year has been one of the best years of my life. I loved winning the Ros Bower award and it made a lot of difference to me, and there are 10 ways it made a difference. The first one was credibility. I could impress people. That was very impressive, although I had to explain what it was, because nobody knew what it was outside of, you know, funding bodies, and so I did say things like that it was for outstanding achievement and national recognition and that really did impress people, particularly when I was trying to get money for the Lesbian and Gay Cultural Festival out of Adelaide City Council.

I felt like I had won a kind of an Oscar. It had definite advantages. Now, I also didn't have to earn a living. I could do what I - well, I did sometimes but not the whole time - I could do what I wanted and when we didn't get enough money for projects, I didn't need to find as much because some of my wage was covered, which was fantastic. I lent money to people. That was good. It was a pleasure to be able to do. When I had a car accident in the - another of the co-artistic directors of the Lesbian and Gay Cultural Festival's car - which wasn't insured so don't ever drive a car that isn't insured. I thought I had learned that at 45 but I just forgot to ask Helen, and then I crashed it into a stobie pole but I didn't injure myself, but it wasn't a very good car so I wrote it off - because it didn't cost very much to write it off, but the Ros Bower Award paid for me to pay back Helen Bock's car. So that was useful. I earned interest. That was exciting. That was really exciting. I had forgotten that you could do that, and I did more community cultural development. I wrote and directed "Getting Your Man," a play about the complex issues of Jewish divorce for the progressive Jewish community in Adelaide. It was a wonderful example of community cultural development. They knew I was a Jewish lesbian and they wanted to work with me. I worked with both the orthodox, then the progressive synagogue in what was a sell-out show before it opened. I loved that. That is an advantage when you only have three shows, however. It got a review and I didnšt even want one and I got one. And it was good.

It toured Sydney and it was a brilliant project and the audience sat at long tables which were decorated for a wedding reception and they got to have profiteroles and champagne. Plus, I co-artistic directed "Feast," the first Lesbian and Gay Cultural Festival that Adelaide has ever had, with Lou Cutler, Damien Kerry and Helen Bock, the one whose car I wrote off. And workers and volunteers - and it was an amazing community cultural development process which involved all the lesbian and gay community groups in Adelaide and the general population and we got a lot of money from amazing places, and we had 42,000 people at over 80 events, and it just finished on Sunday.

We had the theatre, film, literature, visual arts, community events and special events. Some of my favourites were South Australia's first lesbian and gay indigenous arts exhibition. We had "Shopping and Fucking." I love saying that - from England, that happened to be on there at the time. We had brilliant theatre. We had an erotic feast from lesbian and gay prominent Adelaidians reading erotica at Don's Table Restaurant, which sold out so we had another one.

We had a women's night at the Gay Men's Sauna. That was community cultural development. I had guided tours to the orgy room but unfortunately there weren't any orgies. I checked it out and there weren't any. We had history walks. We had an amazing amount of brilliant projects. I took a risk with the Ros Bower money because nobody wanted to do merchandising and I thought we could make money out of merchandising and they said, "Well, use your own money," and I said, "Okay, I will." So I thought I would show you some of the merchandising because I still have some left.

This is our Feast poster. Can you see that? $2.00. I'm serious. I brought this to sell. This may not mean anything but if you are a lesbian and gay community cultural development worker, you will appreciate this stuff. T-shirt. Also, a hint for community cultural development workers trying to make money: people do not buy postcards. I have found that they don't and I figured that you are the sort of people that may have enough friends that you actually still write to them, because lesbian and gay people in Adelaide don't. So I have these and they are $2 for five.

People thought it was a bit trashy that I did this but I don't really care, because when you win the award you don't have to care any more. These are tea towels for $10. And caps. Now, I want you to rush on down after I have done this presentation - not before the winner gets her award because that would be inappropriate but you can see me afterwards and I will sell you some Feast merchandise out of my bag, okay?

So that's what I did with some of the money. Then I also wrote a show that I had on during Feast called Margie Fisher Live at the Lion, which was another bit of community cultural development. It was a live TV chat show where I had a couch sponsored by Freedom Furniture, and I sat on it and talked to 13 - I had 13 completely different shows with guests who were all lesbian, gay and queer. I had seven themes; history, gender relationships, sex, spirituality, family and image, because I figured everything fitted into those seven categories. I did things like have strippers on opening night, which I have always wanted to do. Women strippers that took all their clothes off.

I also had indigenous lesbian and gay people talking. I had a session that was, "What if you are ethnic and hairy as well as lesbian and gay?" I had a very good time on that panel with my friend Leth O'Costoglue. Anyway, I had a brilliant time. It was a big success. That was also part of my year, plus my partner and I are getting on very well and now we are going to live together, after we have been not living together for 5 years, so that is going to happen too.

It has been a good year. When I was leaving Vital Statistics and having an episode of manic depression because I am a manic depressive, and worrying about funding, which I always used to do, and I was wondering what was going to happen to me and what was the meaning of life - that was before I got the Ros Bower Award - I went to a clairvoyant, as we all do. The clairvoyant said, "It's going to be a great year. It will all work out and there will be money and happiness. You will have to do lots of hard work," but because I know how to do that, that was not a problem. It has all come to pass.

It has been brilliant not having to write a report. This is the only money I have ever got where I haven't had to justify it. I think for the person that wins this award that is one of the best things about it. Now, I am going to have some time off. So that's what I am going to do now. I wish - I know who is going to get the award but I wish this person a brilliant year. I think it's fabulous to get recognition and I didn't actually know how good it was until I got it and now I love it. I also feel a bit like the, you know, the Miss Australia that's giving the crown away to the next Miss Australia or the Miss Universe, and I am going to turn into, like, Mrs South Australia now, as I am being downgraded.

But I am not going to feel like that, so - yes, I still feel that community cultural development is the most enriching life of affirming and joyful work to do, and I am going to keep doing it, and the person who wins this award is going to have $40,000 and I only had 25. But I don't feel bad about that, because I reckon it's great that there's more money and that's all. That was my year. It was a good one. Thank you. Don't crowd me when you come, you know, to buy your merchandise. It is historical because this is the first festival. Thank you.