Dr Donna Hewitt

Donna Hewitt is a vocalist, electronic music composer and instrument designer. Her primary interest in recent years has been exploring gesture mediated music performance and investigating new ways of interfacing the voice with electronic media. She is the inventor of the eMic, a sensor enhanced microphone stand for electronic music perfomance which she has been developing and performing with internationally since 2003. The eMic received special mention in the 2011 National Film and Sound Archives Annual Thomas Rome lecture given by ABC Director of Innovation Chris Winter.

In 2010, she has collaborated with Dance artist Avril Huddy on an Australia Council funded project for eMic performer and dancers. In 2010 Donna undertook a residency with Julian Knowles at STEIM in Holland with the support of the Australia Council for the Arts, Skills & Arts Development grant. Donna has most recently been working with Lady Electronic who were awarded funding from the Australia Council for the Arts to work with artists including Gotye and Quan from Regurgitator. She is currently working on an Arts Queensland funded project to develop a performance showcase for Lady Electronica to be held at the Judith Wright Centre in October 2012.

Competitive Arts Grants

• 2011 Successful Application Australia Council for the Arts – Skills and Development Grant – Lady Electronica Artist development program for a collective of female electronic musicians. ($10000)
• 2011 Successful Arts Queensland Grant Development & Presentation – Lady Electronica – First named researcher/artist (auspiced by QUT) to undertake a Lady Electronica performances at the Judith Wright Centre ($12500)
• 2010 Awarded a grant from the Australia Council’s Music Skills and Arts Development to undertake a residency at STEIM to develop the eMic.
• 2008 Awarded a grant from the Australia Council’s Music New Work category, to develop a prototype wireless musical interface for vocal performance, called the eMic and to develop a new work for this device in collaboration with choreographer/dance artist Avril Huddy.
• 2003 Awarded a grant from the Australia Council’s Contemporary Instrument Builders Initiative – Sounding Out, for the purpose of developing an innovative alternate interface called the eMic (extended microphone –stand interface controller) for contemporary vocal performance and electronic processing.
• 2002 Australia Council for the Arts- Buzz Grant for Young and emerging artists Initiative for a collaboration with dancer/choreographer Nell Andrew
• 2003 ANAT Australian Network for Art and Technology Funding for Conference and Workshop Fund for attendance at NIME –03 Montreal Canada. An international conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression.

Most Recent Selected International Performances

• International Computer Music Conference ICMC2011 – Huddersfield England New work with Julian Knowles ‘Gracht’ developed in a residency at Australia Council funded residency at STEIM in 2010. Selected from 900 submissions by international peer review committee (8% success rate)
• Understanding Visual Music Conference UVM2011 Presented by Hexagram-Concordia Centre for Research-Creation in Media Arts and Technologies in collaboration with the Department of Music- Concordia University – Peer selected Performance of ‘Idol’ live performance with screen.
• SEAM2011 Spacing Movements OutsideIn Sept2011, Sydney
• NIME 2010 New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference University of Technology Performance of electro-acoustic work for Idol (peer selected performance) Performance of collaborative work with Dance artist Avril Huddy for eMic (Extended Mic-stand interface controller) – Idol University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. June
• ICMC 08 International Computer Music Conference Belfast Queens University hosted by the Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music Performance of electro-acoustic work for Amphibian (peer selected performance) September
• ICMC 06 International Computer Music Conference New Orleans USW Performance of electro-acoustic work for Dysphonia (selected from over 500 applications)

Most Recent Selected Performances – Australia

• Brisbane Festival’s Under the Radar Program – ‘Macrophonics’ Co-curator and Performer, The Studio, Metro Arts, September 2011.
• ¼ Inch Experimental Music Series. Performance of ‘Idol’ and New work ‘untitled’ using the eMic (Extended Mic-Stand interface controller) Wollongong, Australia, October, 2010.
• ACMC 08 Australasian Computer Music Conference Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney, NSW, July, 2008
• Collage, Live performance. The Great Escape Festival, Terrace Stage, Sydney Olympic Park, April, 2007
• Amphibian Electrofringe Festival of New Media Arts, Newcastle, September. Electrofringe is part of the This is Not Art festival – 2006
• Amphibian Performance at Pelt Gallery, Last event of the Impermanent Audio Series, August, 2006.
• ACMC 06 Australasian Computer Music Conference Elder Conservatorium University of Adelaide, South Australia, Performance of Alvin, July, 2006.
• Polyp Live Performance for voice and eMic, In Sync Concert, Aurora Festival, Campbelltown Arts Centre, April, 2006.
• Amphibian Liquid Architecture, Live Performance, Brisbane Powerhouse, Performance Space, Sydney, North Melbourne Town Hall July, 2006.