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Letty Katts Fellowship
About the fellowship
The biennial Letty Katts Fellowship supports the research and documenting of Queensland’s music history. It gives a musician, composer, scholar or researcher the opportunity to study, experiment and explore new thinking in their art or area of study, leading to the creation of new knowledge or work inspired by Queensland’s music history. It commemorates Queensland songwriter and musician Violet Mellick (stage name Letty Katts).
The recipient receives a stipend of $5,000, along with a personal workspace within the Neil Roberts Research Lounge for a period of 12 months, giving premium access to the extensive collections and expert library staff and advice.
Generously supported through the Queensland Library Foundation endowed fund established by the late Dr Stanton Mellick OAM ED and his daughter, the late Professor Jill Mellick.
2025 Letty Katts Fellow
The 2025 Letty Katts Fellowship was awarded to Dr Carl Anacin for his project, 'Migration, Musical Practices and Belonging among Filipino Migrants in Queensland: Festivals, Music Industry Participation and Everyday Lives'.
Music, arts, and heritage are invaluable cultural resources for both newly-arrived and established migrants, aiding integration into new communities while sustaining connections to home countries and diaspora networks. This project uncovers these cultural resources and practices through historical materials, offering a deeper appreciation of migrants’ role in the cultural and creative fabric of multicultural Australia. Focusing on Filipino migrants in Queensland, I will explore how they have expressed identity and belonging through music and cultural spaces across their migration history.
The project examines how Filipino migrants cultivate and promote a sense of belonging through festivals, performances, and community spaces, tracing the evolution of Filipino creative expression in Queensland. By consolidating existing materials from the State Library and gathering insights from Filipino migrant musicians and pioneers, this study seeks to document the enduring contributions of Filipino communities to Queensland’s cultural landscape.
Dr Carl Anacin, 2025 Letty Katts Fellow with Sally Mellick, representing the Mellick family.
Watch this video to explore Carl's research project, and don’t miss the full video highlighting all the 2025 Queensland Memory Awards recipients and their inspiring projects.
