Senior Arts Queensland officer, John Stafford, has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust in Australia to study public art programs in the USA. Stafford has worked in the visual arts, craft and design sectors for more than 20 years, and is currently responsible for advising on more than $10 million in government public art commissions across the state. As Executive Program Officer for Arts Queensland’s Public Art Agency, Stafford played a key role in the development and consultation process behind the comprehensive policy, 'Art Built-in', which sees two percent of state government capital funds allocated to artworks. One of 18 Queensland Churchill Fellows for 2003, Stafford will use his fellowship to travel to the USA in March next year, in order to benchmark local public art knowledge, skills and practice against programs such as the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs' 'Percent for Art' program. ‘My research will focus on high profile public art and memorial commissions, such as Richard Serra’s major sculptural commissions of the '70s and '80s and Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC,’ Stafford commented. ‘I also hope to investigate the current commissions being undertaken to commemorate September 11, such as the recent "columns of light" work, and the monument to New York’s firefighters.’ Churchill Fellowships are awarded annually, and provide financial support to enable Australians to undertake a period of overseas study, or an investigative project, that cannot be readily undertaken locally. Queensland's Churchill Fellows for 2003 will receive their awards from the state's Governor at a ceremony at Government House in Brisbane, on August 23.