Cate Fowler (born 13 June 1949 in Tumut, New South Wales, Australia) is a theatre producer and director specialising in work for children and families and an educationalist engaged in research in the areas of children's performance and creative literacies.
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Cate's career in youth and children's arts spans a number of positions from youth and family program manager (Adelaide Festival Centre), artistic adviser to 1995 Come Out Youth Arts Festival, artistic director of the 1996 and the 1998 Out of the Box Festival (Queensland Performing Arts Centre), director of education services (Queensland Arts Council), and founding director of Australia's flagship performing arts company for children and family audiences, Windmill Performing Arts.
At Windmill, Cate was responsible for creating a vision, structure and program for the company, which was launched in July 2002. Through 2007, the company had presented more than 20 different productions in Adelaide and toured internationally (USA, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand), nationally (Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne) and through regional South Australia and Victoria.
Works produced by Cate Fowler include Wilfrid Gordon Macdonald Partridge, Brundibar, The Snow Queen, Riverland, Afternoon of the Elves, Midnite, Moonfleet, The Sad Ballad of Penny Dreadful, Two Weeks with the Queen, The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom, The Little Gentleman, and The Clockwork Forest. Additionally, she has directed groundbreaking work in the early childhood area, The Green Sheep and Cat.
Under Cate's direction, Windmill was nominated for more than 28 Awards and won 15, including three national Helpmann Awards: two for Best Presentation for Children (Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish[1] and Riverland[2]) and one for Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production (Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish[1]).
Cate has also been the recipient of a number of awards which recognise her status in the arts community. These include the Australia Japan Arts Network (AJAN) Fellowship, Asialink three-month residency in Japan (1998/99);[3] a 1999 Mathilda Award for contribution to early childhood theatre, Queensland Critics Circle; Asia-Pacific Woman of Distinction Award (Arts), Asia-Pacific Business Council for Women (2006);[4] and the Woman of Achievement Award (Performing Arts), Zonta (2006).
In the January 2007 edition of the ABC's Limelight (Magazine), Cate Fowler was named as one of the 50 most influential Australians in the Arts for ensuring a generation of children have quality theatre entertainment.
Cate is directing The Green Sheep and Cat for the 2008 ASSITEJ World Congress and Festival. Cate is also directing The Green Sheep in New York and Seattle in September–October 2008. She is also continuing her research into early childhood performance and creative literacies.