In 2015, the 16-year-old and ex-Bega High School student organised the Cabaret of the Cow and was the brains behind the youth stage at the Candelo Village Festival. 

Under the name of The Trickster, Rhys performs circus acts and comedy, going on the stage at the Spiegeltent, Woodford Folk Festival, the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Canberra Comedy Festival.  

“I feel quite lucky to have been brought up in a place where the local arts community is as vibrant as it is, and my aim is to continue to contribute to it as much as I can,” he said. 

“I guess part of what drives me is the desire to create things out of the ordinary, in a world where things are becoming (in some senses) quite ordinary.”

Rhys was in New Zealand for the dinner and ceremony for his award presentation, as about a month ago he moved to the country to take part in a seven month tour with Circus Aotearoa. 

“I live in an old school bus painted up in circus colours, surrounded by other caravans and trucks and of course the big top circus tent,” he said. 

He said tour is very hard work, as everybody in the circus does all the jobs and they work six days a week, travelling, putting the tent up, performing shows and taking the tent down.

“What a lot of people generally don't understand about a travelling circus or any show really, is that the performance is really just the tip of the iceberg, in terms of the work that goes on,” Rhys said. 

“That being said, the tour is a lot of fun.

“It's a great bunch of people, and I've already seen some incredible places.”