Neil Balnaves AO

Neil has worked for over 45 years in the entertainment and media industries starting his career in 1960 as the Advertising and Public Relations Manager for Rigby Publishers in Adelaide.  He moved to Sydney in 1968 into a similar role at the Hamlyn Group and by the age of 34 was appointed Managing Director of Hanna Barbera.  In 1979 Neil became the Managing Director of the Hamlyn Group, which was then the publishing and leisure division of James Hardie Industries.  After a management buy-out of the company in 1988 it was renamed Southern Star.  Neil consolidated and steered Southern Star from its beginnings as an animation studio to a multi-faceted entertainment company.  In September 1996 he successfully floated the company on the Australian Stock Exchange.  Southern Star is now Australia's largest independent television production and distribution group involved in film, television and video production; sales and distribution; and licensing and merchandising.

 

In the 1990s, Southern Star created numerous hit dramas including Police Rescue, Blue Heelers and Water Rats, as well as acclaimed miniseries such as Blue Murder, Joh’s Jury and On the Beach.  Neil became a passionate advocate for Big Brother and in 2000 formed the Endemol Southern Star joint venture, which produces Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, Ready Steady Cook and many other game and reality programs.  In 2004 Southern Star Group was acquired by Southern Cross Broadcasting, then one of Australia's leading media companies with interests in television broadcasting and capital city radio stations.  In September 2005 Neil retired as Executive Chairman but continued to serve as a consultant and a Director of Southern Cross Broadcasting.  Southern Star was purchased by Fairfax Media in 2007 and then sold to the Endemol Group in 2009.

 

Neil is a Trustee Member of Bond University, Australia's only privately funded independent university, and in 2009 received an Honorary Doctorate of the University.  Neil is the Chairman of Ardent Leisure Group, one of Australia's most successful owners and operators of premium leisure assets including Dreamworld, WhiteWater World, d'Albora Marinas, AMF and Kingpin Bowling, Goodlife Health Clubs, as well as a growing portfolio of family entertainment assets in the US through Main Event.  Neil is a member of the Advisory Council of the University of NSW Faculty of Medicine and a Director of Technicolor Australia Limited.  He serves on the boards of numerous charitable organisations and is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

 

Neil’s passion for the arts and medicine led to philanthropic support through his private foundation, The Balnaves Foundation.  Established in 2006, The Foundation is a charitable trust which invests more than $2 million annually in supporting eligible organisations that aim to create a better Australia through education, medicine, and the arts with a focus on young people, the disadvantaged and Indigenous communities.

 

Neil’s particular interest in sculpture and a desire to develop the artform led The Foundation to become early, and continuing, Exhibition Patrons of Sculpture by the Sea.  This subsequently led to an ongoing partnership with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and in 2010 will see the launch of a new series of biannual exhibitions surveying the outstanding artists in the fields of sculpture, painting and photography.  The Foundation was a Major Partner for the Australian exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and 2009.  The Venice Biennale is the oldest and most important visual arts event in the world.

 

In 2007 the Foundation and Sydney Opera House created the Balnaves Foundation Open House Program, the first ever community access program at the Sydney Opera House targeting disadvantaged communities by offering subsidised tickets at $5 for selected performances.  The Foundation also helps to broaden community access to the arts by supporting a free youth program at the Museum of Contemporary Art called GenerationNext which aims to connect teenagers with current events in contemporary art and culture through a series of social events themed around the exhibitions.

The Balnaves Foundation is a Major Partner of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art to support and nurture young artists through ACCA's annual NEW exhibition.  In 2010 and 2012 the Foundation will partner with the Elisabeth Murdoch Sculpture Foundation to support one of the most important biennial outdoor sculpture exhibitions in Australia, the McClelland Sculpture Survey at McClelland Gallery+Sculpture Park in Melbourne.  Assistance to the arts is also provided to the Art Gallery of South Australia, through a program for young children and their families, Kaldor Public Art Projects which brings ground breaking contemporary international artists to Australian to create unique and often site-specific works and also as a Major Partner of the Biennale of Sydney, Australia’s largest international art exhibition.

 

Bond University was the recipient of a substantial grant to build an award winning state-of-the-art Multimedia Learning Centre for its students which opened in 2008.  Neil completed a six year term as a Councilor of the University and now serves as a Trustee Member.  His substantial commitment to the university was recognised in 2009 when he was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate of the University.  In 2009 two Robert Klippel Sculptures were generously donated to the University personally by Neil and are displayed on the campus.


Support for medicine consists of grants to St Vincent’s Hospital, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and a major grant of $500,000 to finance research into childhood cancer by young scientists at the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia.  The Foundation has provided $450,000 to establish the Balnaves Curative Cerebral Palsy Research Program, which aims to identify cerebral palsy early, via new early diagnostic clinics established nationally.  The Inspire Foundation, which helps young people struggling with mental health issues, receives funding to develop and improve their innovative online programs that have been used by millions of young Australians and the Foundation also supports the Surf Life Saving Foundation in making Australia’s beaches safer.

 

In 2009 the Balnaves Foundation committed $480,000 to award four Indigenous medical student scholarships for six years to study medicine through the Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales.  The funding also contributes to an award fund for research in Indigenous health and a prize for the best performing student in the area of Indigenous Health.  The Foundation also supports Indigenous arts through the grant made to Tjanpi Desert Weavers.


Neil and his wife Diane have three children Alexandra, Hamish and Victoria who all serve as Trustees of the Foundation. In 2010 Neil was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to business and philanthropy.


Please click here to download Neil's interview on ABC's Talking Heads Program

 

Please click here for further informtaion on the current grants