Current Grants

Art Gallery of NSW

Established in 1874, The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) is one of Australia's foremost cultural institutions. It holds significant collections of Australian, European and Asian art, and presents nearly forty exhibitions annually.

Prior to establishing the Balnaves Foundation in 2006, Neil Balnaves was a benefactor to the AGNSW for many years. In 2003 he provided funding for a five-year programme of exhibitions and acquisitions to present contemporary and historical sculpture by Australian and international artists. It included artists such as Robert Owen, James Angus, Wolfgang Laib and the first major retrospective exhibition of Bertram Mackennal’s work.

The Foundation has also funded a project to comprehensively document every significant Australian sculpture from 1960 – 2000 in order to create an archive of Australian Sculpture. It will contain information on each sculpture including photos, interviews with the artist, and basic facts about the work and the artist. The aim is to create a permanent record so the history of these works is not lost. It will benefit future researchers and artists who want to ground their work in the context of the sculptors that came before them.

The Balnaves Foundation has also made a ten year commitment to make an annual donation to the galleries masterpiece fund so the gallery can purchase works of art of the highest quality.

In 2009, The Balnaves Foundation partnered with AGNSW to present a biennial project named ‘Balnaves Contemporary’. The Foundation’s desire is to give Australia’s young and mid-career artists the opportunity to present their latest works to a broad audience in a major gallery. There are three exhibitions in the series, all focusing on Australian art. The first in 2010 titled Wilderness brought together 14 of Australia’s best young and mid-career contemporary painters, including Del Kathryn Barton, Daniel Boyd, Tony Clark, Louise Hearman, Mary Scott, Fiona Lowry and Michael Zavros.

The second Balnaves Contemporary, in 2011, will focus on Digital Media. Dates are yet to be confirmed, they will be posted here when announced and at www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au