The Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, is the joint winner of the 2016 NSW Creative Achievement Award alongside Sydney’s Carriageworks directed by Lisa Havilah. The NSW Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy, Anthony Roberts, announced the laureates last night at an official ceremony held at the MCA.
The New South Wales Creative Achievement Awards are a NSW Government initiative to recognise outstanding achievements that raise the global profile of NSW creative industries.
On receiving the award, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor said: “I feel incredibly honoured to receive the 2016 NSW Creative Award alongside Carriageworks. It is great to see the arts sector recognised for their economic and social value to the wider community.”
“Creativity needs to be nurtured and encouraged. It is the key to innovation, and innovation drives growth, sustainability and prosperity, enriching NSW’s – and Australia’s – cultural capital,” she added.
Since 1999, when Macgregor moved from the UK to Sydney to take up the museum directorship, the MCA has become a locally-loved and internationally respected institution. In 2015, it welcomed over a million visitors, hosted 11 exhibitions and attracted 140,000 participants across creative learning events.
In 2015, the MCA announced a ground-breaking partnership with Qantas and Tate in the UK to promote Australian art globally. The five-year partnership enables the acquisition of a range of major works by contemporary Australian artists to be acquired for the MCA and Tate collections, jointly owned and displayed by both institutions.
Minister Roberts said the independent judging panel chose Macgregor because of her “significant leadership and capability and her achievement in increasing the profile of NSW as a global creative centre.”
“Carriageworks, in the emerging Redfern-Waterloo precinct in Sydney, was awarded a Creative Laureate because it exemplified significant leadership and capability and had skillfully balanced commercial, entrepreneurial and artistic imperatives. In 2015 alone, it presented more than 45 projects and employed more than 800 artists”, Minister Roberts continued.
Mr Roberts said the NSW Government was proud to work with the State’s vibrant creative industries sector to highlight the contribution they make to our rich cultural and social life and to our economy.
“NSW leads Australia in the creative industries. We employ about 184,000 people in this sector – more than agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining combined – and we are home to about 38 per cent of Australia’s total creative workforce,” he said.
Dr Lisa Cooper, innovative florist, artist and author, is the laureate of the $15,000 NSW Emerging Creative Talent Award.
In making the announcement Minister Roberts said: “Liz Ann Macgregor, Carriageworks and Dr Lisa Cooper are all great examples of the strength and diversity of the creative talents that we are fortunate to have in our State”.
Image: MCA, Qantas & Tate: Leanne Bennett, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, Alan Joyce, Judy Watson, Susan Norrie, Vernon Ah Kee (HR)
