THE Turnbull Government has appointed the director of the Art Gallery of SA, Nick Mitzevich, as the director of the National Gallery of Australia.
Mr Mitzevich will take up a five-year appointment on July 2 after the present director Gerard Vaughan leaves on July 1.
His appointment has been made without fuss and has been predicted for some time throughout the visual arts community.
Mitzevich has in the past been the director of the University of Queensland Art Museum and the former Newcastle Region Art Gallery and has served on a number of bodies, including Adelaide Contemporary, the SA Living Arts Festival, and the Art Gallery of SA’s Foundation and Contemporary Collections Committee.
He was previously chair of the Council of Australian Art Museum Directors and has served on the board of governors of the Helpmann Academy.
With a bachelor degree and post-graduate diploma of fine art from the University of Newcastle, he first became a lecturer at its School of Art. His tenure from 2010 at the Art Gallery of SA is widely regarded as having been very successful and his relative youth is seen as likely to give the national flagship collecting institution a shot in the arm.
The Federal Minister for Communications and the Arts, Mitch Fifield, formally acknowledged outgoing director Dr Vaughan’s achievements in bringing a renewed focus to Australian works held in the collection, praising him for “the delivery of high-quality programs that have continued to delight and inspire audiences.”
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