The Edmund Capon Fellowship

AGNSW announces exchange program with Asian museums

Dr Michael Brand, Director, Art Gallery of New South Wales today announced that the Gallery, with the support from some leading Sydney arts philanthropists, is honouring former Director, Edmund Capon for his 33 years of leadership with a fellowship in his name.

The Edmund Capon Fellowship will be an exchange program between the Art Gallery of New South Wales and museums in Asia and will begin this year.

Today we not only acknowledge Edmund Capon for his exemplary work in making Asian art an essential part of the Gallery, but through this fellowship we can now work much more closely with colleagues in the major museums of Asia, said Michael Brand.

The fellowship will facilitate an exchange of staff between this Gallery and museums in Asia in key areas such as curatorial work, research, conservation, public programs, education and exhibition management, he said. It will build on the legacy of Edmund Capon, who was the first art museum director in Australia with expertise in the field of Asian art.

Arts philanthropist Neil Balnaves proposed the fellowship and has provided funding through the Balnaves Foundation. Additional funding is being provided by a range of other supporters including Susan Rothwell, Jillian Broadbent, Andrew Cameron, John Kaldor, Mark Nelson, Penelope Seidler, Luca and Anita Belgiorno-Nettis, Maureen and Keith Kerridge, Anthony B Lewis and VisAsia. This enormous generosity and commitment has guaranteed this fellowship well into the future, said Michael Brand.

One of the longer term aims will be to foster a closer relationship with Asian museums that will lead to the further exchange of ideas, programs, individual works of art and temporary exhibitions between Australia and Asia, including sending exhibitions of Australian art to Asia.

The Capon Fellowship will enable a museum professional from an Asian institution to spend up to four weeks at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and for a member of staff from the Gallery to spend an equal amount of time in an Asian museum. The announcement of the first recipient of the fellowship will be announced soon