John Barnes

In 2003, as a student at the Newcastle Art School I joined the committee of NAS when

Andrew Jackson was the Director and I have been involved directly and indirectly with the

organization ever since. After serving as Gallery Manager and assistant to the Director,

Peter Lankas I was elected Director and served in this position until 2008. During this time

I was also a Board member of the NCAC and much of my time in this role was spent

protecting the independence of NAS and ensuring that it was not subject to potentially

damaging outside interference.

It was a period of great activity in the Gallery with a second room being added to

accommodate the ever-increasing demand in Newcastle for quality exhibition space and

genuine curatorial guidance. The Emerging Artist Prize was the flagship annual event, with

record numbers of entrants and great support from the local business community. It shared

the calendar with a continuous stream of group and solo shows from established and early

career artists working across all mediums.

In addition to curating numerous exhibitions over this time I also participated in group

exhibitions and had a number of solo shows while completing my undergraduate and post

graduate studies at the University of Newcastle and after I completed my studies I had a

studio in the Parry Street building.

The educational role of the Gallery, for artists and the broader public has always been of

paramount importance and I am very pleased to see that this has not diminished since the

move to Tighes Hill. I have been very happy to be involved with NAS activities in recent

times including the initial Mentorship initiative and also the establishment of the Newcastle

Club Prize, which I coordinated for a number of years.

After forty years, NAS continues to play a vitally important role in the artistic fabric of our

region, despite the unrelenting attacks on our culture and its institutions and I hope it will

still be doing so in another forty years.