The 5 wealthy women who championed Sydney Modern
Five art-loving women, led by Gretel Packer, reveal what convinced them to donate millions to the Art Gallery of NSW Sydney Modern project.
Jane Albert
Updated May 2, 2019 — 3.17pm, first published at 9.01am
Gretel Packer says there's nothing anywhere in the world quite like the vast bunker hidden beneath the grass near the Art Gallery of NSW. "It's beautifully built," says Packer of the cavernous space with seven-metre high ceilings, built to store oil for ships during World War II. "The columns are extraordinary with chamfer corners."
Having been shown drawings of how the 2200-square-metre space could be refurbished into a gallery, in August 2017 Packer pulled on gumboots and clambered through a manhole to see it for herself. She pledged $5 million to help restore it, part of the sweeping Sydney Modern extension of AGNSW that will, once completed in 2021, double the building's footprint. The oil-tank bunker will become known as the Nelson and Packer Gallery in recognition of Gretel's gift as well as the $5 million gifted by Mark Nelson, the Caledonia Investments co-founder, together with his wife Louise. "Not only will the art be uniquely displayed," says Packer, "but the opportunity for us to interact with the art will be quite a different experience from walking into a contemporary gallery with white walls."
More space equals more art (left to right): Anita Belgiorno-Nettis; Sam Meers; Clare Ainsworth Herschell; Gretel Packer; Gene Sherman at AGNSW's off-site storage facility. Alina Gozin'a
The donation by Packer and the Nelsons are just two of many philanthropic gifts that have raised a staggering $103.5 million to realise Sydney Modern. Together with $244 million being provided by the NSW government, it is believed to be the largest public-private funding partnership of the arts ever undertaken in Australia.
The vision of the late long-standing director Edmund Capon, the Sydney Modern Project was launched in 2013. For years it appeared to languish while the restoration of the Sydney Opera House steamed ahead: the NSW government had committed $228 million to help restore the Opera House, but told AGNSW it needed to prove public support by raising $100 million before it would receive taxpayer funds.
Architectural renders by SANAA, the Tokyo-based, Pritzker Prize-winning firm that is designing Sydney Modern and whose credits include the celebrated New Museum in New York, were released in 2015. They sparked the imagination but also controversy. Former prime minister and occasional architecture critic Paul Keating likened the gallery's push into the harbourside Domain as "a large entertainment and special events complex masquerading as an art gallery".
Interacting with the art will be quite a different experience from walking into a contemporary gallery with white walls.
— Gretel Packer
The ship began to be righted after the supremely connected David Gonksi returned as president of the AGNSW Trust in 2016. A year later came news of a record-breaking $20 million gift from the Susan and Isaac Wakil Foundation, later increased to a total $24 million. Generous and established donors, the Wakil's largesse will be recognised with the welcome pavilion named the Susan Wakil Pavilion.
Numerous other families, individuals and foundations gave donations in excess of $5 million, including many of Sydney's regular generous donors: the Lowy family and the Neilson Foundation among them. The capital campaign itself was led by Gonski, the gallery's director Michael Brand and director of development John Richardson. The campaign committee was chaired by Nelson, and Packer was a member. Compelling her to be involved, as much as the unrealised beauty of the oil-tank gallery, was the existing gallery's size, smaller than the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane. "It needed to expand," she says of Sydney's premier art gallery. "There really was no argument, it was due."
The key to the campaign's success was two-fold: tapping into a deep-rooted passion for the 148-year old gallery; and targeting individuals' key interests, aligning them with the project's unique designs. The Australian Financial Review Magazine spoke to five women (including Gretel Packer, above) who gave money, and much more.
Gene Sherman, a respected gallerist and long-time supporter of the AGNSW, has, with husband Brian, pledged $1.5 million, driven by the knowledge that more space equals more art. "This gallery needs expanding," she says emphatically. "It doesn't take blind Freddie to see how crowded it is. Look at the NGV and see how much space they have. Travel the world and see how museums are thriving. The Tate Modern gets 8.75 million visits a year, that's more than the population of Israel! One really doesn't need to say more."
The Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation has twice hosted the architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, the founders of SANAA, who Sherman considers personal friends. A long-time admirer of their work, she increased her and Brian's donation from $1 million to $1.5 million when she learnt the design included a project gallery – a flexible space for more experimental, often younger, edgier artists. It will be named the Sherman Family Gallery. "That was my blue sky, my dream space, we were very early in putting up our hands to say yes [to donating] to the project space, it's what I want our name to be associated with."
Anita Belgiorno-Nettis and husband Luca have contributed $1 million to the Yiribana Founders group supporting the gallery's nationally significant collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. "What really stood out to Luca and me about the plans was the repositioning of the Yiribana Gallery from [its existing] space on the bottom floor to the entrance of the new building," she says. "A bigger space, a prominent position, all to testify the importance of giving a stronger artistic voice to [Indigenous] art."
Like many of the donors who spoke to AFR Magazine, Belgiorno-Nettis considers the AGNSW part of her own story. "It was the first gallery I visited when I arrived in Sydney from Italy 32 years ago and I believe a lot of people have a strong connection with this gallery," says the long-time donor and one of the gallery's foundation directors.
An artist's impession of the Nelson and Packer Gallery. Art Gallery of NSW
Executive director of the Nelson Meers Foundation, Sam Meers, pledged more than $1 million for Sydney Modern's multipurpose space. To be named the Nelson Meers Foundation Hall, it will allow for everything from large-scale events to multi-screen projections and cross-artform collaborations. "Galleries need to have the capacity to engage with people in different ways," Meers says. "Younger generations particularly don't just want to see their culture delivered in silos but in more experiential ways. And that's quite exciting, because it won't be looking through the lens of paintings on walls and sculptures on plinths, but multiple experiences."
Meers, the executive deputy chairman of property and investment group the Nelson Meers Group, is also the chairman of Belvoir St Theatre as well as deputy chairman of the federal government's Creative Partnerships Australia. She devotes much of her time to the AGNSW where she has been a trustee since 2011. "It's important to acknowledge the unremunerated and non-economic contribution women make, as more women than men sit on the boards of non-profits," she says.
The May issue of The Australian Financial Review Magazine is out Friday, May 3, 2019. Alina Gozin'a
The extended Ainsworth family, including gallery trustee Geoff and his wife Johanna Featherstone, have gifted more than $10 million, as well as a major gift to the upcoming art acquisition campaign. Geoff's daughter Clare Ainsworth Herschell and her young family have personally donated $100,000 to the Sydney Modern campaign, keen to show by example that philanthropy can have multiple entry points. "I'm always advocating for younger people to engage in philanthropy and not be intimidated by the larger gifts or the idea it's about giving away money once you're ready to retire," Ainsworth Herschell says. "I hope a younger generation will be empowered to make our impact felt now, that we can actively participate in shaping our own future."
A former employee of the AGNSW and development manager for charitable organisations, Ainsworth Herschell has always worked in areas she feels passionate about: the arts, women's equality, community-led Indigenous development, and the environment. Contributing to Sydney Modern enables her to continue the multi-generational support her family has long shown the gallery, safeguarding the institution's future so that younger generations will be able to appreciate it as much as her family has. "It's wonderful to be among these accomplished, strong and generous women who have contributed to Sydney Modern," she says. "Its future is one our generation is going to be really proud of."
Construction of Sydney Modern will begin this year. Set to the north of the existing gallery, it will comprise a series of light-filled, low-lying connected pavilions that follow the natural topography and extend underground to the adapted oil-tank gallery. An outdoor public art garden will link the new and existing buildings. The expanded galleries will provide much-needed space, not only to show more of the gallery's full collection but to enable it to become competitive in hosting international exhibitions.
A render of the completed Sydney Modern extension.
Visits are expected to rise to more than 2 million per annum, including the capacity to double student and teacher numbers to 200,000 a year. Constructed from natural stone, rammed earth, glass and concrete with solar panels and rain harvesting capabilities, Sydney Modern claims a six-star Green Star design rating from the Green Building Council of Australia – the first Australian public art museum to achieve the top ranking.
Although most of the women AFR Magazine interviewed are established donors from wealthy families, they also play significant roles beyond simply signing the cheque.
"It's really important to remember it's not just the actual amount these five have contributed to the campaign – they're major leaders in their own right," says Michael Brand. "Gretel Packer is vice-president of the trustees, Sam Meers has been a very active chairman of our audience and engagement committee, Gene Sherman and Brian are such big figures in the arts in Australia and have been amazing friends of the gallery, donating works of art; Anita Belgiorno-Nettis is on our foundation board and Clare Ainsworth Herschell founded our new young patrons group, Atelier.
"They work in so many ways – they come to events, talk to artists and talk to government. This helps with the art side too, because artists now know there's this extraordinary building being built and they'll want their art shown there."
The Philanthropy issue of AFR Magazine is out on Friday, May 3 inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Twitter and Instagram.
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