Arts Law says goodbye and thank you to Governor Beazley
The Arts Law Centre of Australia (Arts Law) would like to offer our warmest congratulations to Justice Beazley on a well-deserved appointment as the 39th Governor of New South Wales.
NSW’s Governor, Her Excellency Margaret Beazley was the President of Arts Law for seven and a half years, commencing her tenure on 8 August 2011 and finishing in February 2019.
Her Excellency was an amazing advocate for both the work of Arts Law and Australia’s artists. In particular, she was a forthright advocate for First Nations artists and the work Arts Law does to empower them and their communities through our Artists in the Black program.
Under her Excellency’s presidency, Arts Law became a stronger and more sustainable organisation with a greater focus on stronger governance and establishing working board committees.
She understood the need for Arts Law to grow more independent income streams and focused the board and organisation’s attention on fundraising in order to complement the investment by Government.
Her Excellency also appreciated the need to raise Arts Law’s profile within the legal community in order to attract pro bono and philanthropic support, but also within the broader community. Under her tenure, Arts Law significantly increased our fundraising income from both events and donations – she certainly knew how to sell tickets to a fund-raising concert or a beautiful art raffle!
Her Excellency also established our young professionals fundraising committee, Hearts for Arts Law, which hold a couple of events for Arts Law each year. This not only adds to our bottom line but also nurtures support for Arts Law within the younger members of the legal community.
Overall, she did a wonderful job in promoting the incredible services provided by Arts Law and the important role we play in supporting Australia’s artists and arts organisations by “Empowering artists through the law”. We are so proud to have had Her Excellency as our president for the past seven and a half years and know that she will be brilliant in her new role as Governor of NSW.