Inaugural Neil Balnaves Fellow announced

Mosman Art Gallery and The Balnaves Foundation are pleased to announce artist Mitch Cairns as the inaugural recipient of The Neil Balnaves Fellowship.

Valued at $80,000 and in honour of the late Neil Balnaves AO, this is a major initiative to support the development of a significant piece of research or creative endeavour over a two-year period.

Honouring the legacy of Neil Balnaves and his longstanding commitment to Mosman’s place in Australian art history, The Neil Balnaves Fellowship continues the fruitful partnership between the Gallery, the Balnaves family and The Balnaves Foundation. Together they have fostered a rich legacy of collections, commissions, research, education and public engagement.

Cairns will develop and present a new exhibition that connects three sites of artistic and poetic significance: Little Sparta, Ian Hamilton Finlay's garden sculpture in Dunsyre, Scotland; Mosman Art Gallery's Grand Hall; and the Mosman Art Trail, which brings to life The Balnaves Gift – one of Australia’s most important collections of Impressionist and early twentieth-century painting.

This is the first of two Neil Balnaves Fellowships to be awarded. Applications for the second Neil Balnaves Fellowship will open in mid 2027.

Read the full media release.