New Chair and Board members for Perth Festival

Perth Festival has named former Treasurer of Western Australia Ben Wyatt as their new Chair, succeeding Tim Ungar, whose term has expired after he successfully steered the Festival through the most challenging period in its 70-year history.

Starting on 1st April, three new members also join the Board after the appointments were confirmed by the Senate of The University of Western Australia, as Perth Festival’s founder and parent organisation.

New Board members Paul Downie, Delwyn Everard and Simon Yeo replace departing members Adrian Fini and David Flynn along with Mr Ungar.

Perth Festival Executive Director Nathan Bennett paid tribute to the departing board members for their contribution to the WA arts sector through the Festival and applauded their healthy appetite for creative risk, which has been a key driver of the Festival’s recent success.

Bennett notes “the leadership of Tim, Adrian, David and their Board colleagues enabled the Festival to overcome Covid-related shutdowns, reduced revenues and many other challenges presented by the pandemic.

“As Board Chair since 2019, Tim has been a warm, caring, supportive leader, a fierce advocate of the Festival and a champion of the communities that we serve. He is deeply passionate about developing art in WA and about levelling the playing field to ensure all members of our community have access to great art.”

Wyatt, who joined the Festival board in 2021, said he was thrilled to take on the role as Chair and enthused “I’ve been coming to the Festival since I was a teenager, and I am very excited to have the opportunity to be Chair of this wonderful and innovative world-leading organisation.

“‘I look forward to getting down to work with the Board and the Festival team to further embed Perth Festival in the hearts of all Western Australians and position Perth as a culturally vibrant destination for visitors from Australia and around the world.”

Ungar shared “It has a been my immense pleasure to serve the community through Perth Festival, and for my family to be philanthropic supporters to improve life in Western Australia though the arts. I find myself continually in awe of artists across all fields of creativity and I am proud to have played a part in helping develop the local arts sector and enabling more people to experience the arts in WA.”

Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia Professor Amit Chakma welcomed Wyatt as the new Chair and thanked Ungar and outgoing Board members Fini and Flynn.

Professor Chakma added “Mr Ungar and his fellow Board members led a drive to diversify Perth Festival’s funding and secure its long-term sustainability for the benefit of artists, audiences and the Western Australian public as a pillar of the University’s engagement with its community.

“I congratulate them on their achievements in helping The University build a creative and connected community through the Festival and wish Mr Wyatt and the team all the very best in shaping a bright and inspiring future beyond this 70th anniversary year of Perth Festival.”

Perth Festival’s Lotterywest Films season continues under the stars at UWA Somerville until 9th April  and the free Visual Arts exhibitions continue at various venues for the next few weeks.

BIOGRAPHIES
Ben Wyatt
Wyatt is the former Western Australian Treasurer and has had ministerial responsibility for Finance, Energy, Aboriginal Affairs and Lands. He was the first Indigenous treasurer of any Australian parliament, and he has held various shadow cabinet portfolios including responsibility for Native Title, the Pilbara and Culture and the Arts. He retired from the Western Australian Parliament in March 2021.

He holds a Masters degree with Distinction from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia.

Prior to entering Parliament, Wyatt practised as a lawyer in both private practice and with the Western Australian Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Wyatt also sits on the Boards of the West Coast Eagles, Telethon Kids Institute, Woodside and Rio Tinto.

Paul Downie
Paul Downie is a globally experienced strategic communications advisor and manager, with a career spanning nearly 40 years.

Downie most recently served as the Asia Pacific Chairman of FTI Consulting Strategic Communications division. FTI is a NYSE listed, global corporate advisory firm based in Washington DC. Downie has lived in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and New York leading teams to advise clients on multi-faceted corporate and regulatory matters. While with the firm, Downie was co-leader of the broader Australian business, leader of the Singapore office and sat on global leadership committees.

Downie studied Business at Edith Cowan University and Journalism at Curtin University before being offered a cadetship in 1983 at West Australian Newspapers. He is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Business Advanced Management Program and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has advised and sat on Boards of numerous not-for-profit organisations.

Delwyn Everard
Delwyn Everard is a strategic thinker, lawyer and advocate. As a partner of global firm Spruson &Ferguson, she specialised in patent and trademark litigation, acting for some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical, manufacturing and mining companies. She then spent 10 years as the Deputy Director of the Arts Law Centre, Australia’s national community legal centre, managing the delivery of its legal advice service to the creative sector. In 2017, she founded Everard Advisory, a boutique legal firm focusing on the arts.

Everard has served on the board of the Australian Art Events Foundation which produces Sydney’s much loved contemporary art festival Art Month Sydney, and is currently on the boards of The Lester Inc which delivers an annual portrait prize and The Farm Margaret River offering annual residencies to artists whose practice is connected to place and environment.

She has worked extensively with Indigenous artists and art centres in remote Australia, assisting with governance and business advice and major public projects. Her Covid-19 lockdown project was a podcast ‘Running the Show’ which discusses the legal and business issues confronting arts organisations and others working in the creative sector.

Simon Yeo
Simon Yeo has worked in the financial services industry since 1993. In November 2000 he established and managed the Private Client division of Euroz Securities Limited before moving to a specialised role within the Institutional Sales division from 2013 until 2022 and is now in the Private Wealth division. Yeo was formerly an Executive Director of Euroz Limited and Euroz Hartleys Securities Limited.

Yeo holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UWA and was previously a chartered accountant.

He is on the board of The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) where he joined in 2014. He was the Executive Producer of The Reef, being instrumental in conceptualising, financing and arranging logistics, when the ACO first launched the project in 2012 and also for The Reef redux undertaken in 2015 for the 2016 The Reef tour of the USA. He was previously a Director of Tura New Music.

Meet the full Perth Festival Board here. 

More information about Perth Festival

Image: New Perth Festival Chair Ben Wyatt and incoming Board members (clockwise from top) Delwyn Everard, Simon Yeo and Paul Downie.