Business
23 June, 2026
Gallery’s new trio
CAIRNS Art Gallery has appointed three new directors to the Cairns Art Gallery and Precinct board as the organisation enters a new phase of growth.
Girramay, Yidindji and Kuku Yalanji artist Tony Albert, TPG Architects director Roger Mainwood and former Australian Government senior executive manager Mark Taylor have joined the gallery’s governing body.
The appointments follow the unification of the Court House Building, the Mulgrave Building and the original Public Curators Building into one gallery precinct.
Cairns Art Gallery director Angela Goddard said the appointments would strengthen the gallery during a significant period of development.
“The expertise these three appointments bring to our Board is remarkable: First Nations art and advocacy, architecture and heritage and cultural policy at the national level,” she said.
“Each of them has a genuine and enduring connection to this place and what it represents. I could not be more thrilled to welcome Tony, Roger and Mark to the Cairns Art Gallery and Precinct Board and I look forward to everything we will build together.”
Board chairman Doug McKinstry said the new directors would help guide the gallery through an “exciting period of growth”.
Mr Albert is recognised as one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists and is known for work exploring the cultural misrepresentation of Aboriginal people. He is also the first Indigenous Trustee for the Art Gallery of New South Wales and serves on several arts advisory boards.
“I’m excited as this role lets me support such important voices that are unique to North Queensland,” Mr Albert said.
“To be able to represent and promote communities that are deeply connected to my own story, and be part of the important work that Cairns Art Gallery is doing in shaping contemporary art in Australia, is a privilege and honour.”
Mr Mainwood has worked with the gallery for more than 30 years, including overseeing the original conversion of the Public Curator’s Building into Cairns Art Gallery in 1994 and leading the restoration of the Mulgrave building.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to work with the board on this significant Cairns asset, one of the busiest regional galleries in Australia,” he said.
Mr Taylor, who grew up in Innisfail, previously spent almost two decades working in the Australian Government’s cultural portfolio, helping develop arts programs and cultural policy. The gallery said the appointments marked a new chapter for the organisation as it continued to expand its role in Australia’s cultural land
