Art Gallery of South Australia Names Jason Smith Director

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Jason Smith will replace ​​Rhana Devenport as the director of Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) next February, the Adelaide museum announced on 26 November.

Currently the director of Geelong Gallery in Victoria, Smith has over 25 years of experience in visual arts curation and leadership at major state galleries in Queensland and Victoria.

He has worked as Curatorial Manager at Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Director and CEO of Heide Museum of Modern Art (2008–2014), and Director of Monash Gallery of Art (2007–2008).

‘At both Heide Museum of Modern Art and Geelong Gallery, Jason was instrumental in delivering strong leadership with a creative, entrepreneurial approach that has cemented these institutions as cultural destinations,’ said AGSA chair Sandy Verschoor.

‘I have been a visitor to, and professionally involved with the Art Gallery of South Australia since 1996,’ Smith said, noting that he is ‘honoured’ to have been entrusted with the role of Director at AGSA.

‘I am excited to work alongside the Board and with my new AGSA colleagues to realise the Gallery’s vision to be a destination that transforms visitor experience, and that continually asserts the cultural riches of the collection and the State,’ he added.

Smith studied printmaking at the Canberra School of Art (now ANU School of Art and Design) from 1984 to 1987, where he nurtured his interest in art history. He completed a postgraduate programme in Museum Studies at Deakin University in Geelong, before starting as an assistant curator at National Gallery of Victoria in 1997. —[O]

Main image: Jason Smith, incoming Director, Art Gallery of South Australia. Photo: Saul Steed.