Director Antonia Syme AM, has advised the board of the Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW) that she will retire in April 2023 after 14 years distinguished leadership of the ATW.

Chair Professor Su Baker AM paid tribute to Ms Syme’s enduring contribution. “Antonia has been a ground-breaking leader,” Professor Baker said. “The Board is deeply grateful for the big picture vision she has brought to the task of reshaping the ATW over almost a decade and a half. Her legacy is a vibrant, robust and contemporary organisation that is known around Australia and the world for innovation, creativity and excellence.”

Professor Baker said that the former Victorian Tapestry Workshop had been reshaped under Ms Syme’s stewardship into the outward-focused national organisation that is the Australian Tapestry Workshop. A leader among an elite group internationally, the ATW now enjoys deep connections with workshops such as Gobelins Manufactory in Paris and Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. Professor Baker said Ms Syme had also built significant relationships with institutions ranging from Paris’ Cluny Museum to the Sydney Opera House, Museum of Old and New Art, Australian Craft and Design Centres, and the Tarrawarra Museum of Art.”

Patron of the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Carrillo Gantner AC, thanked Ms Syme, who previously led the national art lending organisation Art Bank for 10 years, for her outstanding contribution to not only the Australian Tapestry Workshop but the arts more broadly.

“Antonia is supremely knowledgeable, always welcoming, and her taste and vision are remarkable,” Mr Gantner said. “She is as tireless as she is low-key, soliciting new commissions, supporting the weaver-artists, building international linkages, and enhancing the already high profile and reputation of this real gem in Melbourne’s cultural crown.”

Ms Syme’s many achievements include establishing the prestigious $10,000 International Tapestry Design Prize, for which she was awarded the William J Mitchell Award for contributions to Australian architecture internationally, in a parallel field. She also established a successful Artist-in-Residence program, small tapestry prizes, exhibitions, weaver exchanges with the UK and France and a vibrant arts program.

Her tenure has been marked by a particular focus on working with living artists and in particular Indigenous artists. This has led to significant partnerships, including those with Deborah Cheetham and Short Black Opera, particularly through the Embassy tapestries, and Deborah Cheetham’s Woven Song project.

Ms Syme said “The ATW is a unique and vital part of Australia’s cultural fabric that continues to evolve and innovate to meet its times. It has been a true privilege to work with the Workshop’s talented and creative staff and board. I thank them, the ATW’s donors, supporters and colleagues for sustaining the ATW as a creative force in Australia. I am proud to be leaving the ATW in great shape and facing a bright future.”

The recruitment process for the new ATW Director will begin shortly.