In April, Craig Drummond was appointed Chair of our Board of Governors, taking over from Charles Goode AC, who has held the position since 1994 and served on the Board since 1987. We acknowledge and thank Charles Goode for his dedicated service over 37 years. Under his leadership, the Foundation has awarded 1165 scholarships and 469 fellowships to ensure young people across Australia can access opportunities to develop their skills and interests.

In early March, we were delighted to join the International Specialised Skills Institute (ISS Institute) in hosting a Fashion, Art and Heritage Skills Forum. The Forum provided a platform for the Foundation's ISS Institute Fellows to share insights from their international fellowship experiences and discuss leading practices in their fields.

The presentations covered a range of topics, from accessible exhibitions to plant dye gardens and book conservation to Egyptian pleating, serving as an incredible demonstration of our fellows' diverse areas of expertise. To learn more about the skills they possess and the knowledge they are preserving, I encourage you to watch the recordings of the presentations available on the ISS Institute website.

This year, we have welcomed 83 scholars and 5 fellows to the GAF community, some of whom we met during our visits to Murdoch University in Perth and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. We will be visiting more of our partner institutes in the year ahead, but until then, we look forward to welcoming our commencing scholars and catching up with our ongoing scholars at our online Community Welcome Workshop later this month.

Lastly, to all our scholars, fellows, and alumni, I wish you the very best with your studies and professional endeavours and look forward to catching up with you throughout 2024.

Paul Conroy
Chief Executive Officer