Meet new GYRACC boss Eric Holowacz

Mr Holowacz, who is originally from the United States, has worked in the arts for his entire career across the US, Australia and New Zealand.

He has taken over from local author and former Councillor, Toni Tapp Coutts, who acted as chief executive for several months.

"I started at a university. I worked as a kind of intern at a state arts agency...and I got my chops and learned everything about all kinds of different cultural programming exhibitions, touring, performing arts, grant giving, media arts and filmmaking and literary artists and everything," he said.

He went on to work for an arts festival in North Carolina before migrating to New Zealand in 2002, where he became immersed in the arts world Down Under.

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"Since that time I lived in Cairns in Queensland and in Victoria for a year and and back in the States for a few jobs with arts and culture. And then I was in New Zealand from 2017 to now."

Mr Holowacz said he had a long-held interest in the Northern Territory, and jumped at the opportunity when the job at GYRACC came up.

"The Northern Territory was always some kind of a luring, appealing remote sort of different sense of place that I've like felt drawn to somehow, and so it was it was something I was always looking for," he said.

He said a major draw card was the chance to work with and provide a platform for Aboriginal artists in the Northern Territory.

"I've always been interested in different sorts cultural representation across different parts of the population in a place," he said.

"I don't have much experience in this part of the world with the Indigenous community yet, but I have worked in New Zealand [with the] Maori population and Maori culture is so strong and inter -oven throughout most of Kiwi life and Kiwi culture."

Mr Holowacz said he has big plans for GYRACC as chief executive, which include major expansion plans for the space.

"I have great ambitions and love building partnerships and have a background that might bring some new things - artists residencies and other kinds of interdisciplinary partnerships," he said.

"The capital works for the construction and all that the planning that we still need to do that's going to take up a huge chunk of this year. We will still have exhibitions...and we will still try to present touring artists and shows that the community might want so that that's all going to keep happening.

"There will be a little bit of change over the next 18 months."

GYRACC's first exhibition for the year, Four Clans, opens this Thursday January 20 at 6pm.

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