Nick Mitzevich (born 1970) is an Australian art curator and museum director. Since July 2018, he has served as the director of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra. He was previously the director of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) in Adelaide from 2010 to 2018.
Early life and education
Mitzevich was born in 1970 in New South Wales, Australia. He is the son of Chrisoula, of Greek heritage, and Nick Mitzevich, of Macedonian background. He grew up on his parents' small farm at Abermain, outside Cessnock, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, as the eldest child and only son with three younger sisters. He has described himself as a shy, introverted child.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts (1992), and graduate diplomas in visual arts (1993) and education (1995) from the University of Newcastle.
Career
Mitzevich began his career as a fine arts lecturer at the University of Newcastle. He served as director of the Newcastle Art Gallery from 2001 to 2007, where he was credited with transforming the gallery through community engagement, programming, marketing, and collection development. In July 2007, he was appointed director of the University of Queensland Art Museum, a position he held for three years.
Art Gallery of South Australia (2010–2018)
Mitzevich was appointed director of the Art Gallery of South Australia in July 2010. During his eight-year tenure, he oversaw significant acquisitions including Camille Pissarro's Prairie à Eragny (priced at A$4.5 million, raised entirely from donations), works by Ben Quilty, and Berlinde De Bruyckere's We Are All Flesh. He introduced the Indigenous art festival Tarnanthi, oversaw a major internal refurbishment of the gallery, and became the first gallery director in Australia to implement a provenance project investigating objects acquired without historical checks.
National Gallery of Australia (2018–present)
Mitzevich became the sixth director of the National Gallery of Australia on 2 July 2018. On his first day, Tim Fairfax donated A$2 million to establish a permanent children's gallery. His first acquisition for the NGA was Francesco, a 4-metre wax sculpture by Swiss artist Urs Fischer depicting Italian curator Francesco Bonami, designed to gradually melt over time.
His tenure has included challenges such as the 2019–2020 bushfire smoke closures, a hailstorm closure, and a 70-day closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, the NGA opened the Know My Name exhibition, part of a project recognising Australian women artists to address historical gender bias. In 2024, Mitzevich served on the jury for the A$60 million revitalization of the NGA's sculpture garden.
Honours and recognition
- 2020: Key to the City of Newcastle
- 2021: Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), for advancing French culture
- 2022: Honorary doctorate of fine arts from Newcastle University
- 2023: Newton-John Alumni Medal from the University of Newcastle
