New Sponsor and Patron Ensures Award’s Longevity

Juniper Galleries owner and gallery director, and RJAFTA Patron and Sponsor Patricia Juniper. Image credit David Biesse Photography

The Trustees of the Robert Juniper Award for the Arts are honoured to announce our new Patron is Patricia Juniper, widow of our first Patron Robert Juniper, and gallery director and owner of Juniper Galleries in Darlington. Trish will be co-Patron with Emeritus Patron Richard Woldendorp.

When Trish found out that the RJAFTA had lost funding from the Shire of Mundaring at the beginning of 2021 she was concerned that the scholarship award would end without additional funding. She contacted the Trust with a generous offer of sponsorship which was appreciatively accepted by the Trust.

Trish explains “My late husband Robert had been the Patron of The Robert Juniper Award for the Arts, since it’s inception. Originally known as The Mundaring Bicentennial Scholarship, the Award was renamed after Robert’s death. When I learnt that the Shire of Mundaring was withdrawing their funding, I understood that without alternative funding the award would almost certainly come to an end.

Over the years that Robert and I attended the annual prize-giving ceremony, it had become clear to me that winning this award had made a huge difference to the career of so many talented young people from the Shire of Mundaring. Making a success of a career in the arts is hard enough but especially difficult when living in the hills of Perth. Juniper Galleries made the decision to make up the necessary funding so that The Robert Juniper Award could continue to help make a difference to our talented young artists, hopefully for many years to come.

Being a hills resident myself, and heavily involved in the arts, I continue to run and operate Juniper Galleries, which gives WA artists a platform to show their work, and also gives me the opportunity to share my private collection of Juniper paintings to the wider public.

Juniper Galleries is situated on an outcrop in the beautiful Darlington hills and is the home I shared with Robert. It was not only our home, but his studio and the centre of his universe. With this in mind, I am delighted that future award ceremonies will be celebrated here. A decision I feel sure Bob himself would be very happy with.”

The Trustees of the RJAFTA sincerely thank Patricia Juniper and Juniper Galleries for the generous contribution of sponsorship, which will ensure the continuation of the Robert Juniper Award for the Arts, giving aspiring creatives in the Shire the opportunity to be awarded a $10,000 scholarship to assist them in their creative endeavours.

The Trustees would also like to thank Trish for enthusiastically accepting their invitation to be Patron. We are excited for this new chapter in our 34 year history, and delighted that Patricia Juniper will be sharing the journey with us.

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