Board of directors

Jeremy Thorpe

Jeremy is a regulatory economist and a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. One of his areas of specialisation is in the economic analysis of copyright issues. Such work includes: the determination of appropriate level and structure of copyright licences and royalty rates; the assessment of the impact of piracy; the valuation of copyright industries; and the assessment of costs and benefits associated with changes to copyright law. Jeremy is currently completing a PhD in law from the University of Technology Sydney, looking at empirical assessment of Australian copyright litigation. Jeremy now serves as chair of the board.

Merilyn Fairskye

Merilyn Fairskye is an artists who lives and works in Sydney, Australia.  She uses video, photomedia and installation to engage with the mapping of bodies, identities and terrains in uncontrolled technological environments. Her work is exhibited within Australia and internationally and is represented in numerous public collections. She has been awarded artist residencies in the USA, Italy, France and Australia and has been the recipient of many Australia Council and Australian Film Commission grants, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship. She is an Associate Professor at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. She has previously served as President of the IMA, Brisbane, as Co-Chair, Artspace, Sydney and as a member of the Arts Advisory Committee of Arts NSW.  Merilyn is a Viscopy member.

Des Griffin

Des graduated with a Masters degree in science from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand in 1962 and obtained his PhD from the University of Tasmania in 1966. He joined the Australian Museum in 1966 as an Assistant Curator eventually becoming the Director from 1976 through 1998. He is presently the Gerard Krefft Memorial Fellow (an honorary position) at the Australian Museum. He was Chairman of the Arts Industry Advisory Committee for the University of Technology, Sydney from 1999 through 2009. Des has a long standing interest in the arts and has published extensively on many aspects of museums and relations with communities and with Indigenous peoples. He was the first President, from 1993 through 1996, of Museums Australia. Des was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1990 in recognition of services to museums.

Michael Keighery

Michael is an artist and ceramicist whose work features extensively in public and private collections in Australia and around the world. Graduating with a Postgraduate Diploma from Sydney College of the Arts, Michael combines his practice with lecturing and teaching at art schools throughout New South Wales. Michael has served as a non-executive director of many arts organisation and is a former President of the Crafts Council of Australia. 

Joyce Parszos MAICD

Joyce has worked as a campaign director bringing arts, medical science and sports projects successfully into the national and international public arena.  Joyce was the first Public Relations and Development Manager of the Museum of Contemporary Art and played a key role in the seminal phase of the development of this major Australian art institution. As a public servant, Joyce directed the Public Affairs program with the Motor Accidents Authority of NSW. Joyce currently also serves as Director on the boards of the Australian Paralympic Committee, the Music and Opera Singers Trust and Disabled Winter Sport Australia. In 2000 she was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in recognition of her contribution to the Sydney 2000 Games. Joyce is a marketing and communications consultant and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Alida Stanley

Following her graduation from the University of New South Wales Law School in 1998, Alida worked as a Solicitor in Mallesons Stephen Jaques in telecommunications, intellectual property and information technology. In 2000 Alida moved to New York where she worked in the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP specialising in intellectual property and information technology transactions, competition and regulatory law. Upon returning to Sydney in 2005, Alida worked as the Senior Solicitor at the Arts Law Centre of Australia representing artists and arts organisations and as a Solicitor in the Office of General Counsel at The University of Sydney. Alida is a passionate supporter of the arts in Australia.

Lynette Riley

Lynette has over 30 years working experience, as a teacher and in Aboriginal education and administration within: primary school; high school; TAFE; state office and Universities. Lynette was one of the founding members of the NSW DET Aboriginal Education Unit which created the first Aboriginal Education Policy in 1982, much of which was based on her research under-taken in 1980, whilst completing studies at ACAE. She was extensively involved in establishing the NSW AECG, and co-ordinated the first ever AECG conference in the early 80’s. She has also been instrumental in establishing Aboriginal presence in Universities establishing one of the first support programs within Australia at the UNE, Oorala Centre (1986-1992).

Kath Fries

Kath Fries is a Sydney based artist, working primarily in temporal site-sensitive installations, which she exhibits in national sculpture festivals and Artist-Run-Initiatives. Kath graduated with a BFA Honours from UNSW College of Fine Arts and was recently awarded a post-graduate MVA from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. Alongside her active art practice Kath has also been employed in Sydney and London by a range of visual art organisations and galleries, currently she is working in visual arts education. Kath is a member of Viscopy and has been active in the establishment of the John Fries Memorial Prize for Emerging Artists. 

Tim Denny

Chris Westworth

John Fries

John Fries served on the Viscopy board of directors from 2004 until his untimely death in August 2009.