Dennis Wolanski
Phillip_Wolanski
Paul_Bentley
Dennis
Wolanski OAM
(1917-1992)
The Wolanski
Foundation Project serves as a memorial to Dennis Wolanski's drive, generosity and
creative energy.
Born in
Poland, Dennis Wolanski survived the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi
occupation before migrating to Australia via Paris in 1950.
Having
acquired skills as a shirt designer and cutter in Paris, he landed a job in
Sydney with Club Shirts. His inventive spirit bore fruit when he designed
the Lido clip-on tie. This created an entrepreneurial chain reaction - finding
a factory for the ties pushed Dennis into property development, which
compounded his business success and opened up time for artistic pursuits.
His interest
in sculpture blossomed from the 1970s, when he exhibited in many mixed shows
and was commissioned to create works for public spaces and buildings both in
Australia and abroad. His Angled Wheels of Fortune is sited at Fitzroy Gardens
in Kings Cross, Sydney. He exhibited in the 18th International Exhibition of
Sculpture at Milan's Museo d'Arte Moderna in 1988. He was
Vice-President of the Society of Sculptors and Associates for a number of
years.
In 1973,
philanthropic interests were released when he provided funds to help
established the Dennis Wolanski Library and Archives of the Performing Arts, serving Sydney
Opera House management and staff, the entertainment industry and the general
public. As a member and, later, Chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust
Library Sub-committee, he guided the development of the library until his
death in 1992.
For his
services to the arts, he was honoured, in 1988, by the Australian Government
with a medal in the general division of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Phillip
Wolanski, AM
Phillip is Managing Director of
Denwol, a private property development and investment company, and balances
his business commitments with interests in the arts, football and other
endeavours.
He served on the Sydney Opera House Trust's Library Subcommittee for a
number of years before becoming its Chairman in 1992, following the death of
his father, until 1997.
"After the closure of the library
by the Sydney Opera House Trust in 1997, I was keen to find some way of
commemorating my father's contribution to the arts, particularly in
supporting the documentation of the performing arts and the provision of
information services to the general public. I hope the Wolanski
Foundation Project will carry on the work of the Dennis Wolanski Library
and Archives of the
Performing Arts - with the same end in sight but through different
means."
The Wolanski family provided
financial support for Opera House digitisation programs in 2011 and for the
restoration of the film Autopsy on a Dream, a collaboration of the Sydney
Opera House and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, in 2013.
Phillip was appointed to the Sydney Opera House Trust in 2014.
He was a board member of the National Institute of Dramatic Arts from 2001
to 2007 and has provided financial support for development of the NIDA/SBW
Foundation performing arts collection and other NIDA projects.
He has been a director of Football Federation Australia since 2003 and Head
of Delegation for the national team since 2004. In 2006, he retired as a
Board Member and Vice-President of Hakoah Club after serving for 9 years.
He is member of the Governing
Committee of the Temora Aviation Museum, a public museum devoted to the
preservation of military aircraft of historical significance to Australia
and honouring the pilots who have risked their lives flying in the defence
of Australia.
Phillip was honoured as a Member (AM) in the general division of the Order
of Australia in the Queen's Birthday honours, June 2008, for service to the
community through executive roles and contributions to a range of arts,
sporting and cultural organisations, particularly the National Institute of
Dramatic Art
Paul Bentley
In addition to his role as director of the
Wolanski Foundation Project, Paul manages a portfolio of services to other
organisations.
As director
of Paul Bentley & Associates, he has provided consulting services on information
management and the arts to a range of clients including the NSW Department of
Housing, Flinders University (for the AusStage performing arts gateway
project), Inspire Press, Social Change Online, Catholic Education Office, Goethe-Institut
and the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
From 2006-2012, he also served as executive
officer of Museums
Australia (NSW).
His writing commitments include feature
articles for Thomson Reuters' Online Currents,
Australia's journal for users of online services, and he has contributed to the
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Companion to Theatre in Australia
and Australians: a Historical Library. He is member of University of
Technology Sydney Information and Knowledge Management Advisory Board.
As a manager at
the Sydney Opera House 1973-1997,
he was responsible for the Dennis Wolanski Library of the Performing Arts
1973-1997, TheatreWorks performing
arts museum project 1986-1995, Information and
Communications Project 1991-1993, and several exhibitions
about the House - The Building of the Century Exhibition 1988-1989,
Unseen Utzon Exhibition 1994-95 and Sydney Opera House Travelling
Exhibition, which was presented at the Kennedy Center Festival
Australia and venues in Europe and Asia,
1994-1995. Previous experience included stints at the State Library of New South
Wales, Lake Macquarie Shire Library and Newcastle
Public Library.
He has been involved in the development of a number of professional
associations including Museums Australia (NSW Branch Executive Officer,
2006-2012; consultancy on future directions and records management, 2015;
Performing Arts Heritage Network treasurer, 2013), Arts Libraries Society / Australia and New
Zealand (Australasian and NSW chair 2002-2004), NSW
Knowledge Management Forum (committee member 2003-2007), Australian Library
and Information Association Information Specialists and Australasian
Information Online conference national committees 2000-2003, International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and
Documentation Centres (NSW chair 1981-1998,
Australian Vice-President 1983-1984), Museums
Arts and Humanities Group (co-founder.1974-1977), the Orchestras of Australia
Network (Database committee 1995-1998), Library Association of Australia
Special Libraries Section (NSW Committee, various years); Australian Advisory
Council on Bibliographical Services (NSW State Committee 1983-1984);
International Association of Sound Archives (Convener, 1990 International
Conference Committee).
