The Australia Council for the Arts has today announced that artist Tracey Moffatt and curator Juliana Engberg will be honoured for their achievements in the arts with the $40,000 Australia Council Visual Arts Award and $10,000 Medal respectively.

Tracey Moffatt, one of Australia’s leading internationally acclaimed contemporary artists and Juliana Engberg, Artistic Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) in Melbourne and Artistic Director of the forthcoming Biennale of Sydney, will be honoured at a ceremony at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) at 6PM this evening, surrounded by arts sector leaders and close family and friends.

“Tracey Moffatt’s outstanding contribution to the cultural life of this nation has been acknowledged with the 2012 Australia Council Visual Arts Award,” says Mr Rupert Myer AM, Chair of the Australia Council, who will presenting the $40,000 award to Moffatt this evening.

Commenting on the award, Moffatt said “It is a great honour for me. My heart went boom boom with excitement when I got the phone call. I was so thrilled to be recognized and up there with talented important names in the Australian Art world.”

Mr Myer will also present the $10,000 Medal to Juliana Engberg for her outstanding contribution to the development of the Australian cultural sector. “Few individuals have made such a distinguished contribution to the development of the Australian visual arts sector as Juliana Engberg,” says Mr Myer. “As a curator and advocate for Australian art she has taken the work of Australian artists to the world and brought the best of international practice back to Australia.

“As Artistic Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), in Melbourne since 2002, Juliana has brought a keen intellect and distinctive eye to the curatorial process that has enlivened the cultural scene in this country and simultaneously advanced the careers of many Australian artists.”

The Australia Council Visual Arts Award is to acknowledge and honour the exceptional achievements of Australian craftspeople, designers, media artists, visual artists and arts writers who have made and are continuing to make an outstanding contribution to the development of Australian art. Award recipients receive a specially commissioned pin and $40,000.

The Australia Council Visual Arts Medal is to acknowledge and honour extraordinary professional achievements of living curators, administrators and/or advocates of contemporary Australian art, who have made and are continuing to make an outstanding contribution to the development of the Australian cultural sector. The recipient receives a specially commissioned medal and $10,000.