Regional Arts WA farewells Beverley (Bev) Greig, whose decades of work in the arts sector played a pivotal role in shaping the organisation we are today.

Bev was born in Melbourne in 1941 to parents Gladstone and Jean, and left school at 14 to begin working as a secretary. Her love of the arts had already taken root: her father, a Pentecostal minister with a passion for music, instilled in her a lifelong love of singing, nurtured through church hymns, regular attendance at The Messiah, and a devotion to classical and opera performances that lasted her whole life. She had a fine singing voice herself, performing in Perth restaurants and clubs through the 1970s, often alongside her brother Trevor and his band.

Bev’s work in the arts sector began in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when she became the Personal Assistant to Tim Mason, then Director of the Arts Council of WA. She went on to become the Council’s touring officer, managing regional tours for national and international performing artists, including those visiting for the Festival of Perth, as part of the Council’s Arts Access work bringing quality arts experiences to regional Western Australia. Bev often said some of her happiest working memories were on the road, driving the Arts Council bus and glancing in the rearview mirror to see her touring artists relaxed and asleep, knowing they felt safe with her and trusted she’d get them where they needed to be.

Pictured left to right: Andy Farrant (Country Arts WA’s Chair of the Board, later GM/CEO for a decade), Andrea Taman (Country Arts WA’s first General Manager) and Bev Greig.

When the Arts Council became a government department in the late 1980s (the Department for the Arts, later ArtsWA), Bev’s role broadened into that of Regional Arts Officer, managing the regional arts funding programme, supporting the funding assessment panel, and shaping departmental policy and advocacy for regional arts delivery and growth. It was in this role, in 1994, that Bev oversaw the amalgamation of the Arts Council of WA and the Performing Arts Touring Organisation (PATIO) — with the Department’s support — into Country Arts WA, the organisation now known as Regional Arts WA. This time saw real growth in the role of Country Arts WA: during Bev’s time at the Department, its role developed into managing a devolved funding programme, which saw decisions about the development of arts in regional areas, and how the funding should be allocated, made by people living in the regions themselves. More than three decades later, Regional Arts WA continues to uphold this important principle. Bev continued supporting Country Arts WA and the regional arts sector until she retired from the Department and moved to the UK in 1999.

Those who worked alongside Bev remember her people skills and her easy, natural way of building and supporting local groups in their delivery and promotion of arts across their towns and regions. She approached the work with passion and energy, immensely proud of the difference she was making.

After leaving ArtsWA, Bev lived and worked in England for a number of years, including as PA to the head of Diversity and Inclusion for the NHS in Leeds. In retirement she moved to Lucca, in Tuscany, where she spent five years before returning to Australia around 2012 to be closer to family.

Bev died on 21 August 2026 at The Melvista Care home in Nedlands, after an eighteen-month battle with cancer, supported by a band of loving and loyal friends to the end.

Thank you to Wendy Wise, former Director of ArtsWA, for providing us with her recollections of Bev and her work.

Feature image: Paper Daisies by Raquel Aranda for the Regional Ambassador Program.