About The Keir Foundation

The Keir Foundation was established by Phillip Keir and Sarah Benjamin as a Private Ancillary Fund to foster innovation and excellence in the arts. Our goal is to enable artists to make original work of a high order. The Foundation supports the work of new and emerging practitioners across art forms.

From the beginning, the Keir Foundation has supported works of contemporary dance, competition, theatre and visual art by partnering with festivals, producers and gallery spaces. In addition to assisting work made by small and medium side companies, the Keir Foundation is committed to models of funding that ensure maximum assistance to artists and to putting the creative process at the heart and centre of grant making. Our enthusiasm is in enabling artists to develop new work performed and shown for the enjoyment of audiences.

For twenty years, Phillip was CEO of Next Media, an Australian publishing house specialising in popular culture magazines. Earlier he worked as a theatre director in Australia and abroad. Sarah has a background in Public Broadcasting.