Paweł Zając was many things to many people! The inaugural President of PolArt Inc., the Administrator of the “Tatry” Polish Folkloric Ensemble, the Public Officer of the Dożynki Festival in Adelaide, a member of the Federation of Polish Organisations in SA, a member of the Blum Foundation Advisory Committee, a recipient of the Złoty Krzyż Zasługi, from the Polish Government, community worker, community leader, administrator, president, friend and mentor!

Paweł was a person with whom one felt an immediate rapport, warm, open, dynamic, enthusiastic, accessible, generous with his time and advice, and always ready to cap it off with a joke!

Paweł was voted by his peers to be the inaugural President of PolArt Inc., a new organisation established to oversee future PolArt festivals in Australia, a role formerly undertaken by the Polish Community Council of Australia. His particular strengths, skills and experience, together with his passion, drive and enthusiasm helped to meld the participating members into a viable organisation. He was seen as the person to bring together eleven very different groups into one successful and unique organisation which was strengthened by his diplomacy, leadership and commitment.

We now realise how very much we will miss him, his jovial ways, his smiling face at our Skype meetings, and his jokes, the bad, as well as the good!

We will never forget him! PolArt Inc. will always be indebted to its inaugural President and to his contributions. Paweł Zając leaves behind a legacy of love for Polish folklore in Australia, for his comrades and friends across Australia and New Zealand, and we know that Paweł’s spirit and passion will live on through the work of PolArt Inc.