Specialising in serving the arts sector, Paxinos & Habash brings together industry expertise and knowledge to offer a comprehensive solution for the unique financial needs of artists and arts organisations.

Paxinos & Habash

John Paxinos and Shadi Habash decided to combine their knowledge to come up with a solution that provides assistance to artists and art organisations when dealing with their tax affairs. There is no one too big or too small for us when it comes to the size of your business and helping individual artists is the core of our operations.

John Paxinos

From 1979 to 1985 John was General Manager of the Murray River Performing Group and the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. Following this he obtained his MBA from Monash University. These studies were funded by Arts Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts to enable research into business structures for artists and arts organisations.

Returning to arts management in 1988, John established John Paxinos & Associates Pty Ltd to provide financial, management and consulting services to arts organisations. In 1992 he then established the not for profit, incorporated organisation Auspicious Arts Projects Inc., to provide a secure and accessible management framework to assist artists undertaking creative developments and producing new work.

In 2011 John was awarded the Facilitator’s prize at the Annual Myer Foundation Awards. He used this occasion to formally acquit the funding he received twenty five years earlier.

Shadi Habash, CA

After finishing an Accounting degree in Jordan, Shadi began his career in 2001 in the banking industry and managed to achieve the highest annual valuation record. From there he accepted a role in a small auditing firm but quickly realised that auditing was not the career path for him.

He moved on to accept an offer in the construction industry, a role which allowed him to develop his skills in the areas of budgeting and reporting.

This experience lead him to take up a position with a new holding company where he was given the task of building up the accounts and finance department from scratch. From having 5 employees Al-Jaidah Brothers became a multi-industry company with over 250 employees and a variety of businesses that ranged from Real Estate (Re/Max Properties Qatar), stationary and office supplies (Office 1 Arabia), shared serviced office (Regus Business Centres Qatar), toys (Build-A-Bear Workshop) and remedial therapy and treatments (Premedion Qatar). His astonishing performance granted him several promotions to eventually become the Finance Manager.

In 2010 Shadi migrated to Australia and chose Melbourne as his home. He accepted a position working in the arts industry with John Paxinos & Associates. During this period he completed his Australian Chartered Accountants qualification. Wanting to pursue an interest in both tax and the arts he has become a name partner in a tax practice with John Paxinos.