KEY POINTS:
David Gascoigne admires those who can stick to a single career path and stay with it their entire lives.
It's something he has never done and probably will never do, he says.
"I deeply admire people like doctors and nurses who can pursue a single line of work.
"I have never done that. I keep finding myself trying things."
Gascoigne categorises his life into three different parts. "I was a lawyer - I still am." Then there is his corporate work as a director and his work in arts administration.
Born and bred in Blenheim Gascoigne moved to Wellington at age 18 to study law at Victoria University.
He began working for a law firm, Watts & Patterson, and became a founding partner when it merged to become Rudd Watts & Stone - now know as Minter Ellison Rudd Watts - where he became the national chairman of partners.
It was through his legal work Gascoigne was approached to undertake several corporate directorships.
His first was with Property Securities. "I was it's lawyer.
"The chief executive said 'you could make a contribution beyond the legal side, you could help us with the strategy' so I joined the board."
Since then Gascoigne has been a member of several boards, including New Zealand Post and Sky City Leisure - a division of the Sky City Entertainment Group.
But the most challenging, by far, was his chairmanship of Transpower New Zealand.
It ended in October last year when he stepped down from the board.
"It was by far the most challenging and time consuming."
Transpower owns and operates New Zealand's high-voltage electricity transmission grid and is in charge of ensuring power goes from the generators to people's homes.
His time as chairman was earmarked by conflict.
"There was tension between Transpower and the Electricity Commission and the Government wanted to ensure some harmony."
He was at the helm in 2006 when Auckland was brought to a standstill by a power cut brought on by a fault at the Otahuhu power transformer.
He has lived with constant criticism that the infrastructure has been left to run into the ground.
But he says without Ralph Craven - the former chief executive of Transpower - the company would never have embarked on plans to renew the network.
"Before Ralph there was a view that we did not need a major up-grade - the existing grid would suffice."
Now he is no longer involved in the time-consuming role at Transpower, Gascoigne says he has plenty of time to do his seven current jobs, many of which are linked to the arts.
For the first 25 years of his working life, Gascoigne says he managed to balance his corporate life out with his interest in the arts.
"I was a corporate lawyer but was always interested in other things. The first thing was the film business.
"I was always able to have a few non-legal things to do. But was still able to justify doing enough work to be a partner."
But then something happened to change the balance.
"I had been with the [Wellington] arts festival since it started but one day the chairman David Beattie and director came to see me and said they wanted to go.
"They wanted me to take over the administration side of the festival."
They told him it would take up about a quarter of his time.
He said yes but it became quickly apparent they had underestimated the time involved.
"It was a huge underestimate and I had to make a choice between continuing to plough the furrow in law - which is quite well paid - or a life of uncertainty in the arts, accompanied by poverty."
Gascoigne chose the latter. He stepped down as a partner at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts in 1994 although he remains a consultant in a mentoring position for new lawyers.
He still has an office there and works there three or four days a week.
"It was a difficult choice to make. In the end I did what I felt I wanted to do rather than what was best financially," Gascoigne says of the decision. "I regarded it as really worthwhile and exciting.
"I had been a lawyer for about 20 or 25 years by then. I had given it a fair old crack."
Of all his directorships, Gascoigne says his favourite has so far been his Film Commission role.
"I don't quite know how that emerged. I suppose it started with the film society and a film fascination from when I was young.
"I have always loved movies and I still do."
He was a founding member of the NZ Film Commission in 1978 - he wrote the legislation for it.
One of the most unusual was his role on the Rugby World Cup advisory committee. He was never quite sure how he found his way on to the committee which helped prepare New Zealand's bid for the 2011 cup.
"I'm very keen on rugby.
"I used to play it but without any particular distinction. I suspect was selected to the committee because of the festival job."
The New Zealand Arts festival involves getting together a huge number of people over time. "I did that festival three times.
"I guess I was recognised for having some knowledge of how to build events quickly."
He describes the moment he learned New Zealand had got it as one of his most intense experiences.
"I was at the Rugby Union headquarters when the chairman of the international rugby board announced the winner was New Zealand.
"I was standing at the back of the room, as I normally do because of my height, with 150 people. Almost everybody leapt in the air."
While he maintains his legal work and corporate directorships with PSIS and Mitsubishi Motors, Gascoigne says his passion is in his work with the Film Funds and Opera New Zealand.
Gascoigne took over as chairman of Opera New Zealand in 2002 from arts patron Robin Congreve.
"Keeping an opera company operating and above water is not easy," he says. But he loves it.
He says New Zealand's performances are of an extremely high standard in comparison to others throughout the world.
The company has run through all the major classics during the last nine years and this year is trying something different with an opera, Jenufa.
Gascoigne is hoping it will be subject to a halo affect where fans now trust Opera New Zealand enough to see it without knowing the full story.
"We have to do the opera blockbusters because the audience wants them and they make money.
"But if we just do the top 10 in the end they become stale."
He is hoping it will open the door for more alternatives to be held in New Zealand.
* Jenufa starts on September 20 at the Aotea Centre in Auckland and on October 11 at the St James Theatre in Wellington.
DAVID GASCOIGNE
* Lawyer and professional director
* Born and bred in: Blenheim.
* Lives: Wellington.
* Married: To professional director Patsy Reddy.
* Education: Law Degree from Victoria University.
Career: Began legal career with Watts & Patterson.
* 1983: Became a founding partner of merged law firm Rudd Watts & Stone, now know as Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, and then national chairman of partners 1988-1994.
* 1994: Stepped down as partner and became a consultant to the firm.
* Current positions: Chairman of Opera New Zealand, chairman of PSIS, chairman of Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand, chairman of the New Zealand Film Production Fund Trust (The Film fund) and Film Fund 2. Independent Reviewer of the Auditor-General's audit allocation process, director of law firm Minter Ellison Rudd Watts.
