{"id":1521,"date":"2019-02-12T00:11:27","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T00:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=1521"},"modified":"2019-02-12T00:11:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T00:11:27","slug":"art-gallery-welcomes-most-visitors-in-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/02\/12\/art-gallery-welcomes-most-visitors-in-a-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"Art Gallery welcomes most visitors in a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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World-class exhibitions, increased youth engagement and the growing appeal of the lucrative\u00a0KILGOUR PRIZE\u00a0<\/em>has helped catapult Newcastle Art Gallery\u2019s visitation numbers to their highest levels in 10 years.
\nClose to 77,000 people walked through the doors of the Gallery in 2018, up 14,000 or 23 per cent on 2017 and five thousand visitors more than in 2008.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely delighted with what we were able to achieve for our local community and visitors to the city,\u201d Gallery Director Lauretta Morton said.
\n\u201cHigh quality exhibitions take time to develop, and what our visitors experienced last year was the culmination of years of hard work from the dedicated Gallery team.\u201d
\n\"Insidelauretta.jpg\"Lauretta Morton credits the gallery’s success to hard work and forward planning from her team<\/strong><\/sup>
\nTwelve diverse exhibitions from a range of local and internationally recognised artists are behind the success.
\nJust two were toured from other venues, while the remaining 10 were developed inhouse by the Gallery and only exhibited here in Newcastle.
\nHighlights included the current\u00a0OLSEN ORMANDY: a creative force<\/em>\u00a0exhibition (which opened in November 2018 and is on display until 17 February) and the\u00a0KILGOUR PRIZE 2018<\/em>\u00a0featuring winning artist Natasha Walsh.
\n\u201cThis artist followed her\u00a0KILGOUR PRIZE 2018<\/em>\u00a0win with the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and the Mosman Art Prize \u2013 which of course have all significantly bolstered her career as a young artist,\u201d Ms Morton said.
\nRegarded as one of Australia’s major art prizes, the Kilgour\u2019s annual figurative and portrait painting prize awards $50,000 to an outstanding contemporary work of art. Last year, 400 entries were made by artists aged 18 to 90 from every state and territory. Applications for this year\u2019s\u00a0KILGOUR PRIZE 2019\u00a0<\/em>have just opened.
\n\"Ormandy-(1).JPG\"OLSEN ORMANDY: a creative force<\/em>\u00a0exhibition is on display until 17 February<\/strong><\/sup>
\nSocial media has also been key to the Gallery\u2019s success.
\nLast year its Instagram account surpassed 10,000 followers – Facebook is not far behind – as growth in online engagement and other important initiatives \u2013 such as the Youth Reference Group \u2013 helped ensure relevance to the next generation of visitors.
\n\u201cBuilding engagement with young people is really important to us,\u201d Ms Morton said. Through our Youth Reference Group, the Gallery facilitates peer-led programs and events that this targeted audience want to see incorporated into the Gallery\u2019s schedule.\u201d
\nMs Morton said\u00a0\u00a0FLORIBUNDA: from the collection\u00a0<\/em>opens this weekend, and\u00a0SODEISHA: connected to Australia \u2013\u00a0<\/em>opening Saturday 2 March.
\n\u201cWe were recently awarded the\u00a0Dobell Exhibition Grant<\/em>, funded by the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation and managed by Museums & Galleries of NSW,\u201d Ms Morton said.
\n\u201cThis funding is often shared across several projects and I am thrilled that we successfully secured the entire $40,000 to support the important\u00a0SODEISHA: connected to Australia<\/em>\u00a0landmark exhibition project.
\n\"sodeisha-(2).jpg\"SODEISHA: connected to Australia\u00a0<\/em>is on display from\u00a02 March \u2013 19 May 2019<\/strong><\/sup>
\n\u201cThis exhibition is the first opportunity for Newcastle Art Gallery to develop an international, cultural partnership project based on the city\u2019s collection. It\u2019s testament to the strength of the city\u2019s collection and the Gallery\u2019s exhibition and program development.\u201d
\nNext month\u2019s state election could deliver $14 million towards the Gallery\u2019s expansion after Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp pledged the money should Labor win.
\nExpansion has also been endorsed in an updated state government Cultural Infrastructure Plan 2025, which identifies the redevelopment of the Art Gallery precinct as a regional opportunity.
\nA new gallery would include more exhibition and storage space, a secure loading dock and a cafe.
\nTo view details of the upcoming\u00a0FLORIBUNDA: from the collection<\/em><\/strong>\u00a09 February \u2013 21 April and\u00a0SODEISHA: connected to Australia<\/em><\/strong>\u00a02 March \u2013 19 May 2019, or any other exhibitions from the 2019 collection, visit\u00a0www.nag.org.au<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World-class exhibitions, increased youth engagement and the growing appeal of the lucrative\u00a0KILGOUR PRIZE\u00a0has helped catapult Newcastle Art Gallery\u2019s visitation numbers to their highest levels in 10 years. Close to 77,000 people walked through the doors of the Gallery in 2018, up 14,000 or 23 per cent on 2017 and five thousand visitors more than in … Continue reading “Art Gallery welcomes most visitors in a decade”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}