Gallery upgrade up in the air

AS Elvis leaves the building, the Bendigo Art Gallery is looking to continue the development of its facilities, although the future is uncertain.

The Gallery’s $28 million proposed upgrade is yet to receive State or Federal government funding, however director Jessica Bridgfoot is confident it will be included in next year’s State budget.

The current timeline is for construction to begin in June 2023, with the project requiring the gallery to shut its doors for up to 24 months.

“What we’re trying to do is set up the gallery for the next 50 years,” Ms Bridgfoot said. “In the past we’ve done an add on and another add on and what we haven’t really addressed is the site as a whole.

“We’ve expanded incrementally however the growth in terms of the population of Bendigo and the visitation to the gallery has increased exponentially over the last 10 years, so what we need to do is set the gallery up for the future.”

The proposed upgrade includes adding a second storey to the building, expanding the ground floor to allow for more free exhibitions and educational spaces, and connecting the gallery from View Street through to Rosalind Park.

Ms Bridgfoot said after the success of Elvis: Direct from Graceland, the gallery has the potential to be one of the best in Australia.

But the popular exhibition also highlighted why an upgrade is required.

“What Elvis showed us was Bendigo has the capacity to draw 219,000 plus people to the region with an exhibition like that, but our building and facilities weren’t up to the standards,” she said.

“We had thousands of positive comments but also a lot of negative comments about how small gallery is, there wasn’t enough room, and we couldn’t manage the crowds.

“The exhibition took up three quarters of the gallery’s physical footprint which meant we only had three historic courts on display. All our contemporary Australian art offering, all our free offering was pretty much abolished in favour of the ticketed exhibition.”

Creative accounting

A report to the City of Greater Bendigo council also shows the municipality confident the project will receive the required funding.

The City has committed $3 million for the capital works, contingent on securing external funding of $25 million, however councillors voted to release $600,000 at Monday’s council meeting to finalise the design of the upgrade.

While the municipality has received $560,000 from the State Government to appoint architects to the project, no funding was announced in this year’s State budget and the extra $600,000 is needed to make the upgrade “investment ready” for a potential May 2023 budget announcement.

The Bendigo Art Gallery board has agreed to match the commitment to help complete the design phase.

In a report presented to councillors at this month’s council meeting, municipal staff said there is a low risk the project does not receive State or Federal backing.

“If the project does not receive a State/Federal Government commitment in the 22/23 budget the City will pause the project in June 2023,” the assessment said.

The upgrade is the City’s number one priority project, yet if construction funding is not secured, it will be placed on the backburner until after the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The original plan is for the gallery to serve as a “cultural hub” for the Games “to not only showcase our Australian and international program on a world stage, but to boost regional tourism and experience offerings within the region for visitors to enjoy.”

Drawn to criticism

The current upgrade plans of the Bendigo Art Gallery have been criticised by the president of the Bendigo branch of the National Trust of Australia, Peter Cox.

He said a closure of the gallery would result in a lack of funds for other important buildings currently underutilised, such as the School of Mines, the current law courts and Bendigo Mining Exchange.

“The art gallery has played a wonderful role over many years in featuring many art and cultural exhibitions in Bendigo and injecting much needed economic interest in the City,” he said.

“But rather just having those exhibitions in the one location in the View Street Arts Precinct, consideration could be given to extending this precinct into Pall Mall.

“It would bring much needed foot traffic to cafes and restaurants and other businesses throughout the CBD while at the same time inject millions of dollars into unused historic buildings which will need those dollars anyway.

“It is a case of not putting all your eggs in the one basket and during these times where many social issues, like housing, mental health and elderly care need funding, the competition for the taxpayer’s dollar must be carefully thought through.”

Spreading the gallery’s collection beyond the gallery space is what Ms Bridgfoot has in mind during the planned two-year hiatus.

She said throughout the proposed closure there are plans to move exhibitions into other buildings around the CBD.

“We’re looking at other incredible buildings we can activate to still offer exhibitions for locals and schools, to still run our learning programs but still bring visitors to the region,” she said.