The Geelong Gallery is seeking vital government investment to allow detailed design and planning for a significant expansion of the Gallery into City Hall to proceed.
A Business Case delivered late last year provides a strong case for the gallery’s expansion, but urgent funding is now required so that this transformative project can progress, developing a visitor attraction in time for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The opening of the Wurriki Nyal precinct means that City Hall will be reserved for civic and ceremonial events and the remaining space could be shared with the Gallery to deliver drawcard exhibitions for the Geelong region.
As well as delivering major national and international touring exhibitions, the expansion would enable the Gallery to exhibit more of its nationally significant collection. Currently the Gallery can only exhibit two per cent of its impressive collection.
The Gallery is already a popular drawcard for the region. It presented the Archibald Prize in 2017, and again in 2018, and welcomed 116,000 and 160,000 to the Gallery across the two years respectively. The economic impact of the Archibald Prize in Geelong over the two-year period was $14.25 million.
In 2021, the Gallery hosted RONE in Geelong, its evocative and ghostly roomscapes attracting almost 47,000 people and contributing $7.8 million to the economy.
In 2021-2022, the Gallery hosted Archie 100 attracting 47,300 visitors (63 per cent from outside the region) and contributing $7.72 million to the local economy, a much-needed boost following the challenges of COVID-19.
With expanded and upgraded facilities the gallery will be able to attract 200,000 visitors annually and strengthen Geelong’s designation as a UNESCO City of Design.
Geelong Gallery’s expansion is a central element of Geelong’s Cultural Precinct Masterplan, a G21 Priority Project that has propelled the successful redevelopment of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre and the Geelong Arts Centre.
It will also a play a key part in the Revitalising Central Geelong Action Plan delivering huge flow-on benefits for the growing arts, culture and hospitality precinct on Little Malop Street.
