An example of Lisa Sammut’s Radial Sign in the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery. Photo: Goulburn Mulwaree Council.
It might be a country art gallery, but the high calibre of projects and programs at the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery has seen it nominated for three state awards.
The gallery has made it onto the shortlist for the 2024 IMAGinE Awards for one exhibition project and two engagement programs.
“We are thrilled to hear that Goulburn Regional Art Gallery has been announced as a nominee for the 2024 IMAGinE Awards,” Goulburn Mulwaree Council CEO Aaron Johansson said.
“This is a recognition of the outstanding calibre of the gallery in bringing high quality art exhibitions, experiences and education outcomes to the community.”
Run by the state government’s Museums & Galleries NSW, these awards highlight the resilience, innovation and creativity of museums, galleries and First Nations cultural spaces and recognise the people who work in them.
The nomination in the exhibition projects category is the gallery’s exhibition by Canberra-based artist Lisa Sammut titled Radial Sign.
“Working towards my exhibition with Goulburn Regional Art Gallery was an incredibly rewarding experience, I’m so pleased the gallery’s passion and dedication has been recognised with this nomination,” Ms Sammut said.
Council said Radial Sign was an extensive installation of semi-kinetic sculpture and large-scale video work that gave audiences immersive experiences of the artist’s practice.
“This exhibition is an outstanding example of Goulburn Regional Art Gallery’s skills in exhibition development,” a council spokesperson said.
The first nominee in the engagement programs category is Act Up with local theatre company Bladwell Productions.
Designed and delivered by program and exhibitions coordinator Hannah Gee, this program brought local LGBTQAI+ youth and allies together through cross-disciplinary approaches to contemporary art with theatrical techniques as a point of departure.
Facilitated by Bladwell Productions, the workshops engaged participants to develop a collaborative script detailing aspects of their queer experience.
“The resulting video-based artwork was exhibited by the gallery to great public acclaim,” the council spokesperson said.
The second nominee in the engagement program category was the education-based program Look Baby, an ongoing program held throughout the gallery’s exhibition spaces that features visual, audible and tactile-based activities.
In the program, parents were encouraged to nurture their baby’s early sensory development through engagement with exhibition works.
The gallery’s director, Yvette Dal Pozzo, said it was exciting that the gallery had been recognised for these three outstanding, innovative projects in the 2024 IMAGinE Awards.
“These projects across exhibitions, programming and education show the significant role the gallery plays in embedding art as a core part of everyday life and connecting leading artists with communities,” she said.
“The gallery is a hub for Goulburn’s creative community, successfully elevating the voices of artists and supporting the formulation of new projects and exhibitions.
“The IMAGinE Awards provides a great platform to celebrate with colleagues from museums and galleries across NSW, recognising the creativity, impact and innovation in the sector and the positive impact galleries have on their communities.”
Museums & Galleries NSW says IMAGinE celebrates all institutions and pays homage to those organisations run by volunteers with limited budgets and minimal resources.
“These awards offer a unique opportunity for museums, galleries and Aboriginal cultural spaces in NSW to advocate, promote their achievements and raise their profile within the sector and the broader community,” it says.
The awards personation night for the IMAGinE Awards will take place in Sydney on 21 November.