Mouldy to marvellous: How revamped art gallery will draw national talent to Coast

After a massive airconditioning fail left a mouldy mess, there’s good news for the art gallery and a $25,000 prize is just the beginning.

A revamped Hervey Bay Regional Art Gallery will give Australian Artists the chance to exhibit their works in Hervey Bay. Photo: Contributed/ Fraser Coast Regional Council.

After a major airconditioning fail left a mouldy mess, there’s good news for the Hervey Bay Regional Art Gallery.

Artists across Australia will have the opportunity to show their work at the revamped gallery.

This is part of a biennial ‘Fraser Coast National Art Prize’ being developed by the Fraser Coast council.

Mayor George Seymour said the Fraser Coast had a colourful and vibrant cultural life, and the council was keen to ensure the community valued art, heritage and cultural diversity.

He expected the Fraser Coast National Prize to attract quality entries from Australian artists with the main prize to be valued at $25,000.

“We want the gallery to be a place of consequence in our community that is known for its standard of excellence across its exhibitions, programs and supporting operations,” Cr Seymour said.

“The Hervey Bay Regional Gallery is about to undergo a major rebuild and will re-open in late 2021 or early 2022 with improved exhibition spaces and a renewed operational direction in line with stakeholder and community feedback.

“We anticipate that entries for the Fraser Coast National Art Prize would open in late 2021 or early 2022 with the inaugural prize exhibition to be a mid-year feature of reopening programs in 2022.”

Cr David Lewis said the council had taken the opportunity to develop a new Hervey Bay Regional Gallery Strategic Plan while the gallery had been closed due to significant failure of the airconditioning and climate control systems, which required extensive cleaning and repair works.

“The council is developing a new draft strategic plan following stakeholder consultation, and will be seeking community feedback with an online survey opening on Monday 17 May,” he said.

“A dedicated ‘Arts and Culture’ page has been established on the Council’s ‘Engagement Hub’ website, which will outline opportunities for the community to stay informed and have a say on the rollout of arts projects and strategies.”

The refurbishment of the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery is a joint initiative of the council and the Queensland Government with $400,000 from the State Government’s COVID Works for Queensland program contributing to the makeover