Official name of new art gallery revealed
The name for the $31.5m building won with 57.7 per cent of the votes.
Rockhampton
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ROCKHAMPTON Museum of Art has been voted in as the official name of the city’s new $31.5m art gallery.
The name won out of a poll on three short-listed names, which also included Rex Gallery Rockhampton and Thozet Art Gallery.
Community feedback was conducted over four weeks and 175 submissions were received with 57.7 per cent of the votes going towards the winning name.
101 votes were recorded for Rockhampton Museum of Art, Rex Gallery Rockhampton with 27 votes and Thozet Art Gallery with eight votes.
Other submitted names included Art on Quay, Toonooba Art Gallery and Darumbal Art Space.
The name was officially moved at Rockhampton Regional Meeting today.
Councillors noted they were pleased the public was able to choose the name.
While her first preference was for Thozert Art Gallery, Rockhampton Region mayor Margaret Strelow said Rockhampton Museum of Art is synonymous with a world-class collection in what will be a landmark building on Quay St next to the Customs House.
“Given the significance of our collection and the opportunity to have one of the greatest regional galleries in the country, it is important that the name has prominence and reflects the experience that visitors will have,” Cr Strelow said.
“Once the doors open to the Rockhampton Museum of Art, people will be able to enjoy a place that has many galleries inside, with our existing collection and travelling collections on display.
It is expected at this stage it will be open in the second half of 2021.
“There is so much that can go wrong or right between now and then but so far so good, there haven’t been any unexpected surprises as we have gone down to get the foundations right and that’s always a heart in mouth moment, still a bit more digging to go before we start to see it right,” Cr Strelow said.
The new art gallery, which is currently under construction, will be a three-storey structure with around 4700m2 gross floor area.
It was designed by Clare Designs, well known for Brisbane’s GOMA, and architects Conrad Gargett and Brian Hooper.
Rockhampton Regional Council staff will now move forward with developing branding for the new name.
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