Art Gallery of Ballarat's Strategic Plan adopted

The Art Gallery of Ballarat has laid bare its ambitious agenda to cement itself as Australia’s leading regional gallery in the coming years.

Ballarat City Council formally adopted the Art Gallery of Ballarat Strategic Plan 2023-2028 at the November Council Meeting on Wednesday, laying the foundation for the gallery for the next five years.

The Strategic Plan 2023-2028 incorporated findings from extensive internal and external consultations and maintained the overall direction set in the Art Gallery of Ballarat 2019-2022 Strategic Plan. The Vision, Values and Mission from this previous plan have been carried over.

It also articulates the need for greater investment in the gallery to meet audience expectations and needs and ensure the heritage building is fit for purpose.

Currently, visitation to the Art Gallery of Ballarat is surging upwards with patronage increasing by 84% in the first six months of 2023, compared to the same period in 2022.

The impact of the COVID pandemic is still being felt however, with the 150,000 visitors forecast in 2023 still below the pre-COVID visitation level of 200,000 visitors per annum.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said the gallery remained the heart and soul of culture in Ballarat.

“A vibrant, effectively funded and managed art gallery is fundamentally important to every community and even more so to a city the size of Ballarat,” Cr Hudson said.

“This Strategic Plan is the result of extensive consultation and community engagement and we are incredibly proud to declare our vision to be Australia’s leading regional gallery.”

In developing the Strategic Plan, several workshops were held with the Art Gallery of Ballarat Board and staff. Additionally, a MySay community consultation was undertaken with more than 150 responses.  

In-person consultation was also facilitated to focus on key themes identified through   workshops with the board and staff and a number of key stakeholder interviews were also held.

The community consultation was exceptionally positive with two main themes arising regarding the community’s desire going forward.

The consultation showed that in the future, the Ballarat community wanted the Art Gallery of Ballarat to offer more exhibitions and programs, while there was also a desire to learn more about what the gallery is doing.