Brett Adlington – Rethinking scale: the continued push for a new gallery for Lismore

Lismore Regional Gallery and the Council, have been working on plans for a new gallery for what seems like generations. Planning accelerated under the Directorship of Steven Alderton, but then stalled due to lack of funding. With each new iteration of infrastructure funding, new thinking was required as to how to argue the case. The recent funding announcement by the Federal Government was the result of years of work, and concerted thinking around what type of facility Lismore would embrace. This talk examines earlier plans, what we are now implementing – and the path to get there.

Jo Mackellar – Journeys of the Cultural Tourist in Australia

Exploring the place of art galleries in the Australian cultural tourism landscape, Jo shares her experiences as a researcher in regional art galleries, arts festivals and cultural attractions.
From the heart of the Elvis Festival in Parkes, to the Mambo exhibition in Newcastle, we identify the key elements of cultural tourism experiences and explore the motivations and behaviours of visitors. From this we can develop a framework that helps gallery managers to identify and target cultural tourists across a spectrum of interests.

Troy Green and Susi Muddiman – The impact of Tweed Regional Gallery’s Margaret Olley Art Centre on the region’s visitor economy

In 2015 the Tweed Regional Gallery Foundation Ltd commissioned a Visitor Research Report which highlighted the Gallery’s potential economic impact and provided a demographic snapshot of its visitors. The Margaret Olley Art Centre has been a success since opening in March 2014, significantly increasing the number of visitors to 122,746 in its first full year of operation. Importantly, three quarters of these visitors were from outside the Tweed Shire, contributing a conservative $7.38M to the Tweed economy.

Jacqui Hemsley and Frank Zaknich – Love your MAMA!

Ambitiously the $10.5 million MAMA has been constructed to be the Murray region’s most significant contemporary art and cultural destination. In the short 5 months since opening, over 55,000 people have visited MAMA, with attendance consistently five times more visitors per day now than had been recorded within the old facility. The type of visitor has also changed, with a consistent equal split between women, men and children, completely different from the previous gallery visitor. This presentation outlines what has worked and what hasn’t, and how we are reaffirming Albury as a cultural destination and MAMA as unexpected, unique, exciting and fun.

Heather Whitely Robertson – Pathways & Plans

The AGNSW has a record of strong engagement with regional NSW. However more can be done to enhance and extend our relationship with regional partners and audiences. In support of the NSW government Create in NSW policy, AGNSW have developed a Regional & Western Sydney Engagement Plan. This ambitious plan was informed by regional engagement forums held across the state with significant contributions from partners in regional galleries. This presentation will share key themes that emerged through consultation, the Gallery’s engagement strategy towards 2021 and case studies of hugely successful projects such as Art Pathways and the Home Aboriginal Art project.

Louise Silburn – Making the models work for you

Literature indicates that a high proportion of change initiatives are unsuccessful. This is often because change is embarked upon with great enthusiasm but tails off because of time pressures on leaders, resistance by employees or stakeholders, and leaders losing sight of the original vision. Management theory and coaching models provide invaluable help in planning and managing change yet are rarely consistently used. Louise will talk about; the most effective ways leaders can plan and implement change, managing the emotional impact of change, and working with people to help them be more resilient and accepting of changes.

Mary Darwell – Create in NSW: what’s in it for the regions?

With regional NSW being the largest and most significant regional economy of any Australian state, it features centrally in Arts NSW’s ambitions and planning. Join Executive Director, Mary Darwell for an insider’s update on the NSW Government’s Arts and Cultural Policy Framework: Create in NSW. In this presentation, Mary will outline key actions for regional NSW and discuss opportunities relating to professional development and audience engagement.

Sally Watterson – Amalgamations, Proclamations…. Innovations – Arts and Culture responding to a changing local government landscape

LGNSW is the peak industry association that represents the interests of all 152 NSW councils, 12 special purpose councils and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council. In January 2016 the NSW Minister for Local Government commenced 35 council merger proposals, involving 75 local government areas. This
paper will address the local government reform package, LGNSW’s position and recent research into arts and culture service provision that all raise issues around how regional and public cultural institutions can position themselves in a dynamic environment.

Kristina Tito – Developing Arts and Disability Practice in the Regions!

Accessible Arts is the peak arts and disability organisation in NSW. Working towards inclusion of artists and audiences with disability is evolving into the cultural fabric of contemporary Australian arts practice. Accessible Arts supports many projects, programs and pathways that facilitate connection to quality outcomes for the arts and disability sector, and community.

Expanding roles for regional galleries in building capacity for contemporary arts and disability practice in regional NSW is a current and important area of arts development. How do
galleries make connections and partnerships with these communities? What are the examples of best practice in this area and what constitutes ethical relationships in this regard?