Bundanon’s brilliant gallery spaces will be enhanced further in the coming years, thanks to an additional $33 million in funding allocated to the gallery by the Federal Government.
Coinciding with the gallery’s 30th year, the funding will ensure the facility on New South Wales’ south coast will continue to grow and thrive as a true national cultural institution.
“We are delighted and heartened to receive this vital funding uplift by the Australian Government for Bundanon in its new public chapter,” says Bundanon CEO, Rachel Kent.
Kent says the funding provided by the government outlines the intentions of its National Cultural Policy - Revive.
“This valued and timely support for all the National Collecting Institutions demonstrates its recognition of the centrality of culture, creativity and the arts for Australia today,” she says.
“The new National Cultural Policy - Revive is an important milestone, and today’s funding announcement demonstrates that the Government has listened closely, looked deeply, and understood clearly the pivotal role of creativity in strengthening and connecting our community and telling the Nation’s many diverse stories.
Bundanon first opened in 1993, gifted to the Australian people by Arthur and Yvonne Boyd. Its new Art Museum and Bridge for Creative Learning opened in early 2022, and has increased visitorship to over 50,000 people per year.
“This funding will give Bundanon a sustainable future, allowing it to grow in the new infrastructure, reach new audiences, and build and deliver innovative exhibitions, live programs, multi-disciplinary residencies and learning opportunities for all ages within the landscape of the Shoalhaven, on south coast NSW,” Kent continues.
“As the only National Collecting Institution in regional Australia, Bundanon has an important role to play in shaping the nation’s cultural identity. Supporting land care, sustainability, and the careful stewardship of this ancient landscape, it fosters close, deep relationships with broad and diverse communities including, especially, our First Nations communities through the south coast and beyond.”
Bundanon’s first exhibition of 2023 is fantastic forms, a dedication to the Boyd family curated by Boe-Lin Bastian and Sophie O’Brien. Located within the gallery’s new Art Museum, fantastic forms brings new commissions by three contemporary Australian artists, Nabilah Nordin, Stephen Benwell and Rubyrose Bancroft, into conversation with Bundanon's extensive collection of drawings and ceramics by artist William Merric Boyd (1888 –1959), Arthur Boyd’s father.
