ART FANS SWARM INTO PUBLIC GALLERIES

Corrie Perkin
National arts writer

The Australian
14/10/08

THE figures speak for themselves: art is hot and more people go to galleries than to football’s home-and-away season.

The Council of Australian Art Museum Directors has found that more than 6.6 million Australians visited a leading public art gallery in 2007-08.

The number exceeds the 6.51 million who attended the 2008 AFL’s home-and-away season, and blitzes the NRL’s 2.9 million attendances.
“Australians love art and there’s a great deal of interest in visiting art and writing collections,” said CAAMD chairman Christopher Menz, who is also director of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

The report cites attendance figures at Australia’s 10 leading state and national institutions, including the National Portrait Gallery and National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. It is the first time CAAMD members have collated their attendances.

The most popular ticketed exhibitions were Andy Warhol at the Queensland Art Gallery (232,389 visitors), Turner to Monet at the NGA (180,701) and Guggenheim Collection: 1940s to Now at the National Gallery of Victoria (180,173).

Free entry to the major art galleries is one reason for the large crowds. New buildings such as Queensland Art Gallery’s Gallery of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Victoria’s Federation Square site have also helped attract visitors.

But Mr Menz said Australia’s major art museums would always be popular because they had free entry. “In times of financial hardship people want to do things at home, in their own city,” he said. “They want to see great works of art and things that give them pleasure.”

If attendances to Monet and the Impressionists at the Art Gallery of NSW are an indication, the good news will continue. More than 5000 people have seen the show since it opened at the weekend.

Federal Arts Minister Peter Garret said, “this groundswell of activity is a clear demonstration of both the growing interest in art and culture generally, and the quality and accessibility of the exhibitions being shown around the country by many of our innovative and passionate gallery directors and administrators.”