Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall met members of the New England Art Society yesterday. Pictured from left are Greg Roberts, Jenny Taminiau, Adam Marshall, Deborah Page, Lorraine Kelleher and Malcolm McClintock.
ARMIDALE’S busy Beardy Street art gallery will soon receive a much-needed makeover after the New England Art Society (NEAS) secured a $15,135 grant from the NSW Government’s Community Building Partnership program, Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall announced today.
Mr Marshall delivered the good news to the society members yesterday and said he was pleased that such a well-used gallery would receive the upgrade it needed.
“The New England Art Society is a very active group and the gallery is in constant use – they manage to stage up to 15 to 16 exhibitions a year, as well as a dozen or so workshops,” Mr Marshall said.
“The gallery is open to the public during the week so there is a steady stream of visitors coming through on those day.
“I met with society members late last year and we discussed their plans to upgrade the kitchen which has actually become a Work Health and Safety (WHS) issue for them so that was on the top of their list.
“The society will also be replacing the carpet through the gallery; they have many exhibition openings and gala evenings so the carpets do get a bit of a workout.
“They have quite a few other little jobs they can also do now so I’m really pleased that together we have managed to secure this funding.
Mr Marshall said NEAS had around 180 active members so there would be plenty of volunteer labour to help with the planned upgrade.
NEAS member Greg Roberts said having a new kitchen would make a huge difference when it came to catering for their exhibition openings.
“We really needed to bring the kitchen up to health and safety standards so this grant is very welcome; we certainly appreciate Adam’s support in helping secure this grant,” Mr Roberts said.
“At the moment we are staging the Armidale Art Prize and when that wraps up in early April we will begin with the work.
“It’s such good news and we are really looking forward to getting this work done.”