AGNSW_AnnRep_00 full.pdf - Parliament of New South Wales ...

View of the new Gallery Shop opened on 26 November, 2000
A new brochure, Entertaining at the Gallery, was
developed and distributed to key corporate and government
clients to promote the Art Gallery as a unique venue for
special functions such as cocktail parties, product launches
and dinners. It has proved to be an effective marketing
tool and is also available on the Art Gallery’s website.
Preparing for a boost to tourism during the Sydney
2000 Olympic Games, a task force was established to
ensure the Art Gallery was best positioned to maximise its
exposure and revenue. Breakfast was hosted for 120
participants in the Australian Tourism Commission’s
annual in-bound conference and the special edition of the
LOOK magazine was distributed through Australian
embassies, High Commissions, trade offices, Qantas,
hotels and international media and tourism bodies.
Information gathered by the marketing department
in promotions associated with major exhibitions was used
for several direct mail campaigns throughout the year,
targeting repeat visits to the Art Gallery.
BUILDING
Anyone stepping into the Art Gallery in the past
year would be aware of the transformation in the
presentation of the entrance following the relocation of
the Gallery Shop and the new focus on Australian art
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resulting from the opening of the Dorothy Street Galleries
of Twentieth Century Australian Art. The new presentation
was possible following significant private sector finanical
contribution and was completed with minimum disruption
to the Art Gallery’s operations.
The Public Buildings Stone Conservation project this
year completed the southern façade of the building which
is part of a 4.34 million four year project. The work included
desalination, preservation maintenance including lead
weathering, stone cleaning and resurfacing of the iron grills.
A feasibility design request for a ramp at the
entrance of the Art Gallery has been referred to heritage
architects and funding to build access ramp will be
pursued with NSW Government. The Art Gallery was
unsuccessful in negotiating with the various stakeholders
for a new pedestrian entrance to the Domain car park
from the Art Gallery.
Funding was approved for capital works that include
a new Asian gallery, which will give renewed focus to the
centre for Asian studies, where the final year of the three
year Arts of Asia lecture series commenced in March
2000. The high calibre of the speakers - Australian and
international experts on Asian art - has ensured increasing
involvement from the community.