Work has commenced on Bundanon Trust’s new $33 million art gallery in the Shoalhaven.
The project is expected to provide a major jobs boost to the area and the expanded facilities will help to attract many visitors to the region once completed in late 2021.
Bundanon Trust holds the extraordinary $43 million art collection gifted to the nation by one of Australia’s best known artists, Arthur Boyd. It contains many of his works as well as works by major Australian and international artists such as John Olsen, Sidney Nolan and Pablo Picasso.
The Trust owns several properties along the Shoalhaven River, where Boyd lived and worked for many years.
The project is supported with $22 million of funding by the Australian Government and $8.6 million from the NSW Government for the construction of a new gallery as well as storage space. The remaining funds will come from private donations.
The funding will also provide new accommodation for artists groups, residential education and related event purposes.
The new facilities will allow Bundanon to open to the public 5 days a week and grow its program of concerts, events and regional arts engagement activities. The works will boost deliver more than 170 jobs to the Shoalhaven region during construction, and an additional 69 jobs on an ongoing basis.
An additional $300,000 contribution will improve the resilience of the Bundanon site with the installation of an ember suppression system to protect Bundanon’s most significant heritage-listed buildings, including the Arthur Boyd Homestead, studio, artists-in-residence and musician cottages, and the art collection store.
In 2019-20 the Australian Government committed $22 million over 3 years to implement the Bundanon Masterplan. The Masterplan is expected to be completed by late 2021 and open to the public by early 2022.
Bundanon Trust was given to the Australian people in 1993 by Australian artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne. It is managed on behalf of the Australian people by the Australian Government.
