QAGOMA welcomes 10 million visitors since 2006

Arts Minister Ian Walker has announced a major milestone for the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) with more than 10 million visits to the South Bank site since the opening of GOMA in December 2006.

Mr Walker said the visitor figures showed QAGOMA was hitting the mark in its role as a major cultural attraction with more than 35 per cent of visitors to the two-site gallery from interstate and overseas.

“This government is committed to driving cultural tourism and securing world-class exhibitions to further strengthen Brisbane’s standing as a premier arts and cultural destination,” Mr Walker said.

“The Gallery provides a destination where locals and visitors alike can experience innovative and exciting cultural experiences and help achieve the Newman Government’s aim to double visitor spending to $30 billion by 2020.

“It’s also a hit in the regions, with more than 450,000 people accessing QAGOMA’s collection and programs at regional exhibitions, workshops and children’s programs at over 100 venues around the state.

“Through our Arts for all Queenslanders policy we are ensuring the people of this great state have cultural experiences that rival anywhere in the world, and these numbers reflect that people are embracing what we have on offer.”

There have been more than 1.4 million visits to ticketed exhibitions and more than 1.8 million to three free Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibitions, contributing a total of more than $90 million to Queensland’s economy since 2006.

QAGOMA Director Mr Chris Saines said the gallery has presented exhibitions of the best work from some of the finest collections around the world since GOMA opened.

“These have included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,” Mr Saines said.

“QAGOMA has presented exhibitions by some of the most important international artists of the 20th and 21st centuries including Cai Guo-Qiang, whose exhibition Falling Back to Earth is attracting more than 1,200 visits daily.”

In 2014 QAGOMA will be home to the following key exhibitions: Transparent: Watercolour in Queensland 1850s–1980s 22 March – 20 July, QAG; Sam Fullbrook: Delicate Beauty 5 April – 10 August, QAG; Yirrkala Drawings 12 April – 13 July, QAG; Harvest 28 June – 21 September, GOMA; Tracey Moffatt from 25 October, GOMA; and Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion from 1 November, GOMA.

[ENDS] 4 March 2014

Media Contact: Alex Bernard   0417 252 563