Details

Last Updated: Friday, 16 August 2024 15:14

During the 2024/25 financial year we will be undertaking a business case / feasibility study and site planning to assess the options, costs and benefits of delivering a revitalised art museum to replace or update the existing Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery (TRAG) as adopted at the Ordinary Meeting on 24 October 2023.

The current gallery was opened in 1994. The Gallery houses three separate collections of unique cultural heritage that number more than 8,000 items. The Gallery also hosts a range of visiting exhibitions and delivers a number of community activities (including school holiday programs) and offers guided tours.

Contemporary art museum’s servicing half the population of the Toowoomba Region and holding half the art collection are on average 5,000m2. TRAG is 750m2.

The existing facility is no longer fit for purpose for the scale befitting a regional gallery. It is too small to comfortably accommodate touring exhibitions from state and national galleries, and those toured by Museum and Gallery Services Queensland. These touring exhibitions are the core of the contemporary exhibition programming at this site. It is no longer large enough to appropriately showcase the Toowoomba Region’s growing art collection. 

As required by our Project Management Framework, it is recommended that a business case is developed to assess options, costs and benefits of delivering an art museum, of an appropriate size for the Toowoomba region, to replace or update the existing TRAG. Developing a business case to determine the necessary scale and scope of the art museum, site options, governance, operating models and funding models is essential to foster arts, culture and creativity in the Toowoomba region to ensure the region takes full advantage of the economic, community, arts and cultural benefits in the short and long-term.

In the 2024/25 budget, $300,000 was allocated to this business case. 

Start date

July 2024.

Target completion date

June 2025.