Warrnambool Art Gallery could be on the move after it secured $150,000 for a feasibility study to look at a new site or revamping the current one.
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Art gallery director Vanessa Gerrans said the study would look at the possibility of building a brand new facility somewhere like Cannon Hill, or expanding the current location.
The Cumorah Foundation has chipped in $50,000 towards the study and the council has allocated $100,000 for the study.
News of the feasibility study comes after the art gallery is preparing to be officially relaunched this Friday after undergoing a $750,000 makeover.
"We have got a funded business plan at the moment to look at a new facility, which is exciting," she said.
"This will consider the existing site and an alternate site.
"The gallery is in the process of the business plan, which will come with a full economic rundown and value proposition of the space."
Ms Gerrans said the gallery precinct serviced a diverse community - from young to old.
"There is a whole range of people with special interests," Ms Gerrans said.
"To get the pitch right is kind of challenging.
"So we are using these existing spaces (following the redevelopment) to incubate what we would like to map out into a new facility in the next five to 10 years."
Ms Gerrans said its Maar Nation gallery was created using a "modest grant" over three years, and then got funding for a permanent curator as well as a subsidised position for a trainee who works one day a week.
"But this pales in comparison to what a full interpretative space for indigenous art might be," she said.
"Warrnambool is the meeting place for interpretation about Budj Bim, Moyjil, Tower Hill.
"You can imagine a space where you come, either here or an alternate site like Cannon Hill, where you get the orientation for the different, distributed sites."
In 2018, the art gallery revealed it was bursting at the seams. RMIT architecture students, in partnership with the art gallery, had come up with some bold ideas for redevelopment of the gallery and Civic Green.
There were 300 public events held at the gallery that year, including sell-out holiday programs, and visitor numbers were forecast to exceed 50,000.
The gallery was recently reopened after closing over the summer while a $600,000 air-conditioning system was upgraded in a bid to protect its $7.7 million collection.
Another $145,000 was also spent on upgrading lighting.
The popular Warrnibald art prize did not run last year while the works were carried out, but the plan was for that to return bigger and better this year.
The council said the goal of the study was to undertake the planning required to determine the long-term focus and site for WAG as it entered the next 50 years.
"The project will generate concept drawings of the proposed development, including quantity surveyed cost estimates, to help develop the scope of the project and to guide potential grant funding opportunities," the council said.
The council said the gallery was named in memorial to Fletcher Jones OBE, founder of the Warrnambool Fletcher Jones clothing business, and any move for a statue or similar static installation to honour him would run counter to the wishes of his family.
"Council has received advice from the Jones family that they wish his legacy to be remembered through support for social enterprise endeavours and the arts," it said.
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