After an extended period with its door shut, the Art Gallery of Ballarat is set to reopen on July 1.
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The announcement is a welcome one for gallery director Louise Tegart, who said she is thrilled to soon be able to have the public back inside the gallery.
Ms Tegart said she is particularly excited for the public to get to experience the pair of exhibitions on display come July 1.
"We're delighted that we can reopen," she said.
"We're particularly excited for visitors to be able to see our two current exhibitions, one of which is David Noonan: Stagecraft.
"He's a Ballarat born artist and this is a collection of some of his works over the past five years. That show was installed and open to the public of only three days before we had to close, so we're very excited for people to be able to come and see that exhibition.
"We've also managed to extend the loan on an exhibition by painter Anne Wallace. Her exhibition was due to both open and close over this period.... It's a really fantastic show that we're excited to showcase."
Working within COVID-19 restrictions, Ms Tegart elaborated on the new measures people will have to adjust to when the gallery reopens.
"The safety of staff and visitors is our number one priority during this time. The gallery won't look exactly the same in terms of what's open.
"We will initially only have the ground floor open to the public... people will also have to book in so that we can take down details and potentially look back at who visited if there is a case of COVID-19 in the future."
The gallery is a social space and doesn't really meet its mission without people.
- Art Gallery of Ballarat director Louise Tegart.
She went on to praise the support from the City of Ballarat's Arts & Culture team, who the gallery has been working in tandem with during the period it has been closed.
"We've been working with the Arts & Culture team within council who have come up with a fantastic range of projects under the Be Kind: Be Creative initiative.
"The project we've been collaborating on is a series of artist commissions from local artists. These works will go on display at the gallery in November and that's a direct response to this period."
Looking forward, Ms Tegart is confident the Ballarat community will embrace the reopening of the gallery.
She added her belief the extended time in isolation has made a wide range of people appreciate art more than they may do usually.
"It's ironic that one of the worst periods for the arts nationally has made a lot of people appreciate art a lot more," she continued.
"We're stuck at home reading books and watching films... not that we can get back out into the community, I expect a lot more people to want to continue connecting with the arts."
