Just over a year after the Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) opened its doors to the public, Development Manager and Fairley Foundation Deputy Chair Carmel Johnson is still delighted by the reaction of local visitors.
“I have worked in this community for quite some time and I just see people I know in the gallery and they say, this is their first visit to an art gallery, that’s so exciting!” Carmel said.
“Sir Andrew Fairley was the first Mayor of Shepparton and the first chair of the art gallery and was the person who probably initiated the gallery and with Lady Fairley gave the first gift for the first art prize in Shepparton almost 80 years ago now.
“That vision of providing every person in Shepparton with access to the arts has culminated in this award-winning building on the banks of Lake Victoria, which is really just beginning to realise its full potential as an arts hub at the centre of our community.”
The landmark four storey $47 million SAM building was completed in 2020 and hosts not only an extensive collection of ceramics and Indigenous art, but also an outstanding café, tourism information centre, art making areas and the Kaiela Arts Aboriginal art centre.
CEO Melinda Martin said the leadership of the Fairley Foundation in supporting and promoting the arts in Shepparton over so many decades had been critical in realising the dream of creating SAM as a landmark arts destination.
“There is a really important role of advocacy in the Fairley Foundations work, that goes above and beyond the donations that they make,” Ms Martin said.
“The capital campaign for our building, and campaigns that will enable us to take arts from this hub out into community, have been supported by many people from the community. The leadership of the organisations like Fairley Foundation in supporting the arts and the gallery over so many years is critical to an organisation like ours.
“Local people coming to SAM often are demonstrating pride in the Shepparton community when they bring their visitors and show off the brand new shiny building.
“We are also seeing many school groups come to SAM and then after kids have had a great experience here, they quite often convince their parents to bring them back, which introduces more people to the exhibitions that we have here.
“Others value the times when we have fewer visitors and for them, the quietness and serenity of the gallery improves their wellbeing – and there is an important role, coming out of COVID, for galleries like SAM to be able to support wellbeing.
“The gallery is also a magnet for tourism, which opens up additional economic and social opportunities within Shepparton and the space is flexible enough to enable us to create a whole range of new events to engage a greater number of people in future.
“SAM has opened up some really exciting opportunities to engage with Aboriginal artists and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.”
