Bathurst Regional Art Gallery

About the Gallery

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) is a dynamic and professionally staffed gallery owned and operated by Bathurst Regional Council. BRAG is located on Wiradjuri land in Bathurst in the Central Tablelands Region of New South Wales, approximately 200kms west of Sydney.

BRAG’s collection began in 1955 and an Art Gallery within Council Chambers was opened in 1959, where it continued to thrive until moving to a new purpose built building in 1990. Since then, the gallery has continued to enjoy widespread community support and to develop a reputation as one of the leading regional galleries in New South Wales.

A diverse exhibitions program, a focus on community access and a commitment to the provision of innovative educational and public programs underpin the gallery’s operations. BRAG also manages the highly celebrated Hill End Artists in Residence Program. BRAG has an annual visitation of 30,000 people per year, well above the national average for a regional gallery.

Collection Strengths

BRAG’s collection began in May 1955 when Jean Bellette was awarded the inaugural Carillon City Festival Prize for her oil painting titled ‘Still Life’. From 1955, the collection has grown to include more than 1,500 works valued at over $11.5 million. The collection features paintings, works on paper, photographs, ceramics, sculptures and more by over four hundred Australian artists including Jean Bellette, James Gleeson, John Olsen, Lloyd Rees, Grace Cossington Smith, Fred Williams, Harrie Fasher, Danie Mellor, Joan Ross, Luke Sciberras, Tim Storrier, Rosemary Valadon and Nicole Welch. Collection strengths include post-1950s Australian art, the Lloyd Rees collection, Artists of Hill End 1945 to present and Australian studio ceramics and small sculptures.

Programming Strengths

BRAG’s exhibition program features a diverse range of specially curated exhibitions, Local Artist Projects, community exhibitions, incoming touring exhibitions and exhibitions curated from the Permanent Collection and the work of Hill End Artists in Residence Program. BRAG’s mission is to reach out to the community through education and lifelong learning, through public programs which challenge thinking, stimulate creativity and promote cultural enrichment, through the development and care of the Permanent Collection, through its support for a network of artists’ studios and through temporary exhibitions and research.

Exhibition Spaces

The design of the gallery allows for the programming of three to four exhibitions at a time, with an exhibition changeover every six to eight weeks. With an average of 25 exhibitions per year, there is always plenty of new material for our visitors.