State splashes $490m on NGV Contemporary as part of $1.4b package for Southbank 'arts spine'
Half a billion dollars has been put towards the construction of National Gallery of Victoria Contemporary, a major new public gallery for local and international art on Southbank Boulevard, opposite the ABC’s studios.
First promised in 2018, the contemporary art gallery will be part of a rebuild of Southbank's "arts spine", linking the Arts Centre and NGV International on St Kilda Road to Sturt Street.
A 2018 artist's impression of the arts precinct.Credit:State government
In Tuesday's budget, $491 million was put towards the design and construction of the project. It follows earlier funding in 2018 for the purchase of the site, at 77 Southbank Boulevard, behind NGV International and opposite the ABC.
There will be $54.5 million spent over the next four years for design and planning of the project, with the Andrews government launching a competition to select an Australian architectural team to design the gallery. The government said it will be the biggest dedicated space for contemporary art, design and fashion in the country.
The gallery project will include a new 18,000-square-metre "immersive" public garden – roughly the size of the MCG's playing surface.
"It will draw an extra 3 million visitors each year," said Treasurer Tim Pallas, who promised construction of the new arts precinct would be underway by 2022.
The gallery project and other elements of construction in the precinct would create an estimated 5000 jobs, and 200 staff would work at the new gallery once it opens, the Treasurer said.
Before the pandemic, Victoria's cultural sector was valued at $2.5 billion a year.
The gallery would form the first phase of a revitalisation of the Melbourne arts precinct, which the government said would cost $1.45 billion in all. The second phase is set to cover the redevelopment of the Arts Centre, including the upgrading of its theatre buildings. There will also be shared infrastructure built into the precinct to link sites.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the precinct upgrade was a "generational project that will bring people to our state and support jobs now and for decades to come. We are Australia's cultural capital [and] this project will make our number one position permanent".
The state budget also invested in other areas of the state's creative economy, with $34 million for projects in the regions and $24 million for the upkeep of cultural venues.
About $95 million will also be spent to ensure the viability of the National Gallery of Victoria and Museums Victoria, while about $30 million will be spent to support creative industry groups and the screen industry as they emerge from the pandemic-induced recession.
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Clay Lucas is a senior reporter for The Age. Clay has worked at The Age since 2005, covering urban affairs, transport, state politics, local government and workplace relations for The Age and Sunday Age.
Paul is a Victorian political reporter for The Age.