Senator the Hon. George Brandis S.C.

Minister for the Arts and Sport

Exhibitions by leading contemporary Australian artists will soon be on display around Australia thanks to the Australian Government’s Contemporary Touring Initiative, the Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator George Brandis, said today.

Senator Brandis today announced Australian Government funding of $522 500 under the Contemporary Touring Initiative to develop and tour new exhibitions from Australian collections.

“Over the last three years the Contemporary Touring Initiative has contributed $1.2 million to major collecting institutions to develop and tour five major exhibitions, making contemporary Australian visual arts and craft more accessible to audiences across the country,” Senator Brandis said.

“The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra will receive $290 270 to develop and tour The National Indigenous Art Triennial exhibition, featuring work produced over the last three years by 30 of Australia’s most innovative Indigenous artists.

“The National Gallery of Victoria will receive $232 230 to develop and tour the exhibition Gordon Bennett. Over two decades, Bennett has achieved international critical acclaim for the complex ways in which his work engages with questions of cultural and personal identity.”

The National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria will support their respective exhibitions with detailed catalogues and targeted educational and public programs—activities that form an important objective of the Initiative.

Dates and venues for these exhibitions will be announced in the near future.

See also www.dcita.gov.au/arts_culture/arts/contemporary_touring_initiative

Media contact: Travis Bell 0448 950 248

30 May 2007

45-07