NOVOCASTRIANS will be both excited and relieved that deserved funding for the art gallery is now allocated ('Council wins funding for gallery expansion', Newcastle Herald, 28/1). What a long and winding journey for the gallery, its supporters and for the city. I hope the expanded building can also become an iconic piece of art - as are other buildings that surround Civic Park.
I guess we will soon forget the opposition to expansion and the rejection of funding by a conservative lord mayor - hopefully now, decades later, everyone is looking forward to a new space to share our great collection and show-off valued travelling exhibitions. The problem is, though, that just nearby, the regional gallery in Maitland is under threat - another conservative mayor sees art and beauty as an unnecessary expense. That is a fight just beginning.
