IMAGINE AWARDS

Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland—Minister for Regional Transport and Roads)—Congratulations to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery for winning the 2023 Best Exhibition Project at the Museums and Galleries NSW IMAGinE Awards in November, for their Upriver Downriver exhibition. Upriver Downriver took over the entire gallery during winter last year and won best exhibition project at the awards. Flowing from the Mount Royal Range's babbling brooks, meandering through Wonnarua Country, the Upper Hunter, Maitland, and down to the bustling Port of Newcastle, Upriver Downriver featured 100 artworks and 52 artists works celebrating the incredible landscapes and communities of the Hunter Valley and its river. The collection of artists includes stars like Nell, James Drinkwater, Todd Fuller, Peter Gardiner, Nigel Milsom, Michael Bell and Lottie Consalvo as well as emerging talents like Alexia Sakoff and Bronte Naylor. It includes artists from Newcastle and Maitland, but also several from the Upper Hunter like David Darcy and Travis De Vries. It included Indigenous artist Mitch Mahoney building a river reed canoe over four days, with the public invited to participate in the process. The exhibition will now become a permanent biennial in Maitland Regional Art Gallery's artistic program. Congratulations to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery team.