Tens of thousands of people flocked to the Bendigo Art Gallery in the past three months for the Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion exhibition, the gallery's director says.
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The exhibition, which finished up on Sunday, showcased the works of 20th century fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga. The hundreds of garments were on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
"We're still compiling the figures but we're really happy with attendance numbers," Bendigo Art Gallery director Jessica Bridgfoot said. "What we did notice is we've had a bit of a rise in interstate visitation.
"That started with Tudors to Windsors, so it shows the Qantas flights have been having a positive impact. We've also noticed for this show we've had a younger audience coming in through the gallery.
"So that's been quite spiriting for us because naturally museums and galleries are always looking for the next audience to cultivate."
Ms Bridgfoot said the gallery already had another major exhibition lined up for mid-2020.
"We're not quite ready to announce it yet, but basically we're producing a show in-house," Ms Bridgfoot said.
"It's going to be a big show. It's going to be the first of its kind in Australia and it's very much within that fashion space.
"It's definitely a destination exhibition. It's the kind of show that makes sense with what we've been doing historically with our fashion shows. But it's very distinct."
Before that, a new augmented reality exhibition from local Indigenous artist Josh Muir will be starting later this month.
"It's the first time we've really gotten into that digital space so it's pretty exciting for us," Ms Bridgfoot said. "We're looking at what other experiences we can offer to audiences to enhance the exhibitions."
The gallery will also showcase a special collection from patron Paul Guest in December. The 200-item collection, which features many paintings from Australian artists, will be gifted to the gallery.
"It's a very significant gift," Ms Bridgfoot said. "It's an interesting collection that says a lot about Australian art.
"For him, part of the collection is about building the relationships with the artists."
The Paul Guest Collection will start on December 7 and will run through to March 1.
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Tara Cosoleto
Journalist covering courts and general news at the Bendigo Advertiser.
Journalist covering courts and general news at the Bendigo Advertiser.
