School groups returned to the Bendigo Art Gallery on Friday with the excursions the first to visit the gallery since 2019.
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The gallery recorded almost 7000 students in 2019 prior to the coronavirus pandemic hitting.
In 2020, Bendigo Art Gallery director Jessica Bridgfoot saw that number drop 100 per cent.
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"Usually we sit between 5000 and 7000 students visiting a year (as part of excursions) - we are 100 per cent down on that figure over the last year," she said. "We were up at about 7000 in last year pre-COVID. It is so meaningful to welcome school groups back.
"We have a lot of sessions booked in the next few weeks and two exhibitions - Brett Whiteley and SOUL Fury - that are interesting for art students, or any student, to see."
Ms Bridgfoot said there had been small periods of time between lockdowns where students could come on site but that group restrictions made it difficult.
Last week, the state government decided there were no limits on school excursion group sizes as long as excursions followed specific COVIDSafe measures and capacity limits on venues as well as the state's public health directives including masks and contact tracing.
Ms Bridgfoot said being able to welcome school excursions back was an exciting development.
"We're just thrilled students can come back and young people in general,," she said. "It's great to see them in the gallery experiencing art in person.
"They're really our next generation of leaders, we want them to have a rich life experience and art and culture is part of that.
"It is a big part of their education. People might not realise when you teach art at the gallery, you link to the curriculum and the STEM and STEAM subjects - science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
"These young people are the next generation of visitors, artists and creative thinkers. We know the creative industry is key economic player for Bendigo and Victoria, so we can't emphasise how important it is four young people to have early experiences with art and design."
The most recent Victorian lockdown impacted the opened of Bendigo Art Gallery's newest exhibitions - Brett Whiteley: Drawing is Everything and SOUL fury.
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"For SOUL Fury we had put the finishing touches on it and then were locked it down," Ms Bridgfoot said. "So that has opened for first time this week.
"It's a wonderful exhibition and one we thought was important to do in Bendigo to celebrate Islamic culture and its contribution to art and design. It is an exhibition that brings international artists as well as Australian ones with works from New York, Tehran and other areas of west Asia.
"Brett Whiteley was open for a week and then we locked down, so we weren't able to have an opening event for that."
Ms Bridgfoot she hoped Victoria could stay on track with its vaccination plans and reduce the likelihood of more lockdowns.
"If we stay on track and follow the government plan, hopefully lockdowns will be less likely at the end of the year," she said.
"It's difficult to plan some of things when you come out of lockdowns, even snap lockdowns, because you cancel everything and you're suddenly reopened and have to rebook everything. It creates another layer of work but, at the end of day, we are happy to be open."
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