Collie Art Gallery has launched Australia’s richest country art prize in a bold move to make the coal mining town a regional centre for the arts.
Long known as the hub of heavy industry in the South-West, the $50,000 Collie Art Prize will become a showpiece initiative for the Collie Art Gallery and seek to attract entries from throughout Australia.
Local art lovers have worked with local businesses and community organisations to fund the prize, which will be awarded every two years.
Opening in 2015, with funding from the State Government, the Shire of Collie and Bendigo Bank, the Collie Art Gallery is the State’s first purpose-built A-class gallery since the Art Gallery of WA’s main building opened in the 1970s.