Perhaps you know of Bendigo through the annual Easter Festival. Or maybe it is familiar through the Bendigo Art Gallery’s blockbuster exhibitions, such as the 2022 Elvis: Direct from Graceland. Or even through music festivals such as Bendigo’s Blues and Roots, or Groovin’ the Moo.

Bendigo is known by many for its arts and culture scene. But these tend to be major events, featuring content and artists from beyond the city’s borders.

A cursory browse of the Bendigo Art Gallery exhibits shows that most of the art is Australian, but you won’t see many local examples. Most displays are either from other states, from Melbourne-based artists, or from donations made to the gallery. Occasionally, you’ll see a local’s prize-winning piece as the gallery hosts the Paul Guest and Arthur Guy Memorial prizes, both established by the gallery itself and held biannually on opposing years.

This isn’t the only gallery on View Street, however.

If you look beyond the advertised events and go for a wander, you’ll come to find that there is a wide variety of art, artists, and venues running local exhibitions all year round.

View Street itself is Bendigo’s ‘art central’ and offers a wide variety of heritage buildings converted to art spaces. These include heritage-turned-gallery examples like Dudley House (constructed in 1859 for the initial colony’s surveyor), and even a modern example in La Trobe Art Institute, established in the early 2000s as a space for the public to see art mostly by students and alumni.

The institute’s placement on View Street was very much by design, as Director Bala Starr tells upstart.

“If you think about the street and the relationship that La Trobe Art Institute has to the street, it’s much closer, so to speak, than it is in enclosed, or a [university] campus where the business is more self-referential than outward facing to the city,” she says.

“All of our exhibitions are open to the public; we are involved in learning and teaching, but we are also a public venue free to all.”

Bendigo also features a large amount of walkable public art spaces.

Spaces such as Chancery Lane and the Pennyweight Walk are found in the heart of the CBD and feature vibrant commissioned street artworks along public alleyways, in amongst cosy coffee shops and boutiques.

The Bendigo Bank holds two halves of a single gallery, Exhibit B, located in two separate city bank branches. Exhibit B allows local artists to submit their work, with accepted work displayed within branch windows.

This gallery is run in collaboration with Creative Communities, a team working under Bendigo Venues and Events. This team is responsible for various showcasing and local artist support programs, which include recently installed First Nations galleries and installations.

Maree Tonkin, coordinator of Creative Communities, tells upstart how her team have been working to address the past lack of First Nations art displays over the last ten years.

“First Nations artist communities and organisations are leading many initiatives, including co-design projects and/or partnerships. First Nations artworks are embedded in contemporary architecture such as the Bendigo Law Courts, Bendigo TAFE, Galkangu – the new GovHub building that’s just opened, and Ulumbarra Theatre,” she says.

“The city worked with DJARRA to create Djarra Lights … We had Djaa Djuwima, Bendigo’s first designated First Nations gallery launch last year … Bendigo Heritage Attractions have the Djarra Tram Experience, and events such as White Night and [the] Regional Centre for Culture amplified the works of First Nations artists.”

Creative Communities also provides artists with direct support programs. One example of many is Artists on View, which offers applicants funding and support for showcasing and selling their work in the heritage setting of Dudley House.

Speaking of prime location, the Rookie Gallery has a lot going for it. Located in the Hargreaves Mall and established in May 2022, the gallery is run by a group mostly made up of La Trobe students and alumni who wanted a public space to display art by students.

One of Rookie’s organisers, Jac Hartje, tells upstart about the gallery’s future aims for art promotion.

“Our vision for the future is to provide for emerging, and not just emerging, but also that kind of experimental and risky art as well, that you won’t see necessarily at Bendigo Art Gallery or in Art on View or those places,” she says.

However, working a gallery as a group has come with its fair share of challenges.

“There’s not a lot of funding around at the moment. As a collective we’re applying for funding and hoping we can get some regional arts funding or Creative Victoria funding. The Rookie Collective did actually pick up a grant to make some work for the [Hargreaves] Mall, so that was great, but it’s not a huge amount of funding.”

That said, she still believes Bendigo holds a lot of opportunity for proactive artists.

“Just have a go, there’s a lot of opportunity here to do something different. Get a feel for [Bendigo], get to know who’s already here, look at what everyone’s doing, and you’ll find that there’s a spot for you. There’s still a lot of room for people to come in and try different things.”

Photo: Taken by author.