HOTA Gallery - Frequently Asked Questions

The gallery team has an enormous task ahead and for the next 20 months they will be working on the collection including conservation, cataloguing, photographing, crating, and framing works of art.

Our curators work on exhibitions up to three years in advance, and negotiations are currently underway to host international and national exhibitions in 2021-2023. We’re also curating our own shows and commissioning new work, which will be unveiled at the opening of the new Gallery.

Education will be a significant component of our public outreach program, and we’ll soon start creating curriculum-oriented content, as well as turn our attention to developing projects for the new Children’s Gallery and Workshop.

Once completed, HOTA Gallery will be the largest public gallery outside a capital city in Australia – making it a must-see destination for locals and tourists alike. The HOTA Gallery is a vertical format gallery over six levels, with over 2000m2 of AAA rated exhibition space. The vastly expanded space will give us the ability to attract world class international and national touring exhibitions and showcase our 4,500 strong City Collection. In addition, there will be room for a workshop and children’s gallery, restaurant, roof-top bar and retail store plus Collection storage, work space and crate storage area.

The ambition for the project is to provide both high quality outcomes for viewing and interacting with art but also the building in itself. HOTA Gallery has a significant role to play in its place in the art world but also as a civic asset for the Gold Coast and its people.

The recently introduced Artists Pass will encourage local artists to visit HOTA and engage with art and other creatives.

For art lovers of all ages there are a range of programs to engage in, including ArtLab and Life Drawing.

From July 2019, the HOTA Foyer display will include key works from the Gold Coast City Collection and will remain in place until late 2020.

We’ll also move towards presenting more art in the outdoor space and further developing our outdoor curatorial program, where you can expect to see some amazing art pop up in unexpected places around the precinct.

HOTA will also continue our partnerships and support of key local festivals including Bleach Festival, Gold Coast Music Awards; and our production of Glow Festival.

HOTA is hosting a regular Coffee and Conversations program, which is designed to engage benefactors at HOTA throughout the transition to keep them up to date with plans and features of the new Gallery and program.

The Gold Coast Art Prize (GCAP) has been a major feature of our exhibition program for 48 years. The annual acquisitive prize played an vital role in beginning the City’s collection, and continued to build the collection with notable artworks from across Australia. The collection currently stands at over 4500 works and the Gold Coast community and visitors will be able to view many of the works (some for the first time) in the dedicated collection galleries with the opening of the new HOTA Gallery in 2021. The energy that went into the GCAP will be concentrated into new initiatives, which invest in our local artists in a fresh way, advancing the work that Gold Coast artists are developing.

The Ceramic Award is under review and there will not be another award held in the former Gold Coast City Art Gallery exhibition space. The Gallery is considering new opportunities to promote and develop ceramic practice on the Gold Coast as part of the curatorial program for the new gallery, which is set to open in early 2021.

While the team are busy preparing for the new HOTA Gallery, we will cease all institutional loans from April 2019 until March 2021. We’re grateful for our longstanding partnerships with Australian university, regional, state and national galleries, and it never stops being a thrill to see a HOTA collection work feature in a new exhibition.

To learn more about how to make a donation, gift or corporate partnerships please visit our Support the Gallery page.

The City Collection will remain in storage during the construction period. Although the collection will not be physically accessible to the public during this time, a selection of works will be on display in the HOTA Foyer from July 2019 until late 2020.

We are working to make our collection of works available online through our digitisation project, requiring a significant investment of time and resources.

You can find a list of approved Australian valuers on the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program website, and search for certified auctioneers and valuers on the Auctioneers and Valuers Association of Australia website.

A directory of conservators in private practice is available on the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM) website.

Once completed in early 2021, the Gallery will include a 1000sqm exhibition space, 850sqm of collections galleries, a Children’s gallery.

In the future, with this increased capacity, HOTA Gallery will be able to welcome proposals from local, regional and national artists and curators.

In the interim, please sign up to our e-news to keep up to date with all gallery news and announcements or watch out for any commission opportunities.