Ararat Gallery TAMA

Ararat Gallery TAMA (Textile Art Museum Australia) is a public art gallery in the regional city of Ararat, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1968, the institution holds what is arguably the most comprehensive collection of textile and fibre-based art in the country, comprising over 1,000 artworks and objects from the early 1970s to the present. It operates as a facility of the Ararat Rural City Council and is a member of the Public Galleries Association of Victoria. Following a major redevelopment completed in 2018, the gallery doubled its exhibition and collection spaces, adding a purpose-built gallery devoted to textile art, and adopted its current name to reflect its specialized focus and contemporary programming.

The gallery was established at a public meeting convened by Mayor Councillor G Marx in March 1968, which elected a small executive and committee of six. The Ararat Shire Council provided the Old Municipal Offices in the Town Hall as a venue, and the Victorian Government supplied an initial establishment grant of $1,000, which continued annually until increasing to $5,700 in 1974. In 1971, the Old Council Chambers was added, doubling the exhibition space. Pamela Gullifer was appointed the first full-time director in 1973, and under her leadership the gallery established its textile and fibre art specialisation in the mid-1970s, responding to the 1972 Australian Government Craft Inquiry and the region's historical ties to fine merino wool. In 1974, the gallery became the sixteenth member of the Regional Galleries Association of Victoria. During the 1980s, the gallery curated touring exhibitions, including textile miniature biennials in 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1987, which restricted works to 20 centimeters in any dimension (expanded to 40 centimeters in 1985) and facilitated numerous acquisitions. The 1989 biennial shifted focus to critically engaged fibre art practice. Ararat Gallery Inc. was liquidated in 2005, transitioning the gallery into a facility operated directly by the Ararat Rural City Council.

The permanent collection specialises in contemporary textile and fibre art, tracing the evolution of the medium in Australia from the early 1970s onward. The specialisation emerged in the mid-1970s when federal and state funding recognized craft as a legitimate art form, allowing the gallery to build its collection affordably through acquisitions from prominent artists. The gallery maintains an almost singular dedication to curating exhibitions that explore Australia's recent historical fibre art, featuring rotating displays that track the story of textile art practice in the country. Its holdings include works that reflect the evolving status of fibre art, moving from strict craft identities toward stronger conceptual underpinnings, as seen in the shift during the 1990s.

Early purchases for the collection included works by John Corbett, Ewa Pachuka, and Olga de Amaral, highlighting international influences in Australian public collections. Notably, de Amaral's Coraza en dos Colores (1973) was acquired in 1976. The miniature biennials of the 1980s also directly contributed to key acquisitions from leading Australian artists. Significant curated exhibitions drawing from and expanding this focus include About Time: Australian Studio Tapestry 1975 to 2005, which toured to five galleries from 2010 to 2012, Douglas Fuchs: Floating Forest 30th anniversary exhibition (2012), Kate Just: The Knitted Works (2013), Making Time: The Art of John Corbett 1974 to 2013 (2013), and Slipstitch, curated by Dr Belinda von Mengerson in partnership with NETS Victoria, which toured to five galleries from 2015 to 2017.

The gallery is situated at the intersection of Vincent Street and the Western Highway in the historic late-Victorian Ararat Town Hall building. In 1978, the Victorian Government provided a $1 million grant to restore and rebrand the Town Hall as the Ararat Arts Activity Centre, integrating the gallery, a performing arts centre, and an arts and crafts workshop. Gunn Hayball Architects oversaw the project, earning the Victorian Architecture Medal in 1980 for their adaptive reuse. A $7.735 million Ararat Arts Precinct Redevelopment Project was completed in 2018. Funded by all tiers of government, including $5.2 million from the Victorian Government and $945,000 from the Australian Government's National Stronger Regions program, alongside $232,000 from community fundraising, the project was designed by Williams Boag. It enhanced and expanded the gallery's existing spaces, adding two new collection areas, a purpose-built gallery for textile art, a new prominent entry and foyer, an integrated arts workshop space, and a cafe.

Ararat Gallery TAMA is located at 82 Vincent Street, Ararat. The facility is fully accessible from the Vincent Street entrance, offering lift access between levels and accessible toilets with baby change facilities. The gallery operates daily from 10am to 4pm, closed on public holidays, with an admission fee of $5 for adults and $4 for concessions. The gallery's Studio is available to hire for creative activities, meetings, and social occasions, while exhibition spaces are not available for hire. The gallery celebrated its 50th year in August 2018, marking the occasion with the launch of its new brand and name.