South East Centre for Contemporary Art

The South East Centre for Contemporary Art (SECCA), formerly known as the Bega Valley Regional Gallery, is a publicly funded art gallery and cultural facility located in the town centre of Bega in south eastern New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1988, it stands as the only publicly funded art gallery in South Eastern New South Wales, serving a significant regional catchment with its nearest counterparts being Goulburn Regional Art Gallery to the north west, Murray Art Museum Albury to the south west, and Shoalhaven Regional Gallery to the north. The institution showcases contemporary Australian visual culture and has developed a reputation as a cultural outpost on Australia's Coastal Wilderness, combining exhibition programming with extensive community engagement and public art leadership.

The gallery traces its origins to the Bega Valley Arts and Crafts Society, formed in 1946, which had occupied a succession of locations within Bega before securing a permanent home. The gallery in its current location within the Bega Valley Shire Council headquarters was established in 1988 with a promised $500,000 in Australian Bicentenary funding from the federal government. When delays in construction caused that funding to be withdrawn, despite the building being finished within the projected timeframe, the facility emerged as a rudimentary exhibition space rather than a purpose-built modern art gallery. Nevertheless, the local community embraced it, and the space now attracts approximately 12,000 visitors annually. In 2016, SECCA expanded its footprint by launching two project spaces, one at Merimbula Airport and another at the Port of Eden Welcome Centre, reinforcing its role as the cultural outpost on Australia's Coastal Wilderness. A redevelopment project commenced in early 2021, part-funded by the Australian Government's Building Better Regional Fund (BBRF), which includes doubling the exhibition space footprint, adding new workshop and project space facilities, and creating a gallery for the growing permanent collection. This followed a setback in 2018 when, despite being ranked the number one candidate in the NSW State Government's $100 million Regional Cultural Fund round, the gallery was not awarded the $3.4 million sought to complete the redevelopment at an earlier date. As of 2016, gallery staff and council developed a five-year strategic plan to guide future development.

The gallery manages the collection of the Bega Valley Arts and Crafts Society and the Shirley Hannan Trust. The permanent collection focuses on three principal areas: contemporary portraiture, landscape, and contemporary Indigenous artworks. The historical component of the collection, originating from the Arts and Crafts Society, includes paintings by Hilda Rix Nicholas and Julian Ashton, and prints by Sydney Long. Since the 'rediscovery' of Hilda Rix Nicholas in the 2010s, three of her works from the collection have been placed on regular loan, appearing in exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and Mosman Art Gallery. The gallery is registered to receive donations through the Australian Government's Cultural Gift Program and holds Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status. Beyond its walls, SECCA functions as a leader of artistic and cultural vision for the community and is heavily involved in the commissioning and maintenance of public art throughout the Bega Valley region.

The collection's historical anchor includes works by significant Australian artists, most notably three paintings by Hilda Rix Nicholas that have gained renewed attention since the artist's resurgence in the 2010s. These works have been sufficiently significant to be included in exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and Mosman Art Gallery. The collection also holds paintings by Julian Ashton, a foundational figure in Australian art education, and prints by Sydney Long, recognised for his symbolist-influenced Australian landscapes. The gallery administers the biannual Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award, a distinctive prize focused on realistic portraiture that carries a non-acquisitive main prize of $50,000, alongside a $1,000 'mailroom' prize and a $3,000 people's choice award.

The gallery is situated at Zingel Place in the town centre of Bega, within the headquarters of the Bega Valley Shire Council. The original 1988 facility was constrained by its origins as a rudimentary exhibition space rather than a purpose-built gallery, limitations that have shaped programming and operations for decades. The 2021 redevelopment project addresses these physical constraints by doubling the exhibition footprint and adding dedicated workshop and project space facilities, alongside a new gallery space to accommodate the growing permanent collection. The two satellite project spaces launched in 2016 at Merimbula Airport and the Port of Eden Welcome Centre extend the gallery's physical presence across the region, reflecting its strategic positioning as a cultural outpost on Australia's Coastal Wilderness.

SECCA operates as a publicly funded institution supported by the Bega Valley Shire Council through a special rate variation, reflecting the recognised importance of visual arts within the region. Additional annual funding for the artistic program comes from Arts NSW, now Create NSW. The gallery currently employs a full-time curator and a casual access and learning facilitator. Its programming includes up to ten exhibitions annually and as many as 40 public programs and outreach activities per year within the local government and regional area, encompassing film nights, traditional drawing, printmaking and painting workshops, new media and film-based workshops, curatorial lectures, visiting artist and academic lectures, and professional development seminars for artists. These activities align with council's Community Strategic Plan and follow guiding principles of Equity, Access and Participation. The gallery's website is https://gallery.begavalley.nsw.gov.au/, and the SECCA Foundation offers membership opportunities to support exhibitions and creative learning programs.