Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria

02/10/2026

What's on in October at AMaGA Victoria 🏛️

Members can join our quarterly Grant Showcase online on 13 October, 11:00am–12:00pm, a free wrap-up of relevant and available grants for the sector, with time for Q&A.

The fourth and final session of our Seminar Series wraps up with Modern Materials Conservation on 20 October, 2:00–4:00pm. Join Dr Petronella Nel (University of Melbourne) and Sam Galyer (Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio) for what's sure to be a fantastic close to the 2026 series.

Finally, the Victorian Collections team is running Making Your Collections Accessible on 28 October, 10:30am–12:30pm, an online workshop introducing the principles and possibilities of collections access.

See the full program: amagavic.org.au/events

Photo: Quilts in storage, The Australian Quilt and Textiles Collection. Credit: Mitraja Bais

01/10/2026

If you're a creative in the southwest region of Victoria, our colleagues at Regional Arts Victoria want to hear from you!

The 2026 South West Creatives Survey aims to provide a meaningful dataset that reflects the breadth of creative activity across the region. Results will help demonstrate the value of the creative sector, inform future sector support, and strengthen advocacy for continued investment in regional creativity.

South West creatives, we need to hear from you!

The 2026 South West Creatives Survey is now open, inviting artists, makers, performers, producers, arts workers, creative organisations and creative community members across the Great South Coast to share what matters most right now.

Your response will help build a clearer picture of the region’s creative sector and support future planning, advocacy and investment through the South West Creative Industries Strategy 2025–2029.

Complete the survey by 21 October: https://rav.tfaforms.net/5165943
Read more here: https://www.rav.net.au/south-west-creatives-survey-opens-across-victorias-southwest/

29/09/2026

THE ARTS IN VICTORIA ARE IN CRISIS.

Victoria has long been known as Australia’s creative state. Yet we now have one of the lowest levels of arts investment per capita in Australia, despite 99% of Victorians engaging with arts and culture in their daily lives. Funding for artists and small-to-medium cultural organisations has fallen by 35% in real terms since 2022.

Museums, galleries and community heritage organisations are an essential part of the arts and culture ecosystem. Across the state, organisations are doing extraordinary work with small teams, limited resources and a huge amount of volunteer goodwill. They depend on funding, partnerships and creative networks that connect the whole sector. When investment is reduced, the effects are felt well beyond the organisations directly affected.

The result is pressure on organisations, fewer opportunities for practitioners, and fewer places for communities to encounter, explore and care for their own histories and cultures.

AMaGA Victoria has endorsed the Don’t Break Our Arts campaign, calling on all parties and candidates ahead of the November Victorian election to commit to restoring and increasing investment in Victoria’s cultural life.

A thriving cultural sector is not a luxury. It is essential to rebuilding Victoria’s reputation as Australia’s creative state, and to ensuring every Victorian can see themselves, their community and their stories reflected in the places that hold our shared history.

Help spread the word. Don't break our arts.

Sign the petition: https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/don-t-break-our-arts-restore-funding-to-victoria-s-arts-and-culture?ref=dont-break-our-arts.ghost.io

Find out more: https://dontbreakourarts.org

17/09/2026

We are proud to announce that the Australian Jazz Museum has successfully achieved reaccreditation through the Community Museum Accreditation Program (CMAP).

The Australian Jazz Museum was commended for strong productivity in both planning and delivering initiatives, alongside the substantial refresh of its onsite exhibition and performance space. The panellists also acknowledged the museum’s cultivation of an inclusive and democratic internal culture, which has successfully fostered a cohesive volunteer workforce and a robust approach to succession planning.

Congratulations to the team on their well-deserved recognition.

Learn more about the Community Museum Accreditation Program here: https://www.amagavic.org.au/current-programs/cmap

Photos supplied by Australian Jazz Museum.

10/09/2026

Speaking Plainly: Honest Conversations for a Sector in Transition

AMaGA Victoria’s 2026 Forum brought together 80 people from across the creative and cultural sector for a hard, honest look at workforce pressures, funding uncertainty, and the questions of sustainability and change many organisations are facing.

The Executive Summary is now available, capturing a snapshot of the day and the ideas, questions and aspirations that emerged about where the sector goes next: being more connected, more collaborative, more honest about its limits, and more confident in shaping its own future.

Our thanks to those who brought the day together: Michelle Fracaro, Andrew Hiskens, Kate Larsen, and Sophie Lieberman, whose work on Regenerate provided both the inspiration and the launching pad for the forum; our speakers and facilitators; and the participants who were brave enough to speak plainly.

The conversation doesn’t end here. We encourage you to read the Executive Summary, share your thoughts with us, and help shape what comes next.

Full report: https://www.amagavic.org.au/news/2026-forum

31/08/2026

What's on in September at AMaGA Victoria 🏛️

Our inaugural Sector Census has been extended until 6 September at 11:59pm. Click the link below to learn more about this milestone initiative, including our partnership with the Public Galleries Association of Victoria.

Join us for our GLAM-Show Tour in Ballarat on 9 September, 10:00am–12:00pm, bringing sector colleagues together to connect, share insights and access personalised advice, at the Eureka Centre Ballarat. Registration is essential.

The Victorian Collections team is running Digitisation Fundamentals on 10 September, 10:00am–12:30pm, covering planning, equipment, basic photography and image capture, and post production.

Finally, we're running Who's Next? Succession Planning for the Sector on 15 September, 1:00–3:00pm, which will be a practical, honest two-hour session on why succession planning matters, what gets in the way, and how to start building it into your organisation's culture before you need it.

Note that Victorian Collections: Getting Started With VC on 23 September at Warrnambool Library & Learning Centre is now sold out.

See the full program: amagavic.org.au/events
Sector Census: https://www.amagavic.org.au/current-programs/census

Cover photo: Mitraja Bais (Project Officer) at Echuca Historical Society.

12/08/2026

We are proud to announce that Churchill Island Heritage Farm has successfully achieved Reaccreditation through the Museum Accreditation Program (MAP).

Churchill Island Heritage Farm was commended for fostering continuous improvement, effective advocacy for the precinct and collection, and imaginative interpretation strategies to strengthen visitor engagement. The panellists also praised staff and volunteers for refreshing the historic interiors and creating a purpose-built collection store to enhance long-term preservation.

Congratulations to the team at Churchill Island Heritage Farm whose hard work and dedication made this possible!

Learn more about the Museum Accreditation Program here: https://lnkd.in/gUqKmZ3n

Photos supplied by Churchill Island Heritage Farm.

30/07/2026

What's on in August at AMaGA Victoria 🏛️

This month we continue our conservation seminar series with Stone & Metals Conservation, the third of four sessions exploring conservation principles and preventative care across different collection types. Join us online on 4 August, 2:00–4:00pm.

Members can also catch our quarterly Grant Showcase on 19 August, a free wrap-up of relevant and available grants for the sector, with time for Q&A.

The Victorian Collections team is running a workshop, Getting Started with VC, on 26 August, introducing participants to cataloguing collections using the Victorian Collections Collection Management System.

And don't forget, the Sector Census closes 30 August at 11:59pm. Make sure your organisation is counted by completing it online, via PDF, or by booking a phone appointment for assistance.

See the full program: amagavic.org.au/events
Sector Census: https://www.amagavic.org.au/current-programs/census

23/07/2026

Yesterday, we welcomed nearly 80 people for Speaking Plainly: Honest Conversations for a Sector in Transition.

Following a keynote presentation, two panel discussions, and collaborative workshop, we closed with a powerful reflection on what we'd heard together.

▪️ Kate Larsen named what so many in the room are feeling: precarity, fatigue and the relentlessness of doing more with less. But she also reminded us of the sector's enduring strengths: creativity, courage, care, and a growing willingness to speak honestly about the challenges we face.
▪️ Sophie Lieberman reflected on the importance of making space to put things down, to listen, and to recognise the vital role museums, galleries and civil society organisations play in our communities.
▪️ Andrew Hiskens left us with the idea of "adaptive landscapes", where organisations can become so well adapted to one environment that when conditions change, survival demands something different. In that context, failure isn't always the opposite of success — sometimes it's evidence of just how well something worked, for as long as it could.

The thread running through the day was that hope isn't wishful thinking. It's finding agency within changed circumstances and choosing what comes next.

A heartfelt thank you to Michelle Fracaro, Andrew Hiskens and Sophie Lieberman, GAICD, PhD, whose generosity, insight and collaboration helped shape this forum from the very beginning.

We are also grateful to our speakers and panel chairs — Ineke Dane, Amrit Gill, Sophie Kahl, Kate Larsen, Katrina Nitschke, Jo Porter, Emily Sexton and Kent Wilson — for sharing their expertise so openly throughout the day.

Lastly, our thanks to everyone who joined us and spoke plainly. These honest conversations are how we identify what comes next.

Photo credit: Amelia Marra