The Australian Centre For Photography Closes

Established in 1973 by photographers David Moore and Wes Stacey to promote photography and photographic education, the Australian Centre For Photography (ACP) has closed due to a severe decline in revenue caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ineligibility for any on-going government funding. Income from its workshops program – one of the few left in Australia to include film-based subjects – had been falling steadily since 2011, while many students of photography had elected to study at either TAFE or university, which offer more comprehensive courses.

In 2015, the ACP was forced to sell its gallery space on Oxford Street in the inner-Sydney suburb of Paddington and move to a smaller, rented facility in nearby Darlinghurst. The ACP had been exhibiting Australian photography since 1974, including major retrospectives of the works of Max Dupain, Olive Cotton and Mervyn Bishop. The ACP was the first gallery to exhibit Bill Henson and was also the venue for Tracey Moffat’s first solo exhibition.

Coincidentally, at the same time that the ACP was announcing its closure, plans were revealed for the National Centre For Photography to be established in the Victorian regional centre of Ballarat. The Victorian state government is providing $6.7 million in funding to establish the centre, which will include a number of gallery spaces, a library, a darkroom, an archive and an educational program. It will also serve as the home for the Ballarat International Foto Biennale.