Open the Logan Art Gallery 7 Days a Week for Increased Community Accessibility and Engagement!

Logan Art Gallery is a government funded community facility that is currently closed every Sunday and Monday. This highlights a serious problem in regards to community accessibility as it limits the opportunity for local residents and other visitors to equitably engage with the gallery. We are calling on Robyn Daw, Creative Industries Program Leader, Michael Wardell , Art Gallery Coordinator, and Darren Power, Mayor of Logan City to open the Logan Art Gallery 7 days a week so that all residents and visitors have an equal opportunity to visit and engage with the space.

Those who regularly work Tuesday to Saturday (which is not uncommon in retail and hospitality) are already unfairly excluded from visiting the gallery all together. Additionally, for the majority of residents who attend work, school, or other education institutions on a typical Monday to Friday, they are left with only a single day to visit the gallery. As the Logan Art Gallery is funded by the Logan community, the Logan Art Gallery should make it a priority to have it's opening hours suit the community.

Other government funded art galleries within the Greater Brisbane Region such as the Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, and Ipswich Art Gallery are all open 7 days a week. So why is the community of Logan still afforded such 2nd class accessibility?

Logan Central, Woodridge, Kingston, Marsden, Waterford West and Logan City in general are some of the most disadvantaged socio-economic areas in South East Queensland with some of the highest unemployment and crime rates. Through the Logan Art Gallery choosing to remain closed on Sundays and Mondays, they are sending a strong message to our youth that the City of Logan is not a viable location to pursue a career within the creative industries.

As a resident of Logan for the majority of the last 15 years as well as being heavily involved within the creative industries, I can bear witness to the enormous amount of multicultural, raw talent that Logan produces in all creative disciplines. However, time and time again I see these talented artists either give up on their dreams due to a lack of opportunity, or export themselves out of Logan to follow their passions. What a waste!

I’ll also be the first to admit that I’ve never actually visited the Logan Art Gallery myself (that I can remember). But then again I've never seen any marketing material from the gallery, I’ve never heard the gallery mentioned at university during my creative industries degree, and quite frankly like many others, I forget the Logan Art Gallery exists most of the time. It’s almost as though the Logan Art Gallery doesn’t actively target young people that live in Logan at all which is extremely concerning. The time for change is now and what better way to enact change by opening the Logan Art Gallery 7 days a week. 

An increased importance placed on Logan’s creative industries, starting with the Logan Art Gallery will create value, inclusion, and opportunity within the community. In the words of Richard Sandell, Professor of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, “museums and galleries of all kinds have both the potential to contribute towards the combating of social inequality and a responsibility to do so.”

Sign this petition to let the Logan Art Gallery, Robyn Daw, Michael Wardell, Darren Power, and the Logan City Council know that the Logan Art Gallery must be accessible for all by opening 7 days a week!