The Art Gallery of New South Wales is inviting expressions of interest from NSW wineries interested in becoming its official wine partner.
This follows a recent campaign by the NSW wine industry – spearheaded by David Cumming from Define Wine – to get better representation at the Gallery and in all publicly-owned venues.
“Beginning in December 2026, we are looking to establish a new partnership to be valued between $150,000 and $200,000 annual cash and in-kind support on a multi-year agreement with a wine brand of the highest standard that wishes to demonstrate their support for the arts,” the Art Gallery of NSW said in an email to NSW Wine.
“The in-kind support would comprise of approximately 2,150 mid-range bottles, and 250 premium bottles per year of table wine – noting a separate sparkling wine partner [House of Arras from Tasmania] is already under contract with the Art Gallery.”
David Cumming said it was great to see a move from the Art Gallery of NSW to build a better presence of the state’s wines within the Gallery.
“This is a very positive step forward,” he said.
“We still want to see the NSW Government go further in supporting winegrowers across all publicly owned venues.
“It needs to be a lasting commitment, one that isn’t reliant on who is managing a venue at the time, but a government initiative that says we support NSW winegrowers.
“This will hopefully give wine distributors further confidence in having more NSW brands in their portfolio and subsequently broadening the wines across Sydney and beyond.
“This could be as simple as developing lease agreements for caterers and businesses operating out of NSW-owned venues, requiring a percentage of NSW wines be listed.
“We’re not asking for grants or funding. It is a no-cost change for government.”
David posted a photo on LinkedIn about a month ago showing the drinks list from a cafe at the Art Gallery of NSW containing just three local wines from 34 in total.
“It’s disappointing, but unfortunately not surprising, that one of NSW’s shining tourism destinations (Art Gallery of NSW) can’t manage to support the state’s winegrowers,” he wrote.
“There’s a lot of government talk about supporting NSW farmers, but simple measures like this seem a step too far.”
The Art Gallery said, “Partnerships of this kind are instrumental in supporting the arts and are budget-relieving for the Art Gallery.
“As the official wine partner, this allows the partner to showcase their products at four major exhibition openings each year, as well as internal events held to recognise the Art Gallery’s philanthropic and corporate supporters.
“In line with guidance and policies, we note that sponsorship of the Art Gallery does not guarantee retail representation at the Art Gallery’s on-site food and beverage outlets.
“In this circumstance the Art Gallery’s catering partner must make its own independent commercial decisions about the products they stock.”
Expressions of interest are to be emailed to [email protected] by Friday 14 August.
Photo courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW.
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