Notable events:
2020 Culture for Recovery with artist Cedric Varcoe
In 2017, Country Arts SA and Flinders University Museum of Art began a state-wide travelling exhibition by 10 Kangaroo Island artists and one writer, Island to Inland. It could not be shown on Kangaroo Island because there was no suitable space to hold it.
Kathie Stove, Deb Sleeman, Janine Mackintosh and Ria Byass took it upon themselves to correct that lack for the island, whose population has a very strong and talented, yet under-recognised, artistic community. As well as showing current KI art to the world, AMKI would house a permanent collection of historical KI art and bring travelling exhibitions to the island.
Sarah Kemp joined the group which incorporated as Art Museum of Kangaroo Island Establishment Association, planning to hand over to an organisation that would operate the Art Museum once it was built. The initial group workshop, funded by a KI Council Community Partnerships grant, was run by Jeanette Gellard of Innovative Influences and attended by Melinda Rankin, then director of Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, and now an AMKI director.
The group set out to share its vision and strategic plan with the Artists Collective KI, the KI Art Society, the Commissioner for KI and her arts council, and the boards of the KI Industry and Brand Alliance, and of Tourism KI. They also met with Nick Mitzevich, then Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the SA Tourism Commission.
After a fundraising workshop with Anne Skipper, the group launched an initial crowdfunding campaign in early 2018 with a film night at KI Brewery, and raised an impressive $18,600. The federal member for Mayo, Rebekha Sharkie, commended our initiative with a speech in the House of Representatives.
Armed with criteria for the siting of the Art Museum, the committee, with strong support from KI Council and KI National Parks and Wildlife, examined more than 20 locations across the island, and found the Captain Morgan Park site on Seaview Road Kingscote to be the most suitable.
Community consultation in August 2020 showed strong KI community support for both the project and the site.
RDA Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island completed initial economic modelling for the project. The committee presented to KI Council and informed the Minister for Environment and Water about its choice of the site, which is Crown Land under the care and control of KI Council. A helipad consultant recommended by State Helicopter Rescue Service assured us that the building would be unlikely to conflict with flights to and from the helicopter landing pad.
A Regional Arts Fund Boost Recovery grant in 2021 allowed the group to develop a business case with consultants Dougal McOmish (economics and finance), Maz McGann (social and cultural), Kerstin Thompson Architects (concept design) and WT Adelaide (quantity surveying).
That business case was updated without cost to AMKI in 2023, thanks to Dougal McOmish and RDA AH, FP and KI, to take into account the rapid price increases consequent to the 2019–20 bushfires and Covid-19 pandemic.
Other fundraising and awareness raising events have including a film night at American River Town Hall in October 2022, a debate on the value of arts at Kingscote Town Hall in August 2023, and a lottery with Kangaroo Island experiences as prizes in the summer of 2023–24. Next on the agenda is an Easter Sunday arts quiz in Penneshaw.
In 2020, AMKI held its first artist-in-residence program – Culture for Recovery, conceived by Sarah Kemp and delivered by Cedric Varcoe, in the aftermath of the devastating 2019–20 bushfires.
Art Museum of Kangaroo Island 