MAMA’s first blockbuster international art show, a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, drew about 77 people a day during its 12-week run.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Director Jacqui Hemsley said more than 6320 tickets had been sold to the exhibition as of Friday.
“We budgeted for 6000,” she said.
“This was our first major international show and we weren't sure how we'd go.
“The response has been fantastic.”
In January as many as 20,000 people were pegged to visit Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon.
Ms Hemsley said while that many people didn’t go to the ticketed Marilyn show specifically, the gallery did receive 8000 to 10,000 people a month at MAMA during the exhibition’s run.
“We've had about 35 per cent of people who came to MAMA see Marilyn,” she said.
“The demographic was interesting, over the 12 weeks about 38 per cent weren't local.”
About 10 per cent of visitors came from Melbourne, eight per cent Sydney and five per cent Canberra.
Ms Hemsley said the majority were adult women.
The art director said about 400 unique beds in Albury hotels were taken up by people who had come to the Border specifically to see Marilyn.
“All the programs we held were completely booked out,” Ms Hemsley said.
“We learnt a lot about who would come, how our marketing has been working and what has been the most effective marketing tools.”
Albury mayor Henk van de Ven said the show hitting its break even number of 6000 was a good thing.
“We basically view it as an operational asset we don't have much involvement with,” he said.
“Whether there was good or bad out of how it was advertised and marketed … will stand us in good stead for future blockbusters we hope to host.”
The next big show for MAMA will be SPEED: faster, larger, stronger, in August, which celebrates motorised transport in regional centres.
Ms Hemsley said now was an important time for MAMA which hadn’t even been operating for 12 months yet.
“We're not a fully established gallery we can really experiment and do what we want and shake it up a bit,” she said.
“Since we opened in October 63,500 people have come through … we've had over 158 programs and 60 school groups.
“There’s been about $300,000 of commissions to local artists from sales in the shop or from artworks being acquired.
Ms Hemsley said the gallery wasn’t elitist nor boring.
“We want to be fun and accessible … just like Marilyn, a bit cheeky, a bit sexy,” she said.
