THIS week marked a "special moment in time" for Tamworth's art gallery.
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But, in many ways, life is just beginning for the local institution.
The gallery celebrated its 100th birthday on the weekend; a monumental event in its own right.
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But there's not much rest over the horizon for the gallery staff with a veritably full dance-card for the rest of the calendar year.
There is a bevy of exhibits on the agenda with a minor focus on textiles; poignantly, the medium which has helped build the gallery's reputation in the last five decades.
This includes the Exploding Textiles exhibit as part of the Artstate conference later in the year and Object Therapy which looks at recycling, reusing and re-imagining material.
This is on top of the NSW arts' conference, Artstate, which will draw more than 200 industry representatives to town alongside a free four-day festival in October and November.
And the gallery's director Bridget Guthrie said the centenary year had already been massive to this point.
She said the opening of the current showcase, The View from 1919, was packed and both Capitol Theatre salon performances in the gallery sold-out on Saturday.
"It was lovely to have so many people in the room from past and present artists, to contractors, old staff and friends," she said.
"It was a really special moment in time.
"But we're also looking to the future."
The centenary exhibition also saw the launch of the transmit program, which is aimed at digitally connecting the region with art collections and resources throughout the country.
"It's very much about the education opportunities that transmit provides," she said.
"Schools could come in and get a virtual tour with the Art Gallery of NSW which could be great especially for some of the smaller schools we have."
Tamworth Regional Council's most recent budget report showed the gallery and its literary neighbour downstairs, the library, have seen a mini-resurgence in recent months.
There were 455 new memberships signed in the first quarter of 2019 with more than 51,000 items loaned from the libraries in that time.
There was also a surge in interest in the gallery which has seen its number of visitors double since winter last year.
There were 9000 gallery visitors in the first three months of 2019 which followed on from a tally which topped 10,000 at the end of 2018 and slightly less than 7000 last winter.
The surge over summer coincided with the 2018 Archibald Prize finalists being hung in the Peel Street gallery.
Ms Guthrie said it was important to get a balance of shows as well as blockbuster exhibits.