An exhibition curated by artist and personality Grayson Perry, as a spin-off of his TV show 'Grayson's Art Club', has helped push visitor numbers at Manchester Art Gallery back up to pre-pandemic levels, the council has revealed.
The success comes after the exhibit by the Channel 4 broadcaster had been postponed for six months due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
But since reopening, along with the gallery in May, Manchester City Council has announced that some visitor numbers in recent months have actually surpassed pre-pandemic figures.
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The showcase includes work by Grayson Perry, as well as contributions from the nation's armchair artists who embraced a weekly call-out for artistic creations.
It wasn’t until May that visitors were able to get into the gallery and see the exhibition for themselves, despite first being earmarked to open last November.
With just days left before the exhibition closes on October 31, all timed visitor slots to see the exhibition are now sold out, though it is still possible to see highlights of the exhibition on-line via a virtual tour on the gallery's website.
It comes as the council has revealed that since re-opening in May, the gallery has welcomed nearly 199k visitors through its doors, despite social distancing measures in place to restrict the number of visitors in the building at any one time.
There have also been times during the last few months when visitor figures have surpassed pre-pandemic numbers, including on October 16, when 3176 people paid a visit to the gallery.
That represents an increase of around 140 percent of what the average visitor number would have been on a Saturday pre-Covid.
The rise in visitors to the gallery's exhibition spaces has also seen the gallery shop and café benefit from increased trade since the re-opening - helping bring in much-needed additional revenue after all the months of lockdown.
Councillor Luthfur Rahman, OBE, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: "We always knew that culture would have a big part to play in the reopening of the city post pandemic and the latest visitor numbers for the art gallery bear this out.
"It's clear this isn't though just about art for art's sake. More than ever over the last eighteen months we've seen that art and the arts in general also have a much wider and important part to play in our overall health and wellbeing.
"The number of visitors who have been flocking to the gallery to see the Grayson's Art Club exhibition, as well as taking part in the programme challenges is proof of that.
"It's brilliant to see the gallery buzzing again."
Alistair Hudson, Director, Manchester Art Gallery, said: "Whether being actively involved in the making of artistic work, or involved as an interested spectator or audience member, the value of art goes way beyond the four walls of the city's gallery, which is really a creative engine room for Manchester.
"We take our social responsibility as a cultural organisation in the city very seriously and have got a great programme of exhibitions, events, education, activities, and community projects coming up for all ages and all interests that we hope will make a real difference to the quality of life for Manchester residents.
"It's great to have our visitors back and we're looking forward to welcoming even more of them over the coming months."
For more information about what's on at Manchester Art Gallery visit the website here.
