Megan Cope: Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House wins MGNSW IMAGinE Award

By Museums and Galleries of New South Wales. 1 December 2025. https://mgnsw.org.au/sector/programs/imagine/winners/winners-2025/

Image: Friday Night Sounds: Jun Wan during Megan Cope: Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House, Newcastle Art Gallery, Australia for New Annual, 2024. Photographer: Edwina Richards.

Megan Cope and Newcastle Art Gallery have been awarded the 2025 IMAGinE Award for Engagement Programs (Large Organisations) for their program Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House.

In September 2024, Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House transformed Newcastle Harbour into a vibrant hub celebrating community collaboration, ancestral technologies and environmental stewardship.

Presented as a temporary pavilion on the Honeysuckle Marina, a program of events (including workshops, performances and a community oyster-shucking and cleaning initiative) engaged nearly 4,000 attendees over ten days.

Thanks to an enthusiastic group of oyster shuckers and cleaners from the community, over 4,875 oysters were cleaned for use in a future work of art.

Collaborating with First Nations knowledge holders, artists, and students, the project fostered learning while activating the waterfront in inventive ways.