First Site is RMIT's student gallery, focused on presenting art practices from emerging and mid-career artists. First Site provides students with a space where they can experiment, take risks and learn about presenting their work publicly, often for the first time.
The gallery presents a diverse program of exhibitions throughout the year via an Expression of Interest model and two annual exhibitions dedicated to RMIT PhD candidates called On-Site. Our EOIs are programmed by an open and equitable call-out process in Semester two each year. The On-Site program invites two PhD candidates annually to participate in an engagement focused exhibition model, sharing their research with our student cohorts and the public through workshops and events.
First Site's formation can be traced back to 1968 shortly after the creation of RMIT's Student Union. The gallery was relocated in 1996 and moved to historic Storey Hall. From its inception, First Site was conceived as a space to provide students with a conduit into creative practice, independently from RMIT’s teaching programs.