Art Gallery of Western Australia

The Aesthetic Movement inspired aspects of the Art Gallery's collection. Ongoing exhibitions include Indigenous traditional and contemporary art from the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and Western Australian art from the 1820s to 1960s, alongside topical displays on key themes drawn from the collection. Desert River Sea: Kimberley Art Then and Now is a major project begun around 2013, exploring Indigenous Australian art with funding support from Rio Tinto to the tune of A$1.8 million. In 2019, Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley was mounted, a culmination of a six-year project between AGWA and Aboriginal artists and six art centres of the Kimberley. There is a separate website dedicated to the project. Each year since 1992, AGWA exhibits work by talented graduating high school artists in its Year 12 Perspectives exhibition. In 2018, there were 55 works exhibited.

The Lester Prize, formerly the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, is one of Australia's richest portraiture prizes. Forty finalists are exhibited at AGWA during October and November each year. In 2007 Tina Wilson founded the Black Swan Prize and ARTrinsic Inc to manage it. In 2014, included the Black Swan Prize for Heritage, for artworks depicting aspects of the heritage of Perth, and supported by the City of Perth. In 2016 the award moved to AGWA, at which time Wilson stepped down from her role as patron. In April 2019, the prize was renamed the Lester Prize in recognition of the award's main patron, Richard (Dick) Lester. As of 2022, in addition to the main Richard Lester Prize for Portraiture (worth A$50,000), the awards include the Minderoo Foundation Spirit Prize; the Tony Fini Foundation Artist Prize; the Barton Family Foundation Installers' Prize; and the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize, with a total prize pool of A$105,000. In 2022, 720 entries were submitted from across the country.

The Tom Malone Glass Art Prize, formerly known as the Tom Malone Prize (TMP), was established in 2003 by then governor of the AGWA Foundation, Elizabeth Malone. From 2018 it was supported by benefactor Sheryl Grimwood. The prize is awarded for contemporary glass art. The acquisitive prize was worth A$15,000 in 2022, when it celebrated its 20th year. The prize was increased to A$20,000 in 2023, when the shortlisted entries were presented in a new venue, at Linton and Kay Galleries in The Pickle District of West Perth. As of 2025, the prize is worth A$20,000 Winners include: 2005: Clare Belfrage 2011: Clare Belfrage 2019: Mark Eliott, Down at the water table 2020: Mel Douglas,Tonal Value, 2019 2022: Tim Edwards, Ellipse #8 2023: Liam Fleming, Transitory Form #8