The doors may have been shut for a while at the region's art museum, but work has continued behind the scenes, ahead of next week's reopening.
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Since New England Regional Art Museum was forced to close its doors in March, director Rachael Parsons said they have taken the opportunity.
"A lot of jobs perhaps get pushed to the side while we are more focused on engaging with the public and chasing over exhibitions," she said.
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"We've been doing a whole heap of painting, so some of the spaces will be looking fresh and new, which is really lovely."
She said it always hard to find time for that type of maintenance work in between exhibitions. But it hasn't all been maintenance work.
"Of course there's been a lot of administration type jobs, which don't sound very exciting, but are very important
"We've been doing a lot of work with our collection.
"Some works we have sent down to international conservation services for treatment as part of our adopt an artwork program."
There has also been alterations to the gallery's famous Hinton Collection.
"We've changed the works on paper section out of that exhibition, so for visitors coming in the next couple of weeks they'll see some new artwork."
The lifting of restrictions from next week means the gallery can reopen, which it will do on Saturday, and Ms Parsons they were prepared with social distancing measures and increased cleanliness.
"There's things like installing hand sanitiser stations, some directional markers and signage throughout the gallery, working out maximum numbers," she said.
"All of those kinds of considerations to make sure that we are both complying with the restrictions, but also for our own peace of mind, ensuring that everyone who comes to visit us at NERAM is as safe as possible."
Meanwhile, libraries in Armidale and Guyra, The Armidale Folk Museum and the Armidale Visitor Information Centre will also reopen next week.
"This is great news for the community and for Council as we welcome back people into our public spaces," said Cr Murray.
"Customers to council spaces like the libraries will see some changes as we, like all businesses, implement social distancing and good hygiene practices. For the Library, this will mean reducing days for library book return chutes to be open to allow for quarantining."
To protect the more vulnerable members of our community, Cr Murray said the decision has been made to initially delay the return of volunteers to council spaces.
"We have such an amazing group of volunteers, particularly at the Armidale Visitor Information Centre.
"We take their health very seriously so for the time being they won't be returning.
"This will mean limiting opening hours for the Visitors Information Centre in the short term," he said.
