West’s festival on high
THE reputation of Queenstown’s biennial Unconformity Festival is still growing in Tasmania but it is firmly on the international cultural map with hundreds of artists from around the world competing to join in.
Director Travis Tiddy said 220 hopefuls from Australia and overseas had applied to be one of five festival artists in residence connected with this year’s event in October.
“It was a huge response. I expected to get about 30 appli-
There is a new optimism where mining is seen as a bonus rather than the only thing keeping Queenstown alive
TRAVIS TIDDY
cations. I think it is a good indicator of how the festival is now perceived,” Mr Tiddy said.
The festival was inspired by a rare geological unconformity and the remarkable cultural paradoxes of Queenstown, a small mining community on Tasmania’s wild West Coast, and adds to Tasmania’s MOFO and Dark Mofo-driven reputation for quirky festivals.
The program for this year’s festival, which runs from October 19-21, will be released next month. In 2016, 30 individual events were held around the town during the three-day festival, from the old Scout hall to a power station and an old limestone quarry, which was re-imagined as a singing bowl.
Founded in 2010, the event was first known as the Queenstown Heritage & Arts Festi- val. It was renamed Unconformity in 2016.
Mr Tiddy said Tasmania’s West Coast was on a high and was now holding its own as a tourism and cultural centre despite the mining cycle.
“There is a new optimism where mining is seen as a bonus rather than the only thing keeping Queenstown alive,” Mr Tiddy said. “Real estate is buoyant and visitation is up.”
The 2018 recipients: Natalie Abbott, NSW dancer, Jill Orr, Vic, performer, Andrew Calla- the ghan, Vic, composer, Jordan Baseman, UK, video artist, Selena de Carvalho, Tas, Visual Artist. Joining the five for a dedicated residency is Nathan Maynard, Tas, writer and playwright. Artists will be based for three weeks throughout the year in Queenstown and most have some connection to the town, including composer Andrew Callaghan, who was raised in Queenstown and hasn’t returned for 15 years, but will compose new music specific to Queenstown.