Lonnie fest to host national arts conference

ARTS delegates will flock to Launceston in their hundreds for the national Artlands conference next year.

Regional Arts Australia is partnering with Junction Arts Festival to run the event, which will be held during the festival’s 10th anniversary in September.

Junction Arts Festival creative director Greg Clarke said the festival was born out of the last Artlands conference in Tasmania in 2005.

“We’re a bit of a success story, so I think we’ll be celebrating that during the conference,” he said.

Mr Clarke said more than 400 arts industry delegates and colleagues from around Australia would share “successes, forward thinking and what works in regional towns and cities” at the conference.

“It’s everything from discussions, breakaway groups, keynote speakers, really drilling down into what’s happening in the arts.”

Regional Arts Australia executive director Ros Abercrombie said the conference would celebrate the success, longevity and sustainability of Junction Arts Festival. “I think the whole reason of the partnership between Regional Arts Australia and Junction Arts Festival is it’s actually a celebration of legacy,” she said.

“I think there’s a lot of commentary around Tasmania and there’s a lot of commentary about regional practice and regional arts in Tasmania. To be able to bring 400-odd delegates, practitioners, arts organisations and arts leaders into that space is really significant.”

City of Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said Junction Arts Festival had been a great success story: “Not only using local artists, but also getting our local people involved in understanding art and getting a better appreciation of how art can change a community.”