Bathurst’s arts community will come alive over the next four days as Artstate kicks off today.
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Featuring a stellar lineup of artists and a broad program of local and national speakers, Artstate is shaping up to be one of the largest celebrations of art Bathurst has ever seen.
“It’s a pretty exciting event for Bathurst to have, and we are known in Australia as a regional community that punches well above its weight in terms of the arts and cultural activities we deliver,” Artstate Arts Program director Adam Deusien said.
“We have so many professional artists working across different art forms in Bathurst, and this centralised, concentrated moment for the community to view their works is really exciting.”
Artstate is a four-year project by Regional Arts NSW to shine a light on excellence in regional arts practice and to explore the exciting possibilities for arts and cultural development across the state.
With such an expansive lineup of local and regional creatives set to exhibit their works, Mr Deusien says there will be no shortage of highlights in the program.
“Arts Outwest has been curating a series of exhibitions down at Tremain’s Mill, transforming it into a precinct of creativity,” he said.
“These works include Out of Office [the work of Arts Outwest staff], Transformation [a moving image work by Nicole Welch] and My Own Backyard [an exhibition of works from over a dozen Central West artists].”
“Also at Tremain’s Mill will be the dance performance Three, featuring three professional contemporary dancers from three different Central West towns [Bathurst, Orange and Cowra].”
“There’s a heap of commissions from our professional artists all the way through to young and emerging artists who are getting some significant opportunities to make original work.”
The Arts program will also see the debut live performance of The Climbing Tree, a joint production between the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre and the Australian Theatre for Young People exploring generations of teenagers in Bathurst.
Artstate is expected to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for the Bathurst community.
“What’s really great about the way they have delivered this event is that there’s a clear distinction between the conference and the arts programs,” Mr Deusien said.
“The conference program, attracting 240 delegates from around the country, is the space for listening and conversation, which will then shift into observing examples of the work.”
“It’s this wonderful balance between talking about work and then seeing it.”
Artstate is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and Destination NSW.
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Sam Bolt
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
