Artlands is a national event designed to reflect and respond to emerging trends and shine a spotlight on arts in regional Australia.

Designed to showcase new thinking, present contemporary work, generate exchange and conversations, the programming will champion best practice and strengthen a national network of artists and practitioners working in regional, rural and remote Australia. Artlands presents a critical survey of the contemporary regional cultural landscape.

Presented and delivered by Regional Arts Australia the event is positioned as a multi-art, cross-industry and inter-generational. The creative programming seeks to stimulate critical reflection on practice and provide much-needed opportunities for artists to gather, present work and enter into meaningful exchange.

2020/21 heralds a new approach to the delivery of this critical national event. Artlands will be curated alongside existing festivals, exhibitions, and gatherings connecting with creative programming and providing ongoing platforms for dialogue and critical conversations across all States and Territories. This approach encourages connections and engagement with local creative industries and practitioners and facilitates an integrated process of shared ownership and outcomes generating increases participation and audiences.

In August 2020 the Artlands Conversation Series was launched. Picking up themes from most recent Artlands Victoria (2018) and the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation Country Plan 2014-2034 framework, and leading into our national gathering in September 2021 on palawa country in lutruwita (Tasmania), this curated program presents a series of critical conversations that reflect and respond to emerging trends in regional practice.

The 2021 gathering will be delivered alongside Junction Arts Festival from 1 - 3 September. Junction Arts Festival was first presented as a one-off event annexed to the 2010 Regional Arts Australia conference and, as a result of local support for a festival in Launceston, has continued as an annual fixture of the national events calendar. Junction exists to bring quality arts and cultural experiences to Launceston. As it celebrates its 10^th year, with the re-addition of the Artlands conference, Junction continues its tradition of developing, commissioning and presenting participatory and community engaged contemporary artwork

Artlands timeline

About Artlands 2018

Celebrating twenty years in 2018, Artlands is a national event designed to reflect and respond to emerging trends and shine a spotlight on Australia’s regional arts.

RAA has a critical role as a provocateur in contemporary regional culture with a renewed currency to facilitate ideas and engage across the sector with national and global reach. This is exemplified through diverse projects and agendas, building audiences and creating connection through the arts and creative industries. RAA’s guiding principle is that place is central to creative practice and provides profound practical and emotional links between the economies and synergies of artistic and cultural practice.

Artlands is lead by First Nation dialogue and practice On Country and will continue to be cross-disciplinary, interconnected and intergenerational. The 2020 Program will be designed to showcase contemporary artists and new thinkers that influence the way we engage with regional arts and its processes. Critical conversations on key themes – from health and well-being to innovative practice across industries, Indigenous practice on-country, developments in technology will be explored.