Wishing you a Wonderful Art-Filled Festive Season!
The Soaring Stingrays installation created in free workshops by the local community and led by renowned artists Marion Gaemers and Lynnette Griffiths | Image by Andrew Pattinson.
Once again Whitsundays Arts Festival would like to acknowledge the overwhelming importance of our supporters, sponsors, and especially our volunteers. The 2022 Festival was a tremendous success and well-attended by the local community as well as intrastate and interstate visitors.
Highlights included the celebration of our Indigenous and multi-cultural art, dance, and music; the all-day kid’s art workshops; the expanded Handmade Art Markets highlighting regional arts and crafts; mandala on the beach; multiple art installations and workshops; the inaugural Songwriters Residency and Festival; and the week-long Art Prize Exhibition at Coral Sea Marina Resort. Also new to this year was a weekend of film screenings at the Proserpine Entertainment Centre. It could not have happened without all of you.
And now for a quick update. After three consecutive festivals, the committee has recommended that the Whitsunday Arts Festival, in particular the Foreshore Festivities, the Handmade Markets, and the Whitsundays Art Prize Exhibition, be scheduled on a biannual basis. That means that the Whitsundays Arts Festival will become a biannual event and the next festival is scheduled for September 2024. This will provide for opportunities to innovate and to provide adequate funding for new and expanding events exploring the theme of “Our Stories, Our Heritage”.
However, the Whitsundays Arts Festival will continue to support regular arts programs in our community. The Whitsundays Songwriters Festival and Residency will continue on an annual basis with support from Whitsundays Arts Festival. There is also a new event underfoot as well – the reintroduction of the Whitsundays Writers Festival, presented in association with the Whitsundays Arts Festival.
We assure you that the Whitsundays Arts Festival will continue to passionately promote the important role of the arts in our region. If you would like to propose an art event in the coming year or take part in planning for future arts events in the Whitsundays, please get in touch.
We would like to send our best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year to all.
Jess Begun
President
Whitsundays Arts Festival