Regional Futures

Regional Futures is a state-wide program of creative development and conversations that places artists at the centre of a dialogue exploring a future vision, for the place where they live and create and responding to the question ‘ 'What does the future of the region look like?' Managed by the NSW Regional Arts Network and funded by Create NSW, this is an opportunity for artists to participate in a statewide project, capturing a sense of celebration of regional creative practice and diversity of perspectives.

Arts North West has supported four regional artists from the New England North West to develop two collaborative projects to be part of the Regional Futures Project in 2022 for Stage 1.

Joanne Stead - Joanne is a Tamworth-based artist best known for her thematics on ‘Threatened Species’ and reflecting on the sustainability of our world and our bi-products. Joanne returned to a regular art practice in 2015 and over the past 7 years has exhibited in a number of solo and group exhibitions and led a suite of public art projects. -

Tania Hartigan - Tania Hartigan is a proud Gomeroi woman, a weaver, papermaker, painter, and illustrator, and also a woman of the land with great knowledge of bush foods and owner of ‘The Artshack’ at Wallabadah,

Mike Terry - Mike lives in Armidale and is a photographer and visual anthropologist, who has lectured in Berlin and has toured the world with projects in the UK, America and Australia.

Alana Blackburn - Dr. Alana Blackburn is a professional recorder player based in Armidale, NSW who has toured throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Music - the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at UNE.

Artists from across regional NSW have been commissioned to create work that responds to the prompt ‘What does the future look like for your region?’.

Throughout 2022, twenty-nine Regional Future artists working across different mediums have been developing their project ideas, responding to the complex question, 'What does the future of the region look like?' In June 2023 many of them will head off to Casula Powerhouse, Western Sydney to present the fruits of their labour and continue the conversation.