Barossa Arts Festival is coming to one of the world’s most spectacular wine regions this April.
The month-long festival is a celebration of colour, creativity and culture highlighted by a Meet The Maker long weekend where you’ll be immersed in creativity watching artists working live in their chosen medium.
Created and driven by local artists and supportive partners, The Barossa Arts festival is envisaged to be a bi-annual event that encourages collaboration and the creation of partnerships between many local communities, artists, local industry and the public.
It is designed to be a platform that showcases the talent of local SA Artists, creates interest in the Arts and increases tourism to the area, making Art and a variety of Art practises available and inclusive to all ages, abilities and cultures.
It will be an important addition to the regional event calendar and offers a very real opportunity to boost the local economy assisting with the recovery from the effects of Covid.
Planning is well underway, with 60 artists in pop-up exhibitions at 40 venues across 7 different towns and a Festival Arts Trail to bring it all together, in the works.
Karen Nickels, Barossa Arts Festival Event Manager told Glam Adelaide that there will be 30 different Artist-led workshops suitable for a variety of ages, abilities and interests to get the public involved.
“We wanted to engage with the public and in doing so we wanted to create a range of workshops suitable for the beginner, novice or someone more advanced. We wanted to also ensure that we covered all mediums,” said Karen.
“We will have dedicated children’s workshops as well.
“Some [workshops] are in cellar door wineries and some are in galleries and some are in open studios.”
The festival was inspired by other food and wine festivals in the region.
Karen said she founded the festival to showcase the local talent in the region and to coincide alongside the vintage festival to continue the festivities from the Fringe and Womadelaide into April.
“There will be over 60 artists, spread across 7 different town communities,” she said.
“The main event will be the opening weekend between the 1st-3rd of April, that is when we will host most of the workshops.”
The opening weekend will see an Art in the Park event, Markets and a silent auction.
“There’s a picnic-style Art In The Park event with opportunities for all ages to get involved in art activities and a Makers Market with a unique selection of artisans showcasing the talents of the region,” Karen said.
“There will also be an Art On The Green celebration and silent art auction at Peter Lehmann Wines with part proceeds going to Tutti Arts (Arts education for people with disabilities).”
The festival is an artist-led initiative aimed to raise the profile of SA Artists by giving them a platform to showcase their talents partnering with regional businesses such as Winery cellar doors, restaurants, cafes and art galleries.
Street artists, painters, blacksmiths, pastel artists, sculptors, jewellers, mosaic artists, printmakers, textile artists, portrait/ streetscape artists, tattoo artists and more will all have art on show over the month.
Tickets to the artist workshops will be available on the Barossa Arts Festival website soon.
The Artist trail is free and open to the public every day of April.
Follow the Barossa Arts Festival on Facebook.
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