Fiona Woods - extended interview on ABC Radio National Australia

Artworks Feature: Rural artists with a wide orbit

 This week in Artworks, a feature about art and rural communities, art and agriculture.

Last month in Swan Hill, a town on the Victorian/New South Wales border, an assortment of artists, arts organisations, farmers, historians and other interested locals gathered to talk about cultural life in rural communities, and to hear guests from around Australia and abroad. The event was called ACRE 2 and, at a time when so many rural communities around Australia, and indeed around the world, are undergoing huge changes, one of the major question posed was: what's the role of art and creativity in re-imagining the landscape? 

For Artworks, Michael Shirrefs went to the Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, on the banks of the Murray River, to speak to some of the participants. And he was amazed at the range and scope of the discussions, which clearly mark a big shift in the way rural arts communities see themselves.
Please see following Link:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2011/3237586.htm