News

Groundswell set for capacity crowd as registrations surge

10 September 2002

Albury: A surge of registrations for Groundswell : the 2002 Regional Arts Australia National Conference has brought numbers to well over the four hundred mark for the event, which will be held over four days in Albury Wodonga from 10 to 13 October. With just over four weeks still to go, and with registrations streaming in, conference organisers are preparing for a capacity crowd.

Groundswell is expected to be the biggest gathering of the regional arts sector in the history of Australia. Hundreds of artists, performers, artworkers, cultural workers, policy makers, decision makers, project managers, educationalists, researchers and 'miscellaneous others' - both paid and volunteer - are set to converge on the twin cities for four days of confabulation, consolidation and celebration.

With a program full to bursting, including several additional sessions and some noteworthy new speakers, Groundswell's wealth of options has clearly had strong appeal to a broad cross-section of Australia's regional arts sector from arts practitioners to government workers, Indigenous cultural workers and volunteers.

The conference has also attracted a number of major satellite activities including meetings of the Australia Council for the Arts, the ABC Arts Advisory Committee and Regional Arts Australia.

Groundswell will be officially opened by the Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, the Hon Mr Rod Kemp and the Director General of the NSW Ministry for the Arts, Mr Roger Wilkins. An Opening Night Spectacular, hosted by Albury City Council, will feature the world famous Flying Fruit Fly Circus, an Indigenous welcome, the fabulous fire art of Annie Edney, the Sing Australia Choir, a local band, special guests and more.

The great news for Groundswellers is that Albury Wodonga is pulling out all stops and staging a gigantic public celebration of the region's dynamic arts and cultural life to coincide with the conference. The SplingFring Festival is a feast of major arts and cultural events over ten days from October 4 - 13, linking both the conference and the Albury Wodonga Food and Wine Festival, on the weekend before. A packed festival calendar featuring over thirty events will be distributed shortly and available online through the Groundswell website.