25 Years

1993 - 2018
Country Arts SA 25 Years: The Art of Inspiring Communities

Art – an image, a song, a poem – is the means by which human beings seek to understand themselves, make sense of the world and communicate their thoughts, feelings and beliefs to others. To be able to share and express ourselves through art is a human right. Children who are encouraged to be imaginative grow to be the world’s architects, engineers, inventors, innovators and artists in all walks of life, and to inspire our children in return.
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01
1993
Evolution of an Arts Centre

Community arts spaces are living, breathing organisms whose constant change parallels the evolution of a civilised society. Over 25 years, incremental changes have influenced how people have inhabited our performing arts centres*, with additions and improvements bringing increasing accessibility, comfort and safety to these gathering places.
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02
1994
Out from under a Bushel

Artists living regionally reap the benefits of working in places they love, often more cheaply than their city colleagues and sometimes closer to family. Communities with artists residing within them are richer places to live for everyone – centres of art creation in their own right. But the most oft-reported disadvantage is the infrequency of collegiate interaction and access to professional learning.
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03
1994
Beyond State Borders

People who don’t live in the main urban centres are just as deserving of the best art product available as anyone else. And if they’re making the best art, it deserves to be seen as widely as possible.
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04
1997
Our Statewide Mob

A reconnaissance of the area in the far northwest of the state now known as the APY Lands in 1997, as guests of the three major art centres, marked our first commitment to overcome the isolation, lack of information and cultural differences which had made it difficult for those communities to access government arts programs up to that point.
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05
1997
Art in the Public Space

As we go about our daily business, our encounters with art in the public spaces we move through make us think about those places in ways we wouldn’t otherwise. Not only does the artwork itself demand attention, it also brings the landscape around it into sharper relief. And because it’s in a public space, we talk, debate and argue about it with other people, making it the perfect vehicle to celebrate, memorialise, mourn or debate issues of local consequence.
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06
1997
Last one out turn off the lights

It would be an uncommon piece of art that is the result of a completely solo effort—perhaps a few objects pieced together by a hermit. For us to experience art, it takes a vast team of people, with a multitude of talents and skills, no matter the scale of the undertaking.
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07
1998
The National Stage

1998 represented a new high watermark for the newly established organisation and for regional arts on a national scale. Having begun to broaden our scope to embrace the multiplicity of arts being practiced in regional South Australia, we were instrumental in the resolution to do the same on a national scale.
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08
1998
Landscape Art

For those of us living in non-urban centres, the physical landscape – the meanderings of the waterways, the pitch of the escarpments, the vastness of the deserts, the rise and fall of the land, the heat of sun and the frequency of the rain - often defines who we are.
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09
1998
A Celebration of Living Artists

When private gallerist Paul Greenaway OAM set out to redress the balance of what he saw as a disproportionate focus on venerating artists long deceased, rather than those currently practising, there emerged a week-long festival of exhibitions in 21 metropolitan and 20 regional galleries. Bringing to the public eye the work of artists still breathing life into new works of art, the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA) was and remains, 20 years on, a thoroughly inclusive open framework on...
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10
1999
The Art of Conversation

The first national regional arts conference in 1998*, in which we had also added a discrete two-day event for community arts workers, led inevitably to the desire for gatherings at a state level, to delve more deeply into more local matters and celebrate art-making on our own soil, especially that of the host community. The first of these in Port Augusta in 1999 set a precedent for collaboration with the host communities in years to come that would see our relationships with local government in particular...
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11
2001
Not Just a Spectator

Being a spectator is OK up to a point. Sometimes it’s best to stand back and admire. But sometimes we long to know more about what lies beneath these human endeavours – the inspiration, the technical achievement, the questions they raise. And sometimes it’s great to be around when the line between spectator and participant becomes more indistinct.
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12
2002
Art for the Sake of Health

Aside from the well-documented connections between artistic expression and holistic health for us all, nowhere is its transformative effect more consistently evident than at the intersection between art and health care, and in mental health most profoundly. As artists and health practitioners work together toward more positive health outcomes and the wealth of research grows, the day is not too far distant when arts will be recognised as a mandatory part of the health sector.
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13
2002
A Fleeting Moment

Ephemeral public art is, by its very nature, tenuous, often closely observing and interacting with the sensory aesthetics unique to the place it is in and provoking reflection on transience, decay and loss. It can be a performance, a sculptural installation, a ‘happening’. Whatever it is, you have to be in the right place at the right time to see it.
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14
2003
Common Ground

Whilst we work with all tiers of government, our most practical day to day relationship is with the tier that knows community most intimately. To plan events, install public art, or work with communities to shape and produce artwork, our relationship with local government comes into play. And for our part, we bring arts expertise that provides creative solutions to local issues and makes communities good places to live. It's a good partnership.
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