Sun in the Wattle, oil on polyester canvas, Hobie Porter
Some regional creatives are celebrating this week after the WA Government announced a Creative Regions Program to provide $24 million to regional arts.
But in most parts of regional Australia artists continue to fight challenges not faced by their city counterparts.
‘It is assumed that the city is where the culture is – all the galleries and artists run initiatives and festivals and curators are all city based, so there is an assumption that living regionally is a set-back,’ said public installation artist Belinda Smith, who will be a guest at Arts Northern Rivers upcoming Survival Guide for Regional Creatives workshop on Saturday 13 June.
Workshop developer Jill Moonie said the biggest challenges faced by regional artists are the internal ones. ‘Keeping your passion alive, having the self-discipline and the drive and the optimism to keep going, having the stamina, the endurance. We are talking about running a marathon, not just a sprint when you are in creative industries,’ she said.
It’s a marathon for nearly all artists and art practitioners, and for many artists the move to regional areas can be a way to cope with the exhaustion of the city. Belinda Smith said living regionally is about lifestyle and can mean open spaces, fresh air and more often affordable housing and more time.
So what are the unique challenges faced by regional creatives, and more importantly, how can they be overcome? We talk to regional artists and arts facilitates to glean insider tips for regionally based creatives to thrive.
Diversify your media
To live solely on your work as a regional artist often means you need to diversify your work due to limited opportunities. ‘Make sure your work is quite diverse can make it viable and sustainable,’ said Smith.
As an example, Smith suggests that if you’re making jewellery, consider translating your skills to public installation art. ‘In my experience upscaling a piece of jewellery can be really beautiful as the materials are quite similar,’ she said.
