Wagga artists (from left) Debbie Woods, Linda Farley, Rebecca Hutchinson, Maree McCrum and Maggie Deall. Photos: Supplied.
Wagga has a thriving arts community but, until now, the state’s largest inland city has not had a focal point to bring creatives together and celebrate local talent.
This looks set to change, according to artist and gallery owner Maggie Deall.
“It’s a really strange thing that Wagga, being such a big city, has no arts festival, no art prize or a significant art competition,” Ms Deall said.
“We have decided, in our infinite wisdom, to kick off a Wagga Wagga Festival of Arts in 2025.”
The “we” in question is a committee of local artists who will meet regularly in the studio behind The Little Yellow House Gallery in Tompson Street to lay the groundwork for a major festival set to launch in October next year.
“We’re centring the organising from here because we have the space to have meetings and we have an established community of artists, but this is open to everybody,” Ms Deall said.
“We’ve had talks with Eastern Riverina Arts, Wagga Council and the Wagga Arts Society so far and they have all been supportive and keen to be involved in this.”
The inaugural Wagga Wagga Festival of Arts hopes to attract entries from across Australia.
The inaugural Wagga Wagga Festival of Arts will be held at the showground and is tentatively scheduled for 17-19 October, a couple of weeks after the annual Gears and Beers event.
The festival will centre on an art prize and exhibition with significant prize money on offer to attract a high standard of entries from across Australia.
Ms Deall said the aim was to celebrate what the Riverina had to offer, showcasing local artists, selling arts and crafts, and staging activities and live entertainment.
“It will start on the Friday night with an opening and presentation of the prizes across about 13 categories, including one major prize,” she said.
“But over the course of the weekend, we will have live painting demonstrations, we’ll have talks by people related to the arts industry, and we’ll have different workshops for kids and adults going on that people can attend and participate in and make a real family day of it.”
Maggie Deall and the Wagga Wagga Festival of Arts committee are hoping to kick off in 2025.
The committee is also keen to get behind a community charity and has chosen Sisters Housing Enterprises, which provides safe and secure housing and practical support for women and children in crisis.
“Domestic violence is such a topical issue it’s a charity that is pretty close to all of our hearts,” Ms Deall said.
“They do really good boots-on-the-ground work in Wagga and a lot of us have actually had contact with them through work or other ways.”
While the development of the festival is still in its embryonic stages, Ms Deall said the committee was aiming big and wanted to get the word out early.
“We want a fairly large-scale event, so we need a decent amount of time to kick it off,” she said.
“We’re at the stage of wanting to let artists out there know that it will be happening and to see whether they would be interested in getting involved.
“Then there will be the work of grant applications and looking for sponsorship to really make this a great tourism event for the region.
“I just foresee this bringing money into the town through the pockets of local creatives, which I think is super important, and another great reason for people to come to Wagga.”
If you’d like to keep up with how things are developing or get in touch with the committee, check out the social media pages.
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