Barossa Regional Gallery, with support from The Barossa Council, has announced a new annual Barossa Women's Artist Residency Project, specifically targeting female artists.
The vision is to establish a much sought-after international artist residency program in the Barossa that brings exceptional artists and artmaking to the region.
The residency will be across all artforms and open to artists from Australia and overseas, with a minimum length of 4 to 6 weeks.
The project seeks to provide local artists, businesses, schools and community groups with an opportunity to engage with professional artists of national and international standing.
"From a local perspective, the residency project will enable local artists both male and female to broaden their networks and learn from artists who come from other parts of the world,"
The initiative has been generously funded by community donations and at a recent meeting, The Barossa Council Elected Members confirmed their support for the Residency as a valuable community-led arts initiative.
Barossa Mayor Bim Lange expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming support of the community to make the three-year program possible.
"The groundswell of support for this initiative once again highlights the tremendous generosity of the community we live in," he said.
"This residency provides yet another opportunity to reflect on our rich cultural heritage and the place we call home, and we look forward to creating ongoing artistic opportunities that reinforce the Barossa as a premier arts and cultural destination."
The Residency, commencing in 2023, will provide established female artists with an opportunity to experiment and grow their practice in a focused way within the environs of the Barossa region, creating work that is created in the context of and will potentially respond to "place".
The project aims also to raise the profile of female artists and increase the likelihood of them developing long and sustained careers.
Maz McGann said, "Given the imbalance in representation of women within professional arts practice I was keen to see if we could come up with a project to help restore the balance in some small way.
