artpost, an interactive website and short video series for TV broadcast, which showcases artists working in regional and remote parts of the country, was launched last night.
Peter Garrett, the Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, launched artpost at the Art at the Heart Conference, in Alice Springs.
The centrepiece of www.abc.net.au/artpost, is a digital interactive arts map of Australia where you can watch artists at work in their studio – from Toowoomba to Lightning Ridge, from Broome to Strahan.
The site provides the tools for students, teachers, art lovers and artists to create short videos about who they are and their work, for inclusion on the digital map. In five easy steps, a video can be created and uploaded directly to what will become a living art gallery of all corners of Australia. These videos will also be broadcast on ABC1 and ABC2.
ABC is seeding the map by making twenty five videos to kick off the initiative and to encourage others to follow- the intention is that twenty five videos will become fifty, fifty will become five hundred and so on until the digital map is coloured in with pockets of creative communities.
Kim Dalton, Director of ABC TV said artpost, through its online platform and its digital broadcast, can provide artists with significant national exposure, providing opportunities to reach new audiences and to expand and develop into new markets.
artpost is a partnership between ABC and Regional Arts Australia, the national body which supports, promotes and advocates for the arts across regional Australia.
Regional Arts Australia’s president, Suzie Haslehurst, said artpost is a groundbreaking partnership. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the rich arts landscape in regional Australia to be broadcast to the world. Artists’ stories and their work will now be there for everyone to see, either on the web or on ABC TV, Ms Haslehurst said.
artpost has the support of the Australia Council for the Arts.
