What kind of artistic framework will best inform and guide the work of an arts organisation whose scope is geographic? What kind of artistic program should a regional arts organisation have? And how might a geographically-determined framework inform work of scale in urban as well as regional contexts?

An artistic framework is curatorial as well as organisational. As a set of artistic principles, as well as practical programs, an artistic framework guided by geographic scope offers something new. The scope of this framework is determined not by artform, venue, presentation model, nor artist career stage, as is the convention for arts organisations (e.g. dance companies, art galleries, festivals, youth arts). Its scope is determined geographically by the unique places where art is made, shared and discussed.

At Regional Arts Victoria, we’re currently collaborating on such a model, making these Artistic Leadership adventures timely indeed. Alongside the development of this artistic framework, we’re developing a distributed advocacy model for generating critical-mass levels of arts discussion and debate across geographically dispersed communities. The two are connected: both aim at harnessing what is unique about regional art, regional creative practice and the regional spatial condition.

At Grizedale Arts this July, I will lead a roundtable on the question, Is there a regional artistic framework? As the set of provocations for our think tank crystallise, I’ll update them here.