River of Art Festival’s opening night in Moruya in 2024. Photo: Supplied.
Now in its 21st year, the River of Art Festival will flood Eurobodalla Shire with vibrant creativity for 11 days.
Each year it celebrates the South Coast’s extensive arts scene. The festival is regarded as one of the most significant cultural events in the NSW South Coast regional calendar.
The winners of its much-anticipated art prize will be announced at the festival’s launch on Friday 26 September.
The Arts Trail is a festival highlight that showcases all forms of visual art from paintings and sculpture to performances, music and creative workshops. Plan your itinerary through the festival’s website where you can search by event type, date and area.
Events and activities running from Durras to Bermagui attract a large visitor and local community audience while engaging and supporting local artists showcasing their talents amid the stunning beauty of the South Coast.
The festival engages with local chambers of commerce and arts group in all the region’s towns and communities, particularly the three hub towns of Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma.
Eurobodalla Shire Council, a supporter of the festival, estimated that 15,667 people attended last year’s festival with a total of 61,462 across the region over 11 days. Council’s review found that the total spend for the festival’s duration was $30.2 million, up 24 per cent from 2023’s festival.
Visitors came from the ACT, Sydney, regional NSW and Victoria, resulting in more than 9700 overnight stays with an average of 3.3 nights.
During River of Arts Mogo Day, visitor spending in Mogo was up 157 per cent from the average daily spend.
Opening night of the River of Art Festival 2024 at Moruya’s Mechanics Institute. Photo: Supplied.
The River of Art Prize is another festival highlight. The prestigious award honours the creativity of the South Coast and beyond. Finalists’ works are showcased in an exhibition that celebrates excellence and inspires both audiences and judges.
Artists and makers from across Australia are invited to enter the annual prize. Open to any subject or style, it encourages diverse and original creative expression.
Finalist works will be exhibited at the historic Mechanics Institute in Moruya. It is a prominent platform for artists to showcase their vision across all mediums – painting, watercolour, mixed media, drawing, sculpture and photography.
From the finalists the judges select the overall winner, runner-up and highly commended works. Shortlisting is decided by the judges on the basis of a digital image of the submitted work.
Shortlisted works will appear in the River of Art Prize exhibition, 10 am to 4 pm, from 27 September to 6 October at Mechanics Institute, 13 Page Street, Moruya. Entry is free.
The prize is announced at the festival’s launch at Mechanics Institute at 5 pm. The People’s Choice Prize is announced at the close of the festival.
The two esteemed judges are Cath Bowdler, an artist, arts administrator, curator and academic, and Tony Oates, director of the Drill Hall Gallery and ANU Art Collection at the Australian National University.
The first prize winner will receive $4500 cash and a solo exhibition at the Mechanics Institute in 2026, supported by the Basil Sellars Exhibition Centre.
The second prize winner takes home $2000 cash, and the highly commended artist receives $500.
The festival offers the chance to step behind the doors of the region’s talented creatives’ studios and gain an insight into their creative practice. This year there are 22 studios from Malua Bay to Cobargo offering the public a chance to brush with local artists. Artists will be there to discuss their work and it may be possible to pick up a new artwork direct from the artist.
That is just a small sample of what is on offer at this year’s River of Art Festival.
There are also free drawing workshops to help shape the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital, an online poetry and flash fiction prize, art and sip, a dinner with inspiring stories of female entrepreneurs, a gospel concert, workshops on lino printing, pottery, and creative non-fiction writing, and a South Coast dance gathering.
Rounding out the eclectic offerings are a crochet fibre oyster wreath workshop at a local oyster farm gate, and a waste art exhibition by The Weavers from Waste, plus a magic lantern show at Narooma Kinema.
