Arts North West, administrator of the art trail, is very pleased to announce that there is now an iPhone app available for download from the Apple App Store (Country Art Escapes).
Country Art Escapes was launched in June 2012 and has gone from strength to strength, with around 60 subscribers on the trail, it features many of the artists and arts and cultural venues in the region. Nicci Parry-Jones, Special Project Officer with Arts North West explains, “anyone visiting the area can include a stop at one of the venues, whether you are interested in arts, history or Aboriginal culture, there are a diverse range of wonderful and welcoming venues on the trail including galleries, museums and artist studios from Tenterfield in the north to Quirindi to the south and west to Moree and Narrabri.”
In 2013, Regional Communications Advocate New England NSW, Alun Davies instigated a collaboration between University of New England students and local not-for-profit organisations in the New England area to provide students with real world projects and offer organisations innovative options to improve their social identity. With support from Regional Development Australia (Northern Inland) a partnership was brokered for Arts North West to work with third year Computer Science students from UNE to design and develop a Country Art Escapes phone app. Nathan Axelsson, Executive Officer of RDA (NI) is pleased to have been able to assist with this project, “This is a win-win both for the students and Arts North West. It’s a complex and expensive process to design a smart phone application, but these students have each invested many hours and saved significant set-up costs by completing this project as part of their studies.”
The phone app builds on the gradual promotion of the art trail as it has grown to local and regional visitors and will be official launched in January to coincide with the delivery of new brochures to all of the visitor information centres across the region and further afield interstate for promotion at major events such as Country NSW Expo.
The next phase for Country Art Escapes will include a partnership with the Business Enterprise Centre to offer art trail venues professional development sessions and creative industry advice. Ms Parry-Jones adds, “The art trail is set to have a busy and productive year and it is hoped that visitors will download the phone app and become cultural tourists and enjoy what the region has to offer.
For more information on Country Art Escapes please contact the Arts North West office or go to the Country Art Escapes website www.countryartescapes.com