A Wonderful Way to Spend a Day Or Two in Central Otago

A Wonderful Way to Spend a Day Or Two in Central Otago

An exciting new tourism venture that show-cases artists and their studios has recently been launched. Twenty-nine artists from around the region have signed up to be part of the Central Otago Arts Trail and the Central Otago District Arts Trust, who organised it, expects the number of artists wanting to be listed to grow each year.

Art supporters and artists gathered at Oliver’s in Clyde last weekend to celebrate the official opening of the Arts Trail, and had the first viewing of the new online version of the trail and brochure.

Art’s Coordinator Maxine Williams said “It is heartening to see the belief and confidence artists had in the Arts Trust to pull it off. We’ve done the hard work and now it’s over to visitors and locals to take the opportunity to visit artists in their studios”.

Last week Ms Williams guided groups of primary school children around five of the Alexandra/Clyde based artists listed on the new trail.

“It was an amazing experience for our young people to see these talented artists at work in the own environment. They loved it and I think some of them came away totally inspired.”

Arts trail brochures have been distributed around i-SITE’s and key locations for people to pick up. There is also an Arts Trail webpage with downloadable maps at www.artstrail.co.nz and a mobile phone version of the Arts Trail is also available so people can read more about artists listed and check out their artwork online.

“People can scan the QR code on the back of the Arts Trail brochure with their smart phones which shows artist locations using Google maps. It was one of our concerns that some people might get lost trying to find our artists and now using GPS and some clever technology that worry has been put to rest,” said Ms Williams.

“Working closely with tour operators, the various biking businesses, accommodation providers, i-SITES’s and the wine industry will be crucial to the success of this new venture.

“We hope that anyone planning to come to Central will pick up a Wine Guide along with an Arts Trail brochure to combine the two and have a fabulous time in our beautiful region”, she said.

© Scoop Media