The biennial Castlemaine State Festival first began in 1976 and has grown to become Australia’s flagship regional arts festival. The hotly awaited 2009 Castlemaine State Festival will kick-off on 27 March 2009 and run for 10 action-packed days during which well-loved performance genres and new festival initiatives will be on offer.

The Castlemaine area is rich with artists who work both with invention and as artisans. In 2009 the Castlemaine State Festival is delighted to announce that it will present its inaugural Visual Arts Biennial exploring the theme of The Art of Making: Invention and Artisanship. For the duration of the festival, the Visual Arts Biennial will be active across Castlemaine with the iconic venues transformed into galleries and numerous sculptural works installed in public spaces throughout the town.

The Castlemaine State Festival will feature a range of classical and contemporary music, and live theatre in Castlemaine’s historic theatres and halls as well as in unique venues including mines, churches, parklands and public sites. For lovers of poetry, the Festival will feature some of Australia’s leading poets in a series of readings, conversations and other special events.

For further information: http://www.castlemainefestival.com.au/index.html