Junction Arts Festival turns Launceston into Tasmania’s best playground, offering five days of playful performances, experiences and late-night happenings that unlock hidden spaces of the city and offer audiences the opportunity to come into close proximity with artists, to observe, participate and create.
The Junction Arts Festival was first presented as a one-off event annexed to the 2010 Regional Arts Australia National Conference, Junction 2010, hosted and organised by Tasmanian Regional Arts in Launceston. The five-day event filled a niche in Tasmania and its success prompted key stakeholders Events Tasmania and Launceston City Council to finance development to realise the creation of an annual multi-arts festival. The Junction Arts Festival was thus established, temporarily remaining an arms-length project under its parent organisation Tasmanian Regional Arts, with the goal of incorporating as an independent organisation. With six short months to realise, the 2011 Junction Arts Festival took place August 24-28, 2011. It was the first year operating independently of the conference, and with 60 events the Festival saw over 54,000 attendees across its five days. In December 2011 Tasmanian Regional Arts completed a transition plan that successfully separated the Junction Arts Festival as a discreet legal entity. Junction Arts Festival Inc. was established on 1 January 2012 to run the Junction Arts Festival as an independent, not-for-profit organisation.