March 9 - Save the date!

While our full festival is a biannual event, we like to get together regularly to share a love of words and to workshop the big issues. The committee is working on some fantastic events across the year, so keep checking in for updates, and book March 9 into your diary!

Community Day

Mark it in your diary! We're getting together on our usual date of March 9, 2024 for a community afternoon with Arts Upper Hunter.

We’re keeping events FREE and we’d love as many of our local community as possible to come and join in our artistic endeavours for the afternoon.

'After Liddell'

The afternoon’s big event will be in the form of a thought provoking panel entitled 'After Liddell'. We'll be looking respectfully from the past into a transitional and emotional future, through the eyes of writers and artists. We’ll be discussing the emotional side of change and transition. From solastalgia, to a bright future, we’ll look at ways of framing a diverse story for our beautiful Hunter Valley post Liddell. Led by John O'Brien, ‘After Liddell’ will feature: Dr Patrice Newell AM – author, campaigner, & land manager. Catherine Hickson BA, MA – artist, psychotherapist, mother, & bio-diversity manager. Dr Penny Dunstan PhD (Fine Art), M AgSc – artist, writer, agronomist/soil scientist. We'll also be joined by Rob Cooper, representing community relations, stakeholder engagement and communications for AGL.

This fantastic panel is brought to us by Arts Upper Hunter with support from the NSW Government.

Part of the Liddell WORKS program, funded by the NSW government as part of the Liddell transitional period, our artists/panelists have a deep, local understanding and are passionate about the future of our Hunter Valley. Find out more about their experience and what they'll bring to the "After Liddell' Panel on Saturday March 9.

CATHERINE HICKSON – ARTIST

Artist, Catherine Hickson, grew up on a farm in Jerry’s Plains during an era of change. Her work examines the impact of industry and change on community and country.

PENNY DUNSTON – ARTIST

’We recognise that the transition of the Liddell site is a significant moment in the lives of many in the region, and we value the opportunity to use art and creative practice to facilitate both reflection on what has past, but also, on what the future of Liddell might also hold.'

PATRICE NEWELL

Patrice is a well known local resident, author and land manager. Home is the picturesque ‘’Elmswood Farm” at Gundy, which Newell runs as a biodynamic farming enterprise.

The Liddell Power Station is being closed, decommissioned and transformed.

Liddell WORKS is a creative program that both marks the legacy of this iconic industrial edifice and helps to document its transformation. Here is a place of history and a place of metamorphosis, a deeply appealing combination for artists.

This is an open project that changes alongside Liddell’s own transition. Vital moments of shutting down, moving on, demolition, salvage and new building will be recorded - and commemorated. Artists and cultural workers can visit, collect, create. The workforce and the broader community will be brought in on the opportunities and the dialogue.

BOOK SWAP

Recycle your books and your insights with our roving book club and community book swap! There’s no better way of sharing the love of words, or challenging others with reads that really got you thinking!

Catch up with your Community

Enjoy coffee and a light lunch with friends old and new; bring a picnic or purchase a light lunch and coffee, all in the shade of our hub at Scone Arts and Crafts. It’s a FREE afternoon, but we’d love you to register if you’re interested to make sure we have enough tables, chairs and food available for everyone.