Regional Arts Australia (RAA) is the national organisation for rural, regional, and remote arts. It delivers the Commonwealth’s Regional Arts Fund, and supports artists and organisations with national advocacy, professional development, and strategic gatherings.

Australia's regional arts bring diverse stories and cultural traditions to life, instigate important conversations, and significantly contribute to local economies by creating jobs, attracting tourism, and creating liveable, dynamic and resilient communities where people want to live and work.

Artlands has been RAA’s flagship sector-wide gathering since 1998, and a cornerstone of its people and place-led approach. Artlands is designed to be responsive, contemporary and strategically positioned – championing best practice, encouraging meaningful exchange and supporting collaboration across sectors and communities.

Artlands 2026, held from 23-25 September, will see the event return to Qld after 20 years, with up to 200 selected delegates meeting on Kabi Kabi Country on the Sunshine Coast. As with previous gatherings, Artlands 2026 will be a carefully curated environment bringing together artists, cultural workers, facilitators, thinkers, and collaborators to meet, exchange, and shape the future of regional arts.

The TFFF has long been a supporter of the arts in rural, regional, and remote Queensland and the Northern Territory. The arts are an essential resource that enrich the liveability, inclusivity, and sustainability of Australia, and the arts in regional and remote areas in particular are integral to our country’s future.

Leadership initiative funding from the TFFF is supporting two part-time roles for Artlands 2026: an Artlands Producer (regional Qld), to lead program development and delivery, and a First Nations Lead (NT), to work alongside RAA’s Indigenous Knowledge Circle and Kabi Kabi Traditional Owners.

The TFFF is pleased to assist the team at Regional Arts Australia to return Artlands to Queensland in 2026, and in particular to facilitate local employment and self-determined First Nations engagement. Leadership is a core value for the TFFF and activities such as Artlands both enact and stimulate leadership from the communities that this Foundation exists to support.

- Tim Fairfax AC

Artlands 2026 will focus on creating the conditions for deeper dialogue, stronger relationships and new forms of collaboration across regional Australia, through the framework Water Connects Everything.

Across regional Australia, water shapes landscapes, ecosystems, industries and livelihoods. It moves between flood and drought, crisis and recovery - revealing the systems communities depend on to live, adapt and endure.

At Artlands 2026, water is the lens, not the topic. It is a connector that opens multiple entry points into conversation, linking Country, culture, creativity and the future of regional Australia. Through this framework, artists, First Nations knowledge holders, scientists, industry voices and policymakers will explore a central question:

What can creativity reveal about the systems shaping regional Australia's future?

Expressions of interest to attend Artlands 2026 are open until 14 May 2026.

Artlands 2026 is supported by the TFFF through the Leadership funding stream.