General News
27 May, 2026
Orana Arts wants to meet Gilgandra's artists and creative community
Arts peak body reps to meet Orana artists and creative communities on three-day tour
By Sharon Bonthuys
Artists, creative industries’ practitioners, and supporters of “the arts” will have the opportunity to meet high-ranking representatives of NSW arts industry peak bodies touring the Orana region early next month.
Local Regional Arts Development Organisation (RADO) Orana Arts will be joined by Regional Arts NSW, Create NSW and neighbouring RADOs on the learning-and-listening tour of the Orana region, which will take place from June 1-3.
The touring bodies want to meet the creative communities in Narromine, Trangie, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Coolah, Dunedoo, Wellington, and Dubbo, to learn more about their projects, businesses, and aspirations.
They will also share what a RADO can offer creative communities, listen to what practitioners need, and answer questions about the 2026 Orana Arts Small Grants Program which is now open, Orana Arts operations and engagement manager Sharon Quill told The Gilgandra Weekly.
Open community sessions will take place at each stop on the tour, Sharon said.
“Everything captured will feed into the first steps of a region-wide online gallery, and shared across the networks of Orana Arts, Regional Arts NSW and Create NSW,” she added.
The visiting team of peak body representatives will include Dr Tracey Callinan OAM, CEO of Regional Arts NSW, and two newly appointed Orana Arts board members – Phoebe Maroulis and Paul Young.
Phoebe Maroulis is an emerging visual artist, an active participant in regional cultural life, and a familiar face at events including Moorambilla Voices and The Orana Every Woman Festival.
Her extensive financial counselling and community development background means Phoebe is perfectly placed to help Orana Arts connect people, resources and ideas across the region, so creative outcomes go further for everyone.
Paul Young is CEO of the Macquarie Conservatorium of Music, where he has more than doubled the organisation's reach in two years, growing from 250 enrolments to over 500 individual tuition students and 750 school program students, while expanding the teaching team and keeping the books consistently balanced.
He brings to Orana Arts a strong network, a track record of organisational transformation, and a belief that the arts are the heartbeat of community.
“Regional creativity doesn’t only happen in galleries or major venues. It happens in our wardrobe choices, workplaces, main streets, interactions with services, at the shops, community centres – even playing sport,” Phoebe said.
“We want to get to know the people and drivers behind that creativity across the region and help share their stories more widely.”
Dr Tracey Callinan OAM described RADOs – which are essential support and advocacy organisations for the arts across regional NSW – as “the true champions of regional arts” and looks forward to next month’s tour of the Orana.
“We are genuinely looking forward to getting out into this RADO community alongside Orana Arts and showing people what becomes possible when you have a RADO working for you – the connections, the pathways, the opportunities that artists and creatives in regional areas deserve,” Tracey explained.
“The [recently opened] small grants are a very real and exciting sign of that activity.”
