2019 SALA Festival Starts Today!

The South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival starts today showcasing the talents of South Australians, from beginners to professional artists, with over 8000 artists participating in almost 700 exhibitions and events across Adelaide and regional SA.

Celebrating its 22nd year, SALA will run from August 1 - 31 and is Australia's largest community based open access visual arts festival. The skill level demonstrated by artists exhibiting in SALA is extensive and spans a breadth of disciplines including sculpture, painting, photography, installation, glassblowing, performance, ceramics, drawing, filmmaking, textiles and many more. With themes of human migration, observation, the environment, social change, identity and inventiveness, SALA offers participants a platform to express themselves and the public a rich and diverse program to explore throughout the month of August.

SALA exhibitions will appear in local neighbourhoods, along coastlines, at local galleries, cafés, wineries, shops, offices, libraries, surgeries, pubs, schools, retirement villages, breweries, bakeries, and at a number of art institutes. From small collections in your local community venue to large scale works like Illuminart's travelling light exhibition that will be projected onto the silos in Port Pirie and travelling onto the outer regions of South Australia. There are residencies in some of South Australia's most well-known institutions including Royal Adelaide Hospital, Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, Glenside Psychiatric Unit, Flinders Medical Centre, SAHMRI, South Australian Film Corporation and Government House.

SALA Festival CEO Kate Moskwa says "South Australia should be proud that right now we are playing host to the largest open access visual arts festival in the world. There are so many exciting exhibitions, workshops, talks, walks and other events taking place around the State throughout August that wherever you are you'll find something to see and do. If you don't know where to start try downloading the app and use the map function to find exhibitions near you."

Highlights of this year's festival include:

SALA PARLOUR: A pop-up drop-in artspace for young people on the lawns of the South Australian Museum. Sunday Sessions include a stellar line up of contemporary artists guiding activities for young people and their families. Open every day in August (excluding Mondays). Generously supported by Credit Union SA.

ART TOURS: Walk, scooter or drive your way through art tours across the city, suburbs and regions, including the ever popular Street Art Tours with Vans the Omega and Jake Holmes, our Bring the Baby Art Tour (August 3), and let the Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor guide you through some of her favourite SALA exhibitions (August 8).

Plus this year get hands-on with art-making at our range of participatory tours and workshops. Try your hand at life-drawing, photography, arts writing and poetry, or if you enjoy bar-hopping, try our 18+ Sketchy Art and Date Night tours.

Hear art tours in your language with SALA's bilingual hosted tours in Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Mandarin. And if you want to visit beautiful regional South Australia, hop on one of our bus tours to the Adelaide Hills, Barossa, McLaren Vale and Encounter Bay.

THE GOVERNOR'S GARDEN: Government House will become a SALA venue once again, with His Excellency the Governor Hieu Van Le inviting 16 sculptors including Karl Meyer, Chris Ormerod and Clancy Warner to exhibit their work in the gardens, with two special open days on Sunday August 11 and Sunday August 18.

PECHAKUCHA NIGHT: SALA's legendary slide night 'PechaKucha' returns to Nexus Arts with an all new line-up. A fun night for creative people to share ideas and a few laughs. (August 8)

SALA FORUM DAY: A host of top practicing artists will lead an afternoon and evening of discussion and debate at Nexus Arts in the Lion Arts Centre about the value of visual arts, now and in the future. (August 15)

FINISSAGE CLOSING PARTY & AWARDS NIGHT: Celebrate the end of the 2019 SALA Festival on the last night of winter with an evening of performance art, awards, DJs, and a ripper dance floor! The Lion Arts Factory will this year play host to our end of Festival night of fun and frivolity. (31 August)

LOUISE HASELTON AT SAMSTAG: 2019 SALA featured artist and recipient of this year's SA Living Artists Publication Louise Haselton is an outstanding artist of international repute. Her alluring artworks offer glimpses of the curious inner lives of everyday objects and overlooked things.

THE PIECE PROJECT - CITY EDITION: Four street artists battle it out to be featured on the label of Longview's The Piece Project Shiraz. Enjoy all day beats and street food while watching the artists complete a huge mural as the Longview wines flow. (August 31, $35)

OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND: Meet local artists and visit their work spaces. Open studio weekend is officially August 10-11 with additional openings held throughout the Festival.

And don't miss the SALA Art Cars out on Adelaide's streets during this year's festival, generously provided by Jarvis Skoda and wrapped in artwork by Elma Lawrie and Arlon Hall.

More information about all SALA exhibitions and events can be found online at www.salafestival.com or by calling 7077 0011. All SALA events are free unless otherwise noted.

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