Queensland Music Trails take artists to the regions
Concerts and music festivals will be held across Queensland as part of a $20 million investment over three years to put Queensland on the map as a music tourism destination.
Starting in May 2023, the Queensland Music Trails program will see events in 16 communities across four regions, from opera in the outback to Indigenous artists at Yarrabah.
The trails will promote the drive tourism market as visitors are encouraged to mix the concerts with other art and cultural experiences and established events like the Toowoomba Flower Carnival, Cairns Indigenous Arts Festival or Hamilton Island Race Week.
A pilot program held in 2021 by Queensland Music Festival saw performances by Opera Queensland and Ensemble Q at the Jimbour Homestead in the Darling Downs and other shows at Quilpie and the Charleville Cosmos Centre.
The new program will help raise the profile of existing events and promote regional tourism, building a cultural events calendar in the lead up to Brisbane 2032.
Before the pandemic, the state’s arts sector contributed $8.5 billion annually to the economy and supported more than 92,000 jobs across the state.