Alice Springs

October has been a big month of travel for me (with large periods of no Internet access). The first six days I spent in Alice Springs at the biennial Regional Arts Australia conference, then I was on Flinders Island for a week and then King Island for two weeks.

I'd never been to Alice Springs before, and it surprised me in many ways. Firstly the landscape isn't nearly as flat as I anticipated, with dramatic red rocky hills framing the town, and secondly this was the first time I had been exposed to a strong and everyday indigenous cultural presence in a community, limited as this experience was by the context of a conference.

Alice Springs left me filled with confusion, sadness, and hope about who we are as Australians.

On the art side of things I met some amazing people, it was particularly good to meet other youth arts workers at the impromptu lunchtime YPAA (Young People and the Arts Australia) meeting.

Primarily by the end of the 4 days of the conference I simply felt stronger in who I am and what I do because I had spent this time surrounded by 950 people who care about the same things I do.