Friday, August 16, 2013

(f)routeLAND launches at Docklands Spaces.

(f)route CAKES, (f)route CARTs & a social enterprise (in the making). An artist-made, community-owned travel bureau for artists and fruitists. If you love having regional places to visit, and having orchards & fruit trees, worry about bees, and like conversations about maps... we 'R' u. 


(f)route is from East Gippsland. From Mallacoota - Nungurner - Swifts Creek – Tubbut - and all those places in between. 

Come and say hello. Sit. And eat and talk and do. (Ride your bike!).



(f)route is all about creating ‘a trail’ of art and fruit in East Gippsland. You know... artists, fruitists, creating maps, planning itineraries, finding fruit, making cider, seeing galleries and being a part of the big conversations about sustainability and creativity.
(f)route has steadily become an artist-made ‘brand’ for promoting the groovier, creative underbelly of East Gippsland – the cultural experiences that are not always easy to find in big open spaces and small communities. 

Our brand new (f)routeLAND space is the CBD-based ‘travel bureau’ that will tell the world about (f)route. Thanks to the Docklands Spaces/Renew Australia initiative we’ve been able to take up an unused retail space on a temporary lease for a peppercorn rent. (But it’s still bloody hard work!)

Yes, it’s an experiment in CBD life – offering workshops about bees and apples and things in a very different place, showing art that never gets seen by city folk, trialling QR Codes and PayPal as new solutions for remote artists – extending our networks across Victoria and working with new partners who care about regional Victoria.

(f)routeLAND – located opposite Harbour Town at Docklands – opens its doors at 10am on Saturday 31 August and we hope you’ll make your way there to join us – and find out more.
We’ll be sharing our luscious (f)route CAKES & coffee - and offering oranges, direct from the Bruthen Orange Fair.

Local and imported artists will be collaborating on site to create ephemeral works that reflect the (f)route ethos – incorporating mapping, found objects, textiles, beeswax, honey and the like. 
Over the last 6 months (f)route has been part of the Social Traders ‘Crunch’ program to develop a plan for its social enterprise to drive ethical economic development in regional locations, through tourism. (f)route has just been funded by Regional Development Victoria to continue this marketing and branding development. The opening of (f)routeLAND will be a small celebration of our long and fruitful journey.

Supported by the Regional Arts Fund, through Regional Arts Victoria



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