The dinner will be staged on Saturday, March 19, and work will commence on the eight murals — there are two joint-artist entries — the following day. The festival will run from March 20 to 27.
At the dinner the eight mini murals will be unveiled, which revolve around the theme ‘Paint us a Song’. This year is the eighth edition of the festival.
This year’s artists are Jared Farrow, two-time winner Kerry Nicholson, Gren Freeman, Chris Duffy, Marco Pennacchia, Christina Rankin, a joint entry by Rebecca Murray and Graham Wilson, then the joint effort of Maryann Jenkins and Joyce Dempsey.
Peter Anderson, part of the mural festival committee, said the committee had received interest from 22 artists this year, then shortlisted the eight entries.
“We picked the them in May or June and the artists were required to let us know what they were doing in November,” Mr Anderson said.
This year’s entries were received from Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and NSW, along with Bendigo, Echuca and even Rochester.
There are now 36 murals, from previous years of the festival, on display around the town and very soon another will be relocated to a new home.
Farrow’s 2021 entry will soon be relocated to the side of a carport at Restdown Retirement Village.
Each of the eight murals will be allowed a 2.1 metre-high by 4.8 metre-wide space, made up of four panels, for their mural.
‘It changed our world’ was the theme last year, with the Farrow entry revolving around the motor vehicle.
Each of the artists will write a statement to accompany the entry.
The murals are available for purchase by the public, the record sale currently being a $2000 bid.
The festival committee received a grant through the Rochester Business Network in late 2019, which has allowed it to run the 2020, 2021 and 2022 events.
“It costs us about $20,000 to run the event, we never make a profit,” Mr Anderson said.
Tickets to the dinner are available at the Rochester Newsagency and cost $30, with the event being hosted by the Rochester lawn tennis facility.
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