John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity today to laud the internationally recognised First Coat festival, which was held in Toowoomba over the weekend. Over the last four years, it has drawn together national and international artists to first create and then expand upon the outdoor gallery of public art in the CBD of our city. This has been a key feature of the city's growth in recent years. Toowoomba has seen significant growth during those years—a new airport, the $1.6 billion Toowoomba second range crossing, a new $500 million investment in the retail heart of our city and a new library. The list goes on.

However, the First Coat festival has impacted on our self-consciousness as a city. It has been an awakening of sorts. It has allowed the strong arts community that has always been there to emerge in a very public way. It has encouraged our backstreets and laneways to be explored, not shunned, and has been a catalyst for our evolving coffee, craft, beer and food-scene culture for the benefit of both locals and visitors alike.

This year, the First Coat outdoor gallery was freely accessible for visitors to wander around and watch whilst the artists were at work, although Friday's weather proved to be a bleak and challenging start for many of them. This year, more than 20 international, national and local artists once again contributed to one of Australia's largest public art galleries. In addition to the murals there was the curated art experience, including the creation of an interactive and personalised app, and a free live music event, artist talks, markets, creative workshops and other exhibitions were all held.

As the founder, Grace Dewar, has reflected, the efforts of our artists over the weekend have added 26 new murals to our city's CBD, making for a most attractive and colourful streetscape that would have greeted people turning up for work earlier this morning. Grace and co-director Ian McCallum are planning to take the public art concept statewide with projects planned for the rest of the year in Warwick, Ipswich, the Lockyer Valley, Central Queensland and even Far North Queensland. She said:

We would love to think that Toowoomba has built a reputation of being a creative city and will continue to embrace that long beyond our time with the festival …

I, along with others, was very proud to be in the Toowoomba CBD this past weekend and to see this festival again in our community bringing so much value to our locals and visitors alike.

See this speech in context