New partnership announced: Southern Forests Food Council

Introducing: Genuinely Extraordinary Food & Art Tours

The Southern Forests Food Council (SFFC) has secured $15,000 through the Regional Arts Australia Cultural Tourism Accelerator Program for a partnership initiative with Southern Forest Arts (SFA) to develop cross-market opportunities, promote and develop cultural events and programs, and to increase tourism visitation to the region.

The new creative partnership in the Southern Forests region will bring together premium food and arts offerings, with the SFFC and SFA to collaborating on a series of curated tours. 

Genuinely Extraordinary Food & Art Tours will run from April to October and will likely include premium seasonal offerings such as truffle, wine, and honey. Visitors will be able to explore fields and orchards, connect with local artists in their studios, enjoy guided walks through Australia’s leading nature and art trail – Understory Art & Nature Trail, and even participate in a creative workshop while feasting on local culinary delights. 

“We applaud the SFFC’s initiative to open dialogue with us to explore cross-sector cultural tourism opportunities,” said Fiona Sinclair, Artistic Director and General Manager, Southern Forest Arts. 

“The Genuinely Extraordinary Food & Art Tours are a unique opportunity to explore the untapped potential that sits within the synergies of our two organisations. 

“The project will not only stimulate cultural tourism across several communities within the Southern Forests region but has potential to lay the foundation for an ongoing partnership that will help diversify and enliven cultural and agritourism industries for years to come,” said Fiona.

Planning is underway with the first tour to take place on the June long weekend and subsequent tours earmarked for during truffle season and then again in Spring. 

Local businesses have welcomed the new initiative, and opportunities to engage with visitors and grow the region’s profile and promote their products. 

“We believe the benefits we have experienced through the existing food and farm tours can be translated to the proposed food and arts tours, creating similar exposure and sales opportunities, and ultimately attracting more visitors to the region to experience all the Southern Forests has to offer,” said Monica Radomiljac from Pemberley of Pemberton. 

The SFFC has been delivering food and farm tours since 2017, guiding visitors on bespoke behind-the-scenes agri-tours, visiting local farms, packhouses, and state-of-the-art processing facilities not typically open to the public. 

“The Cultural Tourism Accelerator initiative sparked an idea to explore a partnership with SFA to create genuinely extraordinary cultural experiences to showcase our premium food and wine offerings and open the doors for visitors to explore our exceptional arts offerings.” said Laura Bolitho, manager, SFFC.

The Southern Forests is in the beautiful southwest corner of Western Australia and is renowned for its towering native karri and jarrah forests, hiking, biking, and walking trails, exceptional and diverse produce offerings, and is continuing to build its reputation as a cultural and culinary tourism destination.

This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.The Regional Arts Fund is designed to benefit regional and remote arts practitioners, arts workers, audiences, and communities. The program is managed nationally by Regional Arts Australia, and by Regional Program Administrators in each State and Territory.