LAVA Arts Festival to debut in the Tweed next month

A new arts festival is set to debut in the Tweed Shire region this coming June, building on the decade-long success of the Murwillumbah Arts Trail while expanding into immersive creative experiences.

LAVA Arts Festival, produced and presented by Creative Caldera, will continue the trail’s focus on local artists, open studios and exhibitions across Murwillumbah and surrounding villages, but with a broader festival format designed to encourage artistic collaboration, participation and cultural exchange.

Creative Caldera president Kirsten Devitt said the former arts trail laid the foundation for the new event.

“The Arts Trail ran from 2015 to 2024 and proved there was a real, loyal audience for artist-led events in the Tweed,” she said.

“That decade of goodwill gave Creative Caldera the confidence – and the community trust – to dream a little bigger.”

“LAVA is essentially developing on the legacy of the trail but opening the festival concept wider.”

While the festival retains the community-focused spirit of the original trail, Devitt said the new format would introduce a “more ambitious curatorial lens”.

“The heart of it stays the same: local artists, open studios, exhibitions spread across Murwillumbah and the surrounding villages,” she said.

“What’s new is a more ambitious curatorial lens and, excitingly, a Commissioned Artists Program supporting local professional artists to develop brand new, experimental work specifically for the festival.”

“It’s a meaningful step up.”

Among the experiences planned for the inaugural 2026 program are a First Nations dance performance and workshop, a movement-based walking practice and a sound experience hosted on a working farm.

“The commissioned works tell the story well,” Devitt said.

“The 2026 program includes a First Nations dance performance with an interactive workshop, a movement-based walking practice as social art, and a sound and listening experience set on a working farm.”

“The thread running through all of it is work that’s participatory, place-responsive, and genuinely surprising.”

Devitt said local artists would remain central to the festival while also drawing on creative talent from across the Northern Rivers.

“One stream is for Tweed Shire-based artists, and a second is open to Northern Rivers artists with a meaningful connection to the Tweed through their project or community engagement,” she said.

“It keeps local artists at the centre while drawing on the remarkable depth of creative talent across the broader region.”

She said the festival aims to become a space for creative expression, collaboration and cultural change through practical support for artists and accessible community programming.

“For artists it means real infrastructure – venues, a shared program, festival promotion, and for commissioned artists, actual funding to make new work,” she said.

“Events are free and open to everyone, which means artists get genuine community audiences rather than a niche arts crowd.”

“It’s a platform in the most practical sense.”

Community participation is also expected to be a core part of the event, with workshops and experiences designed alongside exhibitions and installations.

“Alongside exhibitions and installations, the program includes workshops and community-led experiences – so there’s something for people who want to watch and something for people who want to be involved,” Devitt said.

“The free entry and the trail-style format across town also mean it meets people where they already are.”

Devitt said organisers hoped LAVA would help strengthen the Tweed’s reputation as a major creative hub in the years ahead.

“The aim is to ignite inspiration and creativity and create a lasting legacy for the region’s artistic future,” she said.

“In real terms, that looks like a sustainable career pathway for local artists, a festival that the community genuinely owns, and the Tweed becoming known – even more than it already is – as a serious place for contemporary art.”

LAVA Arts Festival will run from 26-28 June in Murwillumbah and surrounding villages.