Queenstown, Lutruwita/Tasmania: The Unconformity, a leading Australian contemporary arts organisation and social enterprise, has appointed three Tasmanian artists — Iris Blazely, Nancy Mauro-Flude and Stevie Battese – as its inaugural Ongoing Artists, each receiving an 18-month paid position to develop new work culminating in world premieres at The Unconformity 2027 festival.
The appointments come as Ireland becomes the first country to permanently pay artists a living wage — with Australia and other countries in ‘watch and act’ mode. The Unconformity's Ongoing Artist program goes a step further: a festival-scale model for sustained creative employment rather than short-term project funding.
“Employing artists to work on lengthy creative development — where artists are treated as workers with entitlements, not just recipients of a commission — offers a replicable model for festivals and arts organisations across Australia and beyond. Our initiative offers a structured role with mentorship and the freedom to ideate and develop a vision for their work for the festival in 2027. The framing of artists as employees, rather than beneficiaries, aligns with a shift toward treating artists as creative professionals deserving of the same time, stability and trust as any other worker within an industry worthy of investment from all levels of government and stakeholders.”
– Louisa Gordon, CEO, The Unconformity
The Unconformity’s open call for Ongoing Artists drew 54 applications from creatives working across more than a dozen disciplines – from music and dance to digital art, science communication and installation. The diversity of the field reflects both the breadth of Tasmania’s artistic community and the ambition of the Ongoing Artist model, which offers something rare: a paid organisational role whose only brief is to make extraordinary work.
Engaged as part-time employees, embedded fully in the organisation, the three artists will each work one day per week with The Unconformity’s Artistic Director and programming team from May 2026 through to October 2027 – seeding ideas, undertaking research and site visits on the West Coast, and growing their projects from concept to festival presentation.
“The field of applicants was a genuine reflection of the depth and diversity of artistic practice across Lutruwita/Tasmania — from experimental technology and ecological art to spectacular audiovisual work. What united the strongest proposals was a willingness to sit with uncertainty, to explore unknown facets of life on the West Coast. Iris, Nancy and Stevie each brought that quality. Their practices are distinct, but all three are driven by a commitment to place, to process, and to making work that couldn't exist anywhere else.”
– Loren Kronemyer, Artistic Director, The Unconformity
The Unconformity’s 2025 festival presented 60 events and 18 world premieres across Queenstown’s streets, historic buildings and wilderness landscape, attracting visitors from across the island and mainland to engage with the creativity and ecology of Lutruwita/Tasmania’s wild and inspiring West Coast. The Ongoing Artists program extends that investment, giving three artists the time and resources to make work that requires time, care and curiosity.
You can find more information about the Ongoing Artist program here: theunconformity.com.au/explorations/ongoing-artists
Image Credit: Bob Cartledge. taken during the May Open Hall in Queenstown 2026.
[Image Description: A photo of three people - The Unconformity's Ongoing Artists Iris Blazely, Nancy Mauro-Flude and Stevie Battese - standing in a row against a yellow wooden building.]
