REGIONAL areas can often be seen through a lens of deficiency.
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Towns are measured against metro counterparts unfavourably when it comes to a dearth of services and facilities.
But the New England North West region is making art possible and is seen as a "hot-spot" for creativity in a number of formats.
There is no way I could have survived in Sydney and been able to paint full time and have the space I do.
- Manilla artist Liz Priestley
Tamworth will become the heart of the NSW art industry on Thursday when the state's largest conference and festival officially begins.
Arts North West director Caroline Downer said this weekend was a great opportunity to show what is happening across the region.
Ms Downer said Armidale had been recognised as a "hot-spot" for literature and has made a concerted effort to spread the good word during Artstate.
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The result was the "Art - Word - Place" exhibition which saw Ms Downer pair the region's leading authors with visual artists.
"I asked writers to write a piece, it could be prose, it could be a poem about the place they lived in," she said.
"Then I paired theme up with an artists who would that prose or poem for their inspiration.
"That connection you can make with an artist who works in a different art form, that has been really interesting."
Manilla painter Liz Priestley teamed up with Tamworth writer Peter Langston for the exhibit.
Having prose specifically prepared set parameters for the painting and did away with the daunting prospect of a blank canvas.
With Artstate in Tamworth this year, it is a huge opportunity for local artists to get their name and their work out there.
It can be hard trying to build a career in the arts from a rural base, but it creates its own opportunities as well.
"I just find it a really sustainable lifestyle, relatively speaking," Ms Priestley said.
"There is no way I could have survived in Sydney and been able to paint full time and have the space I do."
There's a free opening ceremony in Bicentennial Park from 7pm.