Watch This Space (WTS) was first conceived in 1991 in Mparntwe/Alice Springs by a group of five local artists: Pam Lofts, Anne Mosey, Jan Mackay, Pip McManus and Angela Gee. In 1993 it was officially established as an Artist Run Initiative - a whole twenty-five years ago. Yep, that’s right. We are twenty-five big ones. A quarter of a century. 125 dog years! 

However you want to put it, we’ve been around for a while. And we’re excited.

To celebrate this milestone, WTS is presenting a public program in 2018 of experimental and unconventional projects. Some are gallery-based, others are outdoors, some offsite, and all of which have been created by local Central Australian artists.

This program is not only a celebration of WTS's big milestone, but a glimpse at the incredible things we do and create in this complex town some of us call Alice Springs in the year 2018.

Here’s to the next 125 dog years!

The first and foremost thanks we wish to give is to this apmere -  Mparntwe, Antulye and Irlpme - on which many of us live, work and make, and to its people, the Arrernte mape. Thank you for your care and respect for the land, your voice and being. As both an organisation and individuals, we recognise the value and fragility of your knowledge, as well as the trauma experienced at the hands of settler-visitors. For this we say sorry from the bottom of our hearts. We promise to always listen, learn and respect. Thank you, always.

As an arts organisations, we thank all the thousands of artists and individuals who have contributed to the life of WTS over these past twenty-five years. Exhibiting artists, studio artists, artists in residence, volunteers - the lot of you! You have kept it a living and breathing being, a space for growth and sharing. We are an Artist Run Initiative and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thank you so much to each Coordinator who nurtured the space, whether for six months or three years. There ain’t no way in hell we’d be where we are today without you!

To all past and present Board and Curatorial Committee members: thank you for your involvement and love of contemporary art, and particularly your volunteered time and effort. It has been deeply appreciated.

Finally, thank you to the artists and individuals who have been involved in this program. We are so bloody excited to be at this stage in the organisation’s life, and we couldn’t be happier than to be sharing it with you and your art.