Origins The festival was conceived as part of the Bacon government's initiative to build Tasmania's cultural confidence. Premier Jim Bacon invited
Robyn Archer AO, then Artistic Director of the
Adelaide Festival, to create a new international arts festival for Tasmania. Archer developed the concept of an exchange of island cultures, inviting artists from island nations around the world to perform alongside Tasmanian artists. In 2013, Artistic Director Jo Duffy introduced the "Ten Festival Towns" model, concentrating events into ten regional hubs rather than spreading across dozens of locations. Hume described this approach as "radical regionalism". The 2021 festival was held during the
COVID-19 pandemic, with an almost entirely Tasmanian program featuring over 450 local artists and community members across 15 locations. Nearly 36,000 people attended. Hume's final festival in 2023 returned to ten consecutive days, moving through three regions: opening in the North, shifting to the South, and closing on the North-West Coast.
2025 onwards Marnie Karmelita was appointed Artistic Director in 2024, arriving from the
Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts in
Wellington. The 2025 festival ran from 21 to 30 March across Tasmania. == Artistic Directors ==