Wanganui's arts community is ready for one of the biggest arts events of the year.
Whanganui Open Studios opens this weekend, showcasing the works of 65 artists from the wider region.
Now in its 16th year, Open Studios is an annual event run over two weekends in which artists open up their studios to the public, offering their works for sale and allowing people to watch them at work.
Organiser Helen Craig said this year's event would kick off tomorrow night with the opening of the Starting Point exhibition at the Community Arts Centre. Each artist taking part in the Open Studios has contributed one piece of their work to the exhibition.
"The idea of Starting Point is that visitors on the arts trail can come to this exhibition and get a sample of the artists' work," Mrs Craig said.
She said this year's Open Studios was so big in terms of artist numbers that she had decided not to hold any extra events.
"We're really just concentrating on the Open Studios themselves this year. There is some truly amazing art for people to see."
Last year's Open Studios event saw 19,000 individual visits to studios and around $125,000 worth of works sold.
Mrs Craig was expecting a lot of out-of-towners to attend the Open Studios.
"In previous years, about 48 per cent of our visitors have been from out of Wanganui. This year, we're getting a lot of interest from Auckland, which is interesting because our normal catchment is the lower North Island."
She said the event had been advertised a lot more widely this year, including in NZ House and Garden magazine.
You can get more information on Open Studios by visiting the website: www.openstudios.co.nz The Starting Point exhibition runs until March 31.
Open Studios is held over two weekends, March 23 and 24 and March 30 and 31.
.