Now in its 20th year, Across the Arts Forum on May 3 to 5 is organised by the Goulburn and North East Arts Alliance, a regional arts group covering all art forms, word, music and visual.

The alliance hosts the arts forum in Wangaratta every two years, delivering a refreshed program designed to engage audiences.

Workshops covering visual arts, word and music forms will run over the three-day forum.

They include printing workshops with Ema Shin who has ties with the National Gallery of Victoria; portrait painting with Wangaratta's Janet Leith who has submitted work for the Archibald Prize; and The Art of Zen with highly-respected musician and music educator Adam Simmons.

Cassie Leatham from Baluk Arts will lead a traditional weaving with natural fibres workshop while visual artist Taro Ilyama will hold two workshops, one on cardboard paper sculpture and the other on origami and paper flower.

The forum will officially open on Friday, May 3, at Wangaratta Art Gallery.

MORE THINGS TO DO:

An exhibition of work by alliance members on the theme of Across Cultures is now on show inside the Wangaratta Library.

An Across the Arts concert will be held on Saturday, May 4, in the Wangaratta Uniting Church Hall from 7.30pm.

This year's concert will feature workshop leaders Mali Freeman from Myrtleford, Marissa Quigley from Beechworth and Adam Simmons from Melbourne (former artistic director of the Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival) performing with forum participants.

The concert headliners are Melbourne band The New Savages.

For details and bookings visit ganeaa.com.au.