New art by ten leading Victorian Indigenous artists will be presented as part of a packed cultural program at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan.

The artists will work with the Melbourne-based Australian Print Workshop, recognised as the leading contemporary print institution in Australia, to create new work especially for Victoria Week at World Expo 2005 in June next year.

Meeting the artists at the Australian Print Workshop today, Minister for the Arts Mary Delahunty congratulated them on their involvement in this exciting part of the Victoria Week Cultural Program that opens in the Australian pavilion on 26 June 2005.

"I am delighted that most of the artists selected to work on this project are from regional Victoria, and that the results of their creative energy will profile the unique contemporary style of South Eastern Indigenous artists on the world stage," Ms Delahunty said.

The artists include: Vicki Couzens (Koroit), Lee Darroch (Raymond Island), Treahna Hamm (Wodonga), Eileen Harrison (Warragul), Lisa Kennedy (Toora), Kim Lampton (Rye), Jennifer Mullett (Bairnsdale), Ray Thomas (Lalor), Lyn Thorpe (Preston) and Kevin Williams (Echuca).

APW will conduct an intensive 2-day etching workshop for 10 Indigenous Artists from Victoria. The workshop will provide skills development for the artists and will result in the production of a suite of 10 limited edition prints.

"The resulting exhibition, Indigenous Impressions, will be a major showcase for the very best in Indigenous artwork from Victoria, and for the skills and expertise of the Australian Print Workshop," APW Director Anne Virgo said.

Prints produced at the Australian Print Workshop have been exhibited in major Galleries and Museums around the world, and APW maintains an active international program of projects and exhibitions.

Victoria Week at World Expo 2005 will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Victoria-Aichi sister-state relationship.

The cultural program for Aichi includes the Percussion Ensemble, four percussionists from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Duo Sol, a piano and violin duo performing a repertoire of short works, Indigenous performer Russell Smith and members of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus from Albury-Wodonga.