IT was one of those parts of town people paid no attention to. But now the laneway between the Shoalhaven Arts Centre and the former Betta Electrical building is at the centre of attention as the first of a number of art-filled laneways.

As part of Nowra Alive the town’s first open air public art gallery titled THOROUGH_FAIR is open for business.

Shoalhaven City Council executive strategy manager Susan Tracey was “pumped” to be “changing a space that was an old disused driveway into an art gallery.”

“The vision is to have a network of these lane ways. It’s going to be a live gallery walk,” she said.

The lane way has been lined with panels on one side for local artists to paint, while the wall on the other side is one giant blank canvas.

The giant mural by artist Guido Van Helten will be the feature piece of THOROUGH_FAIR.

From 4pm to 8pm on Wednesday street artists and musicians will be celebrating the opening of the laneway.