Festivals & Venues Update

NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL HITS 47,000

Early figures from the 51st National Folk Festival in Canberra (April 13-17) are that it reached an aggregated 47,000 this year. It levelled last year’s 47,489, itself a rise of 2.9% from 2015’s 46,109.

Its biggest crowd was in 2010, at 55,092, followed by 2012 when attendance was at 52,378. Traditionally 55% of the crowd comes from outside the ACT.

This year there were 200 acts at Exhibition Park, covering music, dance, spoken word, film, circus and traditional crafts, plus themed bars and food markets.

Sydney photographer Bob Bolton was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for photographing festivals around the country for the past 50 years. His collection was recently donated to the National Library of Australia.

The festival will ultimately release a full report.

HIGHER PRICES IN ADELAIDE CLUBS?

The South Australian chapter of the Australian Hotels Association has warned that planned changes to liquor licensing laws could see punters slugged with higher prices.

The proposed legislation will see annual licence fees go up, some by up to 1250%. The AHA’s Ian Horne says venue operators have no choice but to pass these on to customers through door, drinks and food prices.

Horne also painted a picture where venues would have to shut their doors earlier, affecting the livelihood of staff.

RED DEER LAUNCHES SPACE ODDITY THEME

This year’s Red Deer Music & Arts Festival (October 14, Mount Samson amphitheatre, Brisbane) has a Space Oddity Theme. It’s also going for more local and more diverse acts with the introduction of a third stage.

It will have “space shuttles” from local railway stations to keep cars on-site to a minimum.

BLACKEN OPEN AIR STREAMED TO EUROPE

The heavy metal festival Blacken Open Air in Alice Springs, which drew 30 acts and 500 fans from across Australia to Gap View Hotel, was this year (its fifth incarnation) streamed to Europe. The 2017 event was presented by The Black Wreath Collective, and headlined by Melbourne’s Desecrator and Whoretopsy.

One of the acts, who describe themselves as “the most isolated metal band in the world” were Southeast Desert Metal, who are based in the remote Aboriginal community of Titjikala, about 80 kilometres south of Alice Springs.

QUEENSLAND VENUES SLOW ON ID SCANNERS

Queensland music venues trading after midnight have until July to install $4000 ID scanners. It was a deal done in return for the Government not introducing the second phase of lockout laws.

They appear in clubs in Safe Night Precincts, such as the Brisbane CBD, Surfers Paradise and Fortitude Valley. But ID scanner companies say that very few venues have contacted them as yet,

Venue owners cite a Fairfax Media poll in January which showed that 45% of clubbers would prefer not to attend a club with scanners in place, as they see them as an invasion of privacy.

They also point out that smaller risk-free venues should be exempt. The new legislation stipulates a crowd-control guard be on hand to check IDs. That would be an extra $200 cost even on weekdays when only a few people enter the club.

The answer: cut back mid-week gigs or close at 10pm, they say.

NEW FESTIVAL FOR MACKAY

TimberFest is Mackay’s newest music and arts festival, spotlighting emerging musicians and artists from the region.

Held September 23 at Rowallan Park, it features live music over two stages from 12pm and 2am, as well as installation art, lifestyle and creative workshops, local food and market stalls.

ACT GOVT TO BUY CANBERRA STADIUM?

Some weeks after the ACT Government refused to fund upgrades for sports and entertainment venue Canberra Stadium because a change of lease made it a “tenant”, the territory is kicking around another option.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has suggested the Government buy the stadium off the Australian Sports Commission. The Government is now paying $350,000 a year in rent.

Barr says the decision hinges on whether the Commission wants to sell, rather than the Government making the first decision to buy. But it is open to the idea.

SUBIACO EVENT DRAWS 50,000

A free seven-hour street party held in the middle of Subiaco, WA, caught organisers unaware when it drew a crowd of 50,000. The inaugural event last year drew 35,000. Live bands were a key element to the event.

TOOWOOMBA MUSTER RAISES $25K

In its second year, the Toowoomba Country Muster has raised $25,000 – double last year’s result – for the LifeFlight air and medical crews.

WORK BEGINS ON ARARAT ARTS PRECINCT

Work has begun in the Ararat Arts Precinct in regional Victoria. The State Government has topped up its $5.2 million funding with an extra $1.5 million.

Ararat’s historic Town Hall will be redeveloped, enhancing the Ararat Performing Arts Centre (APAC) and the Ararat Regional Art Gallery (ARAG), both housed in the building.

WA GOVT SUPPORTS ‘GASCOYNE IN MAY’

The WA Government is funding an initiative called Gascoyne in May through the Department of Culture and the Arts. It is a coordinated circuit of six festivals held on different weekends (including early June) to show off the diversity of the region.

The six include TropiCOOL (May 5—7), Barefoot Black Tie Denham (May 12), Burringurrah Festival of Fire (May 20), Ningaloo Whaleshark (May 26—28), Gascoyne River Music Festival (June 3—5) and Festival of the Reef Coral Bay (June 9—11).

MAROOCHY MUSIC & VISUAL ARTS ANNOUNCES DATE

Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival (MMVAF) returns for the third time on Saturday August 26 to the New Maroochydore CBD (Old Horton Park Golf Course), Sunshine Coast.

The music component has in the past included Peking Duk, Matt Corby, Flight Facilities, Vera Blue and Alpine.

There’s one stage (“you don’t have to worry about those pesky timetable clashes”) and a no dickheads policy. Acts will be announced in early May.

“EAGLE ROCK” BANNED FROM SOME ANU VENUES

Daddy Cool’sclassic hitEagle Rock has been banned in venues and functions by one ANU (Australian National University) residential college to counter unwanted sexual attention at dances.

There is a tradition that when the song is played, men encircle women and drop their pants. In some colleges, women take off their tops during the song.

According to university publication Woroni, as reported in the Canberra Times, a new policy at Burton & Garran Hall is that the song is not allowed to be played. Or if it is, men are not allowed to surround women, or an announcement is made before it is played so people can leave the dance floor.