Groovin The Moo’s Community Program expands in 2017

PRESS RELEASE:

At the heart of Groovin the Moo’s (GTM) festival philosophy is the desire to showcase and support the communities and regions that are often those less travelled. GTM’s Community Program has been developing organically each year and we’re thrilled to announce what we’ve got in store for 2017.

This year, we’re excited to be bringing a bunch of our most beloved community initiatives to every region across the country. These range from work experience for budding festival lovers to opportunities for local artists to showcase their wares and programs for disadvantaged youth.

Graffin the Moo

GTM engages the skills of local street artists to help transform the black fence line scrim into creative masterpieces! For the first time GTM will be collaborating with Ironlak to deliver premium spray paint to each participating street artist nationally. To assist with delivering the perfect balance of health and performance our paint mates have created ‘Sugar’, which is a mixture of hybrid water and alcohol based formulation. It is a healthier alternative for the environment and artist alike. We are stoked to be covering our fence lines in the stuff!

GTM x Heaps Decent Future Musicians Workshops

Heaps Decent is a dynamic arts organisation who work with young people and emerging artists, providing mentorship, advice and support. These total legends have been collaborating with GTM for the last 5 years holding workshops at each festival. During the event, an artist from the line up is selected to conduct a workshop backstage with a group of upcoming producers, beat makers, lyricists and songwriters aged between 15-24 from each region. Keep an eye on our website -applications to be a part of these groups will open in the coming weeks.

Installation Project

We don’t want to get all cheesy but we’re in love with the artwork created by our designers this year. We wanted to bring it to life at each GTM, so we’ve engaged the services of local artists and arts communities to do just this – we’re expecting anything from large-scale bug installations to roving giant butterflies on stilts. The opportunities are endless! More information is available in the region by region links below.

Powder Pen

The Powder Pen is where our patrons can get a quick hair and make up freshen up thanks to local beauty and hairdressing salons, for a small fee. In 2015 it had an appearance in South Australia and in 2017 GTM will be making this a national space. A portion of proceeds from the Powder Pen will go back to the charity of the salons’ choice.

Student and Community News Contributors

The GTM 2017 website comes with its very own news section. Students, artists and other youth services have been invited to contribute their ideas and over the coming months, we will feature submitted articles that highlight the local community and anything else that may interest our audience. These could be events happening around town, local gig reviews, album reviews of our GTM artists – anything of interest! The article doesn’t have to be long or professional – it can be one paragraph or ten. This is an opportunity for the community to explore their creativity and writing abilities. To submit your contributions, please email a word document of the article to kirsten@cattleyard.com.

Sustainable Festival Fashion

GTM will be collaborating with Alex van Os (above), eco stylist and founder of high profile Instagram account Op Shop to Runway on a special “Festival Fashion Essentials Guide”. The guide will feature clothes selected from Australian Red Cross and aims to raise awareness about sustainable fashion consumption choices. The lovely and self-confessed eco warrior Montaigne, is teaming up with Alex to show us how easy and fashionable it is to be sustainable. Keep an eye on our socials for more info in the coming weeks!

Ticket Exchange

In recent years, our Community Program has grown to encourage disadvantaged youth and youth with disabilities to come along and experience GTM. We team up with a variety of local organisations and social workers, offering an allocation of tickets to each. Those who attend are also invited, but not obliged, to participate in our Work Experience programs.

Work Experience

From humble beginnings at our first GTM (Gloucester NSW in 2005), where students from the local TAFE campuses were invited to gain insight and lend a hand with all things Moo, we now involve 16 education facilities across all six regions. These include high schools, tertiary institutions and community groups and those who sign up can gain experience in a range of areas including Artist Liaison, Event, Production, Publicity and festival bump in and bump out.