WAM festival extends to four days

This year’s WAM Festival in Perth will extend to four days, the WAM association announced, from November Thursday 5 to Sunday November 8.

The event, in operation for over 20 years, features West Australia’s largest program of all-WA-billed gigs, the WAM conference, workshops and awards. Last year, 10,000 attended, packing out the inaugural Block Party and setting a new crowd attendance of 3,000 for the reformatted 50-act Saturday Spectacular.

Greg Sanders is reappointed for a second year as Festival Coordinator to expand the event’s ways of celebrating the diversity of WA music through free and ticketed events. He’s also scouting for the best WA songs in the past 12 months to include on the Kiss My WAMi compilation. Acts wanting to be considered apply at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WAMFestival2015.

Sanders said, “WA has proven time and time again it's capable of producing world class talent, and the WAM Festival provides a key platform to showcase the latest and greatest to booking agents, music programmers for radio stations, labels, media and other industry travelling here to discover the next 'it' acts from WA. So whatever genre or style of music you make, be sure to get your submissions in for your chance to take advantage of the opportunities.”

The festival allows WAM’s Development Manager Georgia Kennedy to expand the association’s corporate link-ups, from branded presenting rights, to WA Music Awards sponsorship and creative site activations. In its 2014 report, WAM identified sponsorship expansion as a priority after posting a yearly surplus of $38,140 after a loss of $123,351 the previous year.

As part of the festival, the WA Music Conference is held Friday 6th and Saturday 7th. WAM’s Industry Development Manager Claire Hodgson is coordinating the panels and networking sessions. Last year, almost a hundred attendees were drawn to hear 54 music industry speakers from across Australia and overseas at 16 panels. Their passes allowed them one-on-one meetings with execs, and the chance to pitch their music to radio programmers and attend all festival events.