WAM Wheatbelt ambassadors to reinforce road safety message
Image Credit: Mary Parker
This year’s Wheatbelt Touring Circuit sees Western Australia’s peak music association WAM expand its partnership with the initiative’s major sponsor RAC and its road safety message for WA’s Wheatbelt region.
With the first of the 2016/17 all-ages regional tours kicking off today, WAM announced its inaugural ambassadors (or WAMbassadors) as well as the full program of the ten line-ups of original musicians here.
RAC launched its Elephant In The Wheatbelt campaign during last year’s run, as part of a five-year strategy to highlight the region’s high road fatality rate. The life-sized African elephant sculpture, made from the bodies of wrecked cars, symbolises the ‘elephant in the room’ and the silence that surrounds road trauma in the region.
The Wheatbelt WAMbassadors will participate in one tour each, to promote the touring acts and lead community discussions about road safety.
The six are Fremantle folk and blues performer Erin Pope, guitarist and PA & production business owner Ash Nardini, Wheatbelt alt-country troubadour Pete Byfield, alt-country musician Hayden Sprigg from Mukinbudin in the Central East Wheatbelt region, Polly Medlen who fronts the country-themed Polly Medlen Band, and alt-country singer songwriter Jayden Crook who is playing the season’s first tour, along with his band The Primary Collective, tomorrow (Saturday).
WAM CEO Mike Harris said, “Our Wheatbelt Touring Circuit has gone from strength to strength, and is now established as a key part of the social calendars of Wheatbelt communities. It is also very much on the radar of WA musicians, with unprecedented number of expressions of interest to play received.
“Thanks again to RAC for their support of the Circuit and their engagement in the WAMbassador program. The road safety message is crucial in a region that consistently has one of Western Australia’s worst road fatality rates. Music is, as ever, the best medium for delivering powerful messages, and the involvement of local artists makes that messaging even more potent in the case of the Wheatbelt.”
RAC General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Will Golsby, points out that road fatalities in the first six months of 2016 already exceeded the total amount of last year. In 2015, the Wheatbelt rate was six times that of Perth metropolitan and four times the state rate.
He said, “The WAMbassadors will drive community discussion about how everyone has a responsibility to help save lives and prevent serious injuries, given 65% of Wheatbelt crashes can be attributed to deliberate driver choices, such as speed, drink driving and inattention.”
The first tour, headlined by The Kill Devil Hills and Riley Pearce, is staged at:
Fri 15 July – The Riverside Hotel, Northam (w/ Kitt Byfield)
Sat 16 July – Tivoli Room, The Cummins Theatre, Merredin (The Primary Collective feat. Jayden Crook)
Sun 17 July – Quindanning Inne (w/ Narrogin Musicians Association guest Thump)
WAM reports that last year’s tours drew an average of 144 punters, with some venue attendance records broken. A record 150 WA acts applied to be on the tour. The tours play major Wheatbelt events, licensed and community venues across the Wheatbelt region.
The Wheatbelt Touring Circuit is funded through the WA Government’s Royalties for Regions program. The Regional Tours Fund is administered by the Department of Culture and the Arts in consultation with the Department of Regional Development. Country Arts WA’s support for a second year comes through its LOUDER original contemporary music touring program.
A partnership between WAM and the Narrogin Musicians Association will see a new series of workshops for musicians.