PLANS are afoot for Warrnambool to have its own music festival again.
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A small committee has been gathering in recent weeks to collect ideas and it has invited former Tamworth Country Music Festival co-ordinator Kevin Anderson to convene a series of seminars this week. Mr Anderson, who is a former Warrnambool man and now the MP for Tamworth, will take part in three sessions that will aim to engage businesses in the planning and development of a festival.
Planning team co-ordinator Russ Goodear said it was hoped Mr Anderson’s insight into the Tamworth event would be valuable in creating a sustainable music festival.
“The world-renowned Tamworth Country Music Festival is a fringe festival that engages the city’s businesses and resources, including, shops, shopping arcades, tourist attractions, hotels, motels, cafes, wine bars, restaurants, clubs, halls, theatres, galleries and churches,” Mr Goodear said.
“The Warrnambool Music Festival planning team is keen to create a fringe festival based on a similar model.”
Mr Goodear said Mr Anderson would meet planning committee members, Warrnambool City Council staff and a representative from Shipwreck Coast Marketing at two sessions tomorrow.
A third session at 9am on Thursday at the council reception room will be open to all comers, with an eye towards engaging local business.
The planning team hasn’t specified a target demographic or music style for the festival, which is aimed to debut in October next year. The committee came together after perceiving a lack of an ongoing dedicated music festival in Warrnambool.
While Wunta has always featured national and local music acts, it has never promoted itself as a music festival. The last time there was a serious attempt to run a music festival in Warrnambool was the ill-fated Summer Daze event in February 2006.
The Spirit Of The Sea Music Festival was a minor success in the ’90s, and helped spawn the Tarerer Festival, which eventually relocated to Killarney.