This year's event is titled The Southern Right Creative Festival and will feature creative arts as well as more than 200 quilts.

The festival at Warrnambool’s Brauer College is open from 10am to 4pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Festival secretary Annette Wiesner-Ellix said a photography display was one of the new additions to the event.

“It’s to appeal to a wider audience rather than just a quilt show,” she said.

“It always great when you can reach out to people who are interested in different crafts.”

Festival vice president Ann Donaldson said people come from far and wide to participate in the event. 

While the festival is a great display of creativity, it also aims to support community groups.

This year the festival will donate funds to the Western Region Alcohol and Drug Centre (WRAD), Warrnambool and District Food Share and the Diabetes Resource Centre.

WRAD chief executive Geoff Soma said funds would go to establishing a residential rehabilitation centre to support people with drug addiction called The Lookout project.

“They very kindly offered to donate money to The Lookout project which we are ecstatic about,” he said.

Foodshare executive officer Dedy Friebe said the support was much appreciated.

“The show itself is mind-boggling and we are honoured to be a beneficiary of this terrific effort,”  he said.

The quilt show started in 2011 when show organisers Ann Donaldson and Shirley Carter decided to raise money to bring an integrated cancer care facility to the south west. 

The fund raising effort – Peter's Project – was a success which is why the creative festival committee has decided to support other groups in the community.

The biennial event has raised about $65,000 since it began in 2011.