The Port Fairy Folk Festival is delivering a virtual event with some festival favourites in the wake of the cancellation of the 2021 event.
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The festival committee made the tough decision to cancel amid the coronavirus pandemic but the group is hoping to deliver a string of virtual performances in the lead up to the 2022 event.
HOME FOLK will be streamed through Facebook on October 9 and feature Sal Kimber, Van Walker and the Folkie's 2019 Artist of the Year Fenn Wilson performing from the Geelong Arts Centre as part of their Where Creativity Meets At Home digital program.
Port Fairy Folk Festival program director Justin Rudge is thrilled to be able to bring some music into people's homes.
"It's been wonderful to collaborate with Geelong Arts Centre, they've been doing a whole range of streams since the beginning of the pandemic," Rudge said.
"Because Geelong Arts Centre has experience in streaming, it made sense for us to partner with them for our first stream and it didn't make sense for us to reinvent what someone else already has down pat.
"We are inserting Port Fairy content inside the stream as well through interviews, an introduction from our president John Young and a Blarney Books walk-through.
"It's difficult to recreate the festival feel but we're certainly keen to stay in touch with our audience and we can promote the festival around the world through the stream."
Rudge was announced as Folkie's third program director in the festival's 44-year history in June and HOME FOLK is his first opportunity to bring music to the festival community.
"Fenn Wilson is one of my favourite new up-and-comers and has an unbelievable timber to his voice," Rudge said.
"I've been a long-time fan of Sal Kimber and she performed at the festival in 2019. Van Walker has been through the festival about three times including with his band with Mick Thomas called Vandemonian Lags in 2018 and he has a new album out which has been acclaimed by many.
"All the artists are regionally based and we're really excited about all of them.
"There's been a lot of larger mainstream live streams but for the folk genre there's not as much content available."
The Port Fairy Festival committee is working on a series of events in lieu of the 2021 event and Rudge hinted at the possibility of small-crowd concerts in Port Fairy and other places.
"The health situation means things can change at a moment's notice," he said. "We're hopefully hinting about more events but remaining safe.
"We're looking at doing things through the summer to still bring the music to the people."
President of the Port Fairy Folk Festival Committee John Young hopes the live stream will bring some joy to Folk Festival lovers amid the pandemic.
"All of us at Port Fairy Folk Festival are delighted to be collaborating with Geelong Arts Centre to produce this online concert showcasing regional artists," he said.
"We look forward to being able to continue providing events such as this throughout the next 12 months as we work towards our 45th Festival in March 2022."
Each artist will perform an intimate 30-minute set for HOME FOLK which will take place from the Geelong Arts Centre on Friday, October 9 at 8pm.
The event is free to watch at geelongartscentre.org.au or via Facebook Live.
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