Warrnambool's Storytelling Festival set to bring art community together

After Phillip Liebelt moved to Warrnambool around 18-months-ago, he decided the city was the perfect place to bring a touch of his old home too.

"I was involved in the Glen Eira Storytelling Festival and when I moved here I thought it would be a good idea to put one on," he said.

"This will be the first festival here and while we'll begin small, we'll build it up.

"I'm confident we'll be able to build it quickly and I think it will look quite different next year compared to how it's shaping up now."

The festival dates are set for June 19 to July 4 and around 20 events will feature.

The program will encompass a range of events including 15 Minutes of Fame, a Warrnambool City Band performance and showcase of historical items and ABC Warrnambool will broadcast a radio play in front of a live audience.

There will also be Stories Under The Stars held on the winter solstice which will explore astrology and mythology and the Warrnambool Theatre Company will put on a two-day theatre lab to workshop scripts at One Day Studios.

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"We want people to know that storytelling is for everybody, not just for children," Mr Liebelt said. "It encompasses a broad range of arts and we'll include as many as we can in our festival.

"We've been talking to a wide-range of art groups across the region. We noticed a few different types of events that would've run without our festival, but they fit in quite nicely with our program.

"We're going to encourage businesses to create a story window for the period of the festival."

Mr Liebelt said the formation of the festival happened "through lots of cups of coffee" and Warrnambool City Band secretary Liz Pinson jumped on board to help.

"There's never been an opportunity for all of the different arts groups to come together," she said.

"This is a great opportunity to do that and break new ground for collaboration.

"It's also a great way to say 'Hey Warrnambool, here's all of our thriving arts groups, come and have a look'."

Mr Liebelt hopes people of all ages will get involved in the festival by either attending the events or feeling inspired to explore different art forms.

"I hope people will enjoy it and some will be learning and exploring storytelling as an art and engaging with it," he said.

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