Welcome
Festival dates for 2010: 19 – 21 March 2010
We have a new website under construction. Please check back here from Saturday 5 December 2009
Remember to set aside the third weekend of March (19-21 March) 2010 for our 13th Yackandandah Folk Festival.
Tell your friends. Organise a family reunion. Bring people to celebrate live music in our beautiful community.
In 2010 we are moving the main venues to our new location Festival Park (aka the sports park) due to the renovations happening at the Public Hall and School. Picture yourself in the autumnal shade, beside the babbling creek listening to the best live music and enjoying yummy local food and good coffee.
From its beginning, the festival has encouraged the involvement of local people to give our event its special flavour. From our young musicians developing The Shed as our alternative venue, to emergent buskers on the street, to singers in the Festival Choir, seducing closet musicians into joining sessions in the pub, park or street, everyone has a chance to get involved. Previous winners of our buskers’ competition include Lisa Mitchell (of Australian Idol fame) and our own Richard Perso.
We continue to offer the best Australian talent with choice international artists touring in Australia as part of the festival season.
Two acts for 2010 include;
- Emily Smith who is the Scots Singer of the Year 2008 is one of Scotland’s finest interpreters of traditional song and is a talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released three albums and toured extensively with her band on the international folk circuit.
- Martha Spencer and Jackson Cunningham form the duo called the Whitetop Mountaineers. They are from Virginia in the USA and their show features old time country duet singing, up-tempo old time fiddle, clawhammer banjo, bluegrass mandolin and guitar instrumentals as well as high energy Appalachian dancing.
Highlights from 2009 festival.
Each year our festival has grown and we are working hard to make sure our programming and venues evolve to meet community and visitor needs. This last year we were delighted with the;
- Beautiful weather and the feeling of energy and enthusiasm in the town over the festival weekend
- Involvement of traders, locals, schools, visitors
- Skills development through workshops ( eg sing like a bloke with Men in Suits)
- Shared entertainment ( eg Peter Denahy out the back of The Star hotel)
- Funding support from long term sponsor Cemex and Hume Building Society and grants from the Indigo Shire and Regional Development Victoria
- Growth and consolidation of the The Shed as an alternative music venue.
- Responsible consumption of alcohol throughout the weekend
- Valuable feedback from our survey which will help us target improvements.
- Reduction of waste
Thanks to everyone in the community for helping us to create this festival. Special thanks to Guy Kemshal-Bell for his help with our new website, to our local traders for your support and to all the volunteers who give their creative energy to making the festival happen.
Helen McGowan
Festival Chair
folkfestival@yackandandah.com
ph 0417 245 710
Yackandandah Folk Festival Aims and Objectives
The aims of the Yackandandah Folk Festival are;
- For everyone involved to have fun
- To promote music-based community expression
- To improve the quality of community life
- To be inclusive of all members of the community to engender a feeling of community involvement.
- To create an on going festival that reflects the priorities and values of the community.
To achieve these aims the Yackandandah Folk Festival;
- Will provide a wide range of entertainment (music, song, dance, poetry, literature, theatre, film, visual arts and food) that reflects a commitment to the preservation and development of the folk culture, as it is known in Australia and overseas.
- Will provide a showcase for the talents of local people involved in artistic and cultural activities that promote community expression or development of the folk culture.
- Will ensure that the festival is family-friendly by keeping costs low, providing a range of entertainment to accommodate the needs of all age groups and providing facilities that are safe.
- Will actively encourage the participation of all interested community groups and individuals both as organisers and performers.
- Will return any financial profits to the Yackandandah Folk Festival for funding future festivals
- Will endeavour to make the festival an annual event that will contribute to community confidence in the future of this region
Early bird tickets
Please consider buying an early bird ticket and your festival T shirt. If you have some time to spare and wish to learn more about our festival, we welcome you as a volunteer.
Applications open for 2010 festival
Performers applications are now open for next year's festival. You can download the application in Word format or pdf (Adobe Acrobat). Applicaitons close October 30, 2009
