Fairbridge Festival Explained

Music Festival Name:FolkWorld Fairbridge Festival
Location:To be confirmed
Years Active:1993–2019,
2021–
Dates:To be confirmed
Genre:Folk, Blues, Roots, Acoustic, Celtic, A cappella, World music

The Fairbridge Festival is a music festival held annually since 1993 at Fairbridge village near Pinjarra in Western Australia until 2023. The festival is held over a weekend in April and is FolkWorld Inc.'s flagship annual event.

Visitors staying for the whole weekend can camp in the surrounding fields in tents or vans. The festival offers options for those who don't have their own camping equipment in the form of "Cosy Camping" and "Glamping". Day tickets are also available.

The event takes place over three days and three nights (Friday to Sunday), across 12 stages, which include marquees, a chapel, dance stage and workshop rooms. The program features a variety of musical genres such as blues, roots, Celtic, folk, dance, a cappella and world music as well as acts and activities specifically catering for children and young people.

Fairbridge Festival has experienced steady audience growth with the 2016 tally of about 15,000 day attendees. The most common patrons are families, but Fairbridge Festival is enjoyed by all ages including teenagers, young adults and the young at heart.

The 2017 Fairbridge Festival celebrated the festival's 25th anniversary, and part of these celebrations included an extended four-day event: 21–24 April 2017.

The last festival was held on 9–11 April 2021. In November 2022, the difficult decision was made to cancel the 2023 event due to concerns the Fairbridge Village may no longer be a suitable venue. A search for a new regional venue is underway to host the 2024 Festival and beyond.

History

The Festival was established by Max Klubal and Sally Grice, who at the time were committee members of the Western Australian Folk Federation (WAFF). WAFF already ran a folk festival at Toodyay and formed a partnership with the organisation Parents for Music to run the festival at Fairbridge Village, in Pinjarra, with the intention of making it a more family-orientated event than Toodyay. The two festivals continued concurrently for two years but eventually the Toodyay festival ceased.

In 1996, Fairbridge Festival disassociated itself from WAFF to its present status as an incorporated not-for-profit association.

In 2006, a board of management was incorporated into Fairbridge Festival headed up by a president. During this time, a general manager was also appointed to lead the growing Festival Operations Group. who were mainly volunteers. Up until this point the president, Wendy Corrick, had managed the event.

Fairbridge Festival and the organisation, Fairbridge WA, were often confused, particularly in relation to invoicing and accounting matters. Fairbridge WA Inc. manages Fairbridge Village, the site of the Fairbridge Festival. To help distinguish the organisations, in November 2011, the incorporation changed its name from Fairbridge Festival Inc. to FolkWorld Inc. This change also better reflects the role of FolkWorld Inc. as the premier peak organisation supporting and promoting folk, roots and world music in Western Australia.

Since 2022, Jon Cope has been in the role of artistic director. Prior to that, Rod Vervest was artistic director from 2015 when he took over the role from Steve Barnes. Fairbridge Festival's program is guided by the FolkWorld Inc. constitution: "FolkWorld Inc. is dedicated to promoting traditional, contemporary and multicultural folk music, dance and related performing arts, with particular emphasis on the involvement of families".

Overall festival programming is contributed to by several festival programmers, including a Children's Program Director, Youth Program Director and a Dance Program Director.

In 2012, the Fairbridge Festival Quest songwriting competition for high school-aged young people was launched and has been regularly unearthing new talent from across Western Australia since then.

The 2017 Ben Elton film Three Summers is set at a fictional folk festival in Fairbridge which is called 'Westival', but is inspired by and based on the Fairbridge Festival.[1] Ben Elton is a Patron of FolkWorld Inc.

Donations are invited to help support and contribute to the future of Fairbridge Festival and other FolkWorld Inc. initiatives. Donations of $2 or over are tax deductible.

The last Fairbridge Festival was held as scheduled on 9–11 April 2021. In 2020 the festival was postponed for six months, then cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] [3]

The next festival is being scheduled during April 2024.Fairbridge Festival 2023 cancellation

Site

The festival site was originally Fairbridge School, a combination of orphanage, farm school and Imperial social engineering project set up as part of a colonial vision by Kingsley Fairbridge in 1912. The school was founded with the mission of taking deprived children from the orphanages (such as Dr. Barnardo's Homes) and streets of Britain with the promise of a healthy life in the Colonies with better prospects, as was the prevailing ethos of the time. The school functioned until the early 1960s. Past pupils of the school are represented by the Old Fairbridgians Association WA.

2019

The 2019 festival was held 26–28 April 2019.

2017

The 2017 festival was held 21–24 April. The acts were:

2016

The 2016 festival was held 15–17 April. The acts were:

2015

The 2015 festival was held 10–12 April. The acts were:

2014

2013

The 2013 festival was held 26–28 April. The acts were:

2012

The 2012 festival was held 13–15 April. The acts were:

2011

The 2011 festival was held 29 April – 1 May. The acts were:

2010

The 2010 festival was held 9–11 April. The acts were:

2009

The 2009 festival was held 17–19 April. The acts were:

2008

The 2008 festival was held from 24 to 27 April 2008. The acts were:

2007

The 2007 festival was held from 13 to 15 April 2007. The announced performers were:

2006

The 2006 festival was held 21–23 April. The acts were:

2005

The 2005 festival was held 15–17 April. The acts were:

2004

The 2004 festival was held 16–18 April. The acts were:

2003

The 2003 festival was held 24–27 April. The acts were:

2002

The 2002 festival was held 19–21 April. The acts were:

2001

The 2001 festival was held 20–22 April. The acts were:

2000

The 2000 festival was held 14–16 April. The acts were:

1999

The 1999 festival was held 9–11 April. The acts were:

1998

The 1998 festival was held 17–19 April. The acts were:

1997

The 1997 festival was held 4–6 April. The acts were:

1996

1995

The 1995 festival was held 31 March – 2 April. The acts were:

1994

The 1994 festival was held 15–17 April. The acts were:

1993

The 1993 festival was held 7–9 May. The acts were:

External links

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Notes and References

  1. News: Findlay. Cam. Three Summers, Ben Elton's ode to Fairbridge, to hit Melbourne International Film Festival. 2 August 2017. 7 July 2017.
  2. Web site: FAIRBRIDGE FESTIVAL First reveal of 2021 return . xpressmag.com.au . X-Press Magazine - Entertainment in Perth . 3 July 2021 . en-AU . 14 November 2020.
  3. News: Cooper . Daniela . Fairbridge Festival 2020, scheduled for the April school holidays, has been postponed for six months. . 3 July 2021 . Mandurah Mail . Australian Community Media . 13 March 2020 . en-AU.

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