FOLLOWING on from its debut last year, the team behind CresFest 2023 are seeing their sophomore efforts celebrated as a finalist in the Australian Folk Music Awards.<\/p>\n
Announced at the start of the month, CresFest has been placed in the awards\u2019 Community\/Cultural Project of the Year category alongside four other contenders.<\/p>\n
CresFest director Judy Turner said the nod is a national endorsement for the organising team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means validation for the team and all the hard work and time they\u2019ve put in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means they\u2019re on the national stage because this is a national award and as a team of volunteers in a tiny town like Creswick that\u2019s pretty exciting.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo years in a row now we\u2019ve been a finalist and this means out of some 140 applications we\u2019re one of the ones selected. People are noticing what we\u2019re doing out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s CresFest saw more than 2000 attendees entertained by 300 musicians performing across three days from late March into early April.<\/p>\n
The team behind the event included a committee of 10 as well as 105 volunteers and about a dozen contractors.<\/p>\n
Ms Turner said this year\u2019s CresFest built upon the previous with new initiatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really grew it this year,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had a whole new component called The World Comes to Creswick in partnership with a Melbourne organisation called The Bo\u00eete.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat enabled us to showcase music from China, Persia, Macedonia, India, Italy, Lithuania. A whole lot of multicultural acts came to perform and that was free. There was also our Courthouse Conversations series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a desire in festivalgoers for small. Sitting in a small heritage venue with 200 other people, there\u2019s an appetite for that. That\u2019s a point of difference for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winners will be announced during an awards night on Wednesday 25 October at the Brunswick Ballroom in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
CresFest was previously a finalist for Folk Alliance Australia\u2019s Cultural Project of The Year, and Music Victoria\u2019s Best Regional Festival 2022 awards.<\/p>\n
Next year\u2019s CresFest is set to run from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOLLOWING on from its debut last year, the team behind CresFest 2023 are seeing their sophomore efforts celebrated as a finalist in the Australian Folk Music Awards. Announced at the start of the month, CresFest has been placed in the awards\u2019 Community\/Cultural Project of the Year category alongside four other contenders. CresFest director Judy Turner […]<\/p>\n