Queenscliff Music Festival secures funding boost

THE Queenscliff Music Festival (QMF) is set to receive a significant funding boost to support the operation of this year’s November event.

Now headed into its 26th year, the festival will receive $60,000 as part of the federal government’s Live Music Australia program.

The grant program aims to provide $20 million over four years to live music venues, festivals and organisations that support original Australian live music.

Festival director Andrew Orvis said it was “hugely important” for QMF to have received the grant.

“It’s obviously been a tough time coming out of COVID and the festival world and event world is still a challenge and that’s why grants and supports like this are important while we navigate through those tough times.

“It means we can keep doing what we’re doing, and we can deliver the festival that we have and keep those really high standards.”

He said the survival of live music festivals such as QMF remained crucial to the communities in which they are held.

“Our festival itself last year had a $5.5 million economic impact, so there’s all the bits that go into that: tourism, employment, work… all of the cultural aspects of a festival like ours, performance opportunities for artists… and there’s all the community benefits.”

Corangamite federal member Libby Coker said music festivals were the lifeblood of the live music sector.

“We know the live music sector continues to face challenges, which is why we’re determined to support it.

“This [grant] program will help artists and musicians do what they do best – sharing Australian music and stories with audiences right across the country.”

Despite the recent shock cancellations of long-standing live music festivals around the country, Mr Orvis said QMF was not going anywhere.

The grant for this year’s festival will help take pressure off ticket sales, which Mr Orvis said were “a little challenging in the festival world at the moment”.

“It’s definitely disappointing to see festivals fall over for lots of different reasons.

“I think there’s some positives to take out of it that for every bad luck story, there’s a good luck story, and there are some festival events that are doing well really, so that part of it you take encouragement from.

“Our festival is the type of festival, like the Port Fairy Folk Festival and others, that The Waifs and the John Butlers and the Xavier Rudds and all those artists grew up on and became the huge artists that they are now, so it’s important that they stick around.”

Presale tickets for this year’s festival went on sale last week.

Artist applications are also open and will close on March 31.

For more information, head to qmf.net.au