Festival review is write on track

A KEY phase of a review of the under-threat Bendigo Writers Festival has been completed by the City of Greater Bendigo, following the closure of an online survey and recent roundtable discussion, as well as direct engagement with publishers and other associated literary stakeholders.

The survey on the Let’s Talk Greater Bendigo platform was participated in by 852 people, while the independently facilitated roundtable discussion brought together a group of six local stakeholders identified as having either helped establish the Festival or had significant involvement in past festivals.

Former mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf and Cr Damien Hurrell also participated in the roundtable, with Cr Hurrell’s participation due to him serving as the council representative on the Festival working group.

Feedback from both the survey and the roundtable reflected on the Festival’s history, who the Festival is for and the benefits it provides to the community, what has worked well, where improvements can be made, the recent challenges experienced by the Festival, a future direction for the event and “what success looks like.”

City CEO Andrew Cooney thanked everyone for participating in the review as to date.

“This has been an important process for the City to undertake following this year’s reduced Festival,” he said.

“We value the time and energy people have put into completing the survey, responding to requests for feedback or attending the roundtable discussion.

“Our team will now assess the data and emerging themes to inform a report to council that will go to the December Council meeting with a recommendation on how we move forward.”

A summary of the survey data, the roundtable discussion and other feedback will be included in the council report.