Live line-up to underpin McCrae Street bushfire benefit

A WHO’S who of Bendigo entertainment and hospitality identities are banding together to produce the fundraiser of all fundraisers – Harcourt Rising – A Bendigo Music Festival for Bushfire Relief.

Taking place on Sunday 8 March, the festival will run between five venues – The Black Swan Hotel, Bendigo Brewing, The Social, The Courthouse Hotel and The Deck – along the familiar stretch of McCrae Street.

With 40 live acts performing on the day, co-organisers Bendigo Blues & Roots and Live Music Bendigo hope to raise $50,000 on behalf of the Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal (FRRR).

Volunteer–run Live Music Bendigo’s chair Keith MacQueen said he’d been working around the clock with Bendigo Blues & Roots founder Colin Thompson on getting the huge line-up together.

“We’re very close to having everything organised so we’ll be able to make an artist announcement before too long,” he said.

“It’s really only been a week and a half since we started and it’s been great – all the venues have jumped straight on board.

“The performers that are available have also been really keen.”

FRRR CEO Natalie Egleton said her organisation will work with Business Mount Alexander on the distribution of funds raised to various eligible local projects.

“They’re likely to be things like local tourism initiatives, promoting the region to get people to visit,” she said.

“It’s about supporting local industry and particularly those producers that have lost a lot of income potential.

“It won’t be funding them directly, it will support campaigns and events that will stimulate economic activity and encourage people to come back to the area to spend money.”

Ms Egleton added that FRRR plans to make the money last.

“Our learning has been that people’s needs really evolve over time,” she said.

“They show up in quite acute ways early on, but they also continue to show up as people get through the immediate relief.

“One way that I find it helpful to frame things is that it’s sometimes like a recovery from the recovery.

“When you’re in this early stage of all the energy going into cleaning up and getting things back on track, that’s a huge amount of work and a lot of adrenaline.

“Exhaustion really starts to set in after a while, and when the media fades, when the fundraising events stop, when the broader community moves on to other things, these people are still slogging away.

“There’s a lot to work through so it’s really important for there to be supports in place into the future as well.”

She encouraged people to be “really aware of that” and give generously, participate, and support local producers.

“If the business community is doing well, if the economy is supporting people to stay and work and live locally, recovery will be improved at an individual level too,” she said.

Harcourt Rising – A Bendigo Music Festival for Bushfire Relief is happening across five venues in the west McCrae Street precinct from midday to 8pm on Sunday 8 March.

Tickets can be purchased via Humanitix.