Community bands together for CresFest

THREE days of musical fun are underway, with the beginning of CresFest today in Creswick.

While the festival will feature a range of interstate and international musicians, there is also plenty of contributions from local acts and community groups.

“CresFest is about providing opportunities for people from here and around Ballarat, Buninyong, Ballan, Daylesford to perform and also enjoy live music,” said event director Judy Turner.

“It’s really all about growing a culture of music participation and we’re really proud that this is only our third year and it’s grown from one local group which was the Creswick Brass Band.”

The Creswick Chorus, Creswick Kids’ Choir, Creswick Ukestra and Creswick Drum Circle will all be taking to the stage along with performers from Gordon, Buninyong, Ballan and Ballarat.

“All of these groups have now got involvement in the festival and one of the things we’ve done is made it possible for every local group to interact with some of the professionals who are coming to play,” said Ms Turner.

“For example, the Creswick Chorus has been learning songs with three of the artists on the bill and they’ll perform them with those artists at the end of the festival.

“So they are working with high level performers.”

Ms Turner said it’s important for the Creswick community to have opportunities to explore music.

“There are many people in our community who find getting involved with playing and learning music to be as important as sport is to other people,” she said.

“Our society, our funding bodies and our councils force huge amounts of money into sport justifiably but there’s nothing like that for music.

“The community has to take that into our own hands.”

To book tickets or get the full festival program, head to the CresFest website.

The Ballarat Sweet Mona’s choir will be back at CresFest 2024. Photo: SUPPLIED