Festival Guide 2019: Festival Of The Sun

Answered by: Simon Luke, Festival Director

What makes your event stand out from other festivals? FOTSUN stands out as it’s a vibey BYO festival that’s big enough to make new festival friends, but small enough to have a community feel. It’s a special place, right on the beach, where you can see some of Australia’s best new acts in an intimate, fun setting.

What’s improved for your next event? FOTSUN continues to evolve its art precinct with some really exciting installations this year that are interactive. We are also bringing back our sustainability initiatives like ECanOmy, as well as being a completely plastic-free festival with all food trucks only selling cans and serving on recyclable materials.

How is the festival landscape changing? There’s festivals driven by revenue rather than passion – they don’t stick around for the long-term. By fixating on revenue, you tend to lose the experience and I’ve seen a lot fail from this over the past ten years. At the end of the day, the punters should always come first.

What do you think will be some of your guaranteed highlights from your upcoming festival? Our side stage and earlier slots present some epic emerging names, which is always a highlight. We’ve hosted very unknown names in the past that are now well-known, including Mallrat and Tash Sultana. FOTSUN has young programmers out watching gigs all over, keeping an eye out for new talent.

What’s the best way for up-and-coming artists to see their name on your bill? Just reach out to us and we can give advice, not just for FOTSUN, but also for plenty of indie groundbreaking festivals. Create content, tour as far and wide as you can, even if the venues are small. Find good mentors in the industry including other bands.

How do you go about ensuring your festival is a safe space? FOTSUN has led the way in medical and security trials for many years. We offer a high crew-to-punter ratio due to our smaller size. This means not only do we become mates with our punters, but we’re also quickly accessible and a friendly face if something isn't right.