Answered by: Carly Flecknoe - Festival Director
What makes your event stand out from other festivals? Grampians Music Festival highlights up-and-coming Australian independent artists. With one stage in the middle of the Grampians National Park, no clashes and talented indie artists, you're in for three days of incredible music. We keep our crowd small for a boutique experience and community feel. Big mountains, huge sounds.
What’s improved for your next event? With a well-curated and diverse line up from Friday night's Best In The West, to Sunday night's closing party, including Sampa The Great, Angie McMahon, Slum Sociable and Body Type, you're in for a musical adventure. We've also partnered with Halls Gap Gardens Caravan Park to provide affordable camping packages and have introduced our Environmental Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion, and RESPECT Policies.
Favourite festival ‘Do you remember when…’ moment? On the Sunday of last year's festival, Sophie [Hopes] from Tired Lion started a hay fight at front of stage. Sunshine, gumboots, hay dust... and Tired Lion performing live. Amazing!
Which artist – living or dead – would you like to have backstage drinks with? Joan Jett. She helped change the landscape for women in music and has had a momentous career. I would love to hear her stories!
Is there more pressure to create an “instagrammable” festival? Photos are what help to keep memories but I think if you lose sight of the on-the-ground experience and replace it with how you are perceived online, you dilute the beauty of being at a festival. Get off your phone and listen to the music.
How is the festival landscape changing? The responsibility of festivals as social entities is changing. You need to make conscious choices. You need to decide what your line-up says about your event, how you will look after the space you inhabit and how you provide a supportive community for artists and patrons who attend.
How do you go about ensuring your festival is a safe space? We have implemented a RESPECT policy that all artists, patrons, security personnel, staff and vendors must abide by. Anyone who challenges the principles set out in the policy, of respect of personal space, of choice and of consent, will not be tolerated.
What are your views on pill testing? Do you think it has a place at festivals? We do not support the taking of illicit substances. However, the safety of patrons is paramount in any format. If pill testing provides a safer festival experience for patrons, it should be accepted. Harm reduction has always been shown to be the most effective method of combating illicit substances.
