South East Queensland And Surrounds Festivals: A Breakdown

As spring slowly blooms into summer our thoughts turn to entertainment and relaxation, and in today's society that often means attending one of the massive proliferation of festival experiences on offer. And in recent years the approach to these events undertaken by the organisers has changed dramatically: gone are the days when it was about herding as many people as possible to see the maximum amount of bands, these days the overall experience itself is paramount. Which is the precisely why the rise of 'boutique festivals' has been so sudden and unrelenting — these events favour giving the punter a memorable time rather than maximising the return on their investment.

Given that Woodford Folk Festival has been running for nearly 30 years and hosts over 100,000 patrons annually it's hardly a small event, but its all-pervading sense of community and focus on art and nature places it firmly in non-commercial realms as far as festivals go.

"[Director] Bill Hauritz always says that it's a 'folk festival' and not a 'folk music festival', so the majority of the program comes out of a folk tradition, or in some way we think furthers the interests of the folk community," explains Woodford Folk Festival Program Director Chloe Goodyear. "Hip hop definitely wouldn't be considered by many to be folk music, but I consider it to be in the same arena because hip hop artists — especially in Australia — tend to be the ones talking about what's happening in the world, and talking about politics. That's what people traditionally considered folk music to be, telling the stories of everyday people, and Woodford is a festival made by, and made for, people. It's made for a really specific experience for people, which I think is probably best described as a 'folk experience'.

Woodford

"There are so many people these days making really beautiful festival experiences. I think the word 'festival' is today used for so many different things — there are food festivals and science festivals and art festivals and music festivals — so it's a bit of a catch-all that doesn't describe the breadth of what those people are trying to make."

In terms of 'art festivals' the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival (BAPFF) — now in its second year — is quickly becoming a highlight of the SEQ calendar.

"We always want cinema that is strong but also different and unique — something that you don't normally see in commercial cinemas or get commercial release — but at the same time we try to keep an open mind," explains BAPFF's head programmer Kiki Fung. "We want to be surprised and we want to be taken on a journey of discovery. Then there are surprises coming in and you know when you see those films because you get so excited and you whole body is screaming, 'This is the one!'

Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival

"You get to understand these countries and their film industries really in-depth, because this is a specialised program covering 70 countries and areas in the region. We can watch more and more submissions and build a really good understanding of what's good from a particular country — or what is special and representative of a certain country or culture — and this is really precious and eye-opening.

"Cinema itself is very diverse and liberal, and there are films that we see that carry some European aesthetic as well, but we do see some threads and themes through the Asian films we saw this year; for example, in this region the people and the creatives, when they look at a human's relationship with the world, they have a different perspective. This is generalising a little bit, but we in this region care about our relationship with the land and the climate and the landscape — we are part of the world and part of nature — so a lot of the films are about connection and self-discovery, looking at our identity and how we see ourselves as part of the world."

Down the road and into the Northern Rivers region of NSW, the Mullum Music Festival has gone from strength to strength of late, taking over the entirety of the of Mullum itself with its eclectic line-ups taking over every nook and cranny of the gorgeous town.

"We always get returns to Mullum — people come once and they nearly always return," smiles Festival Director Glenn Wright. "The best festivals start off really small — to try and jump in as a big event is really hard. It's okay in some boom times when all of the festivals are doing really well and everyone's buying tickets, but in the harder years I think that those events that just jumped in really struggle because they don't have that core base that are really committed to coming each year.

Mullum Music Festival

"We don't have VIP areas at all, so rather than artists going to a backstage area they get vouchers for drinks at all of the bars where the patrons frequent too, so there's more of that relationship where the artists become part of the festival rather than being separated from the community. That's a real plus, but we can only do that because we're not too big. And the people who come along to watch get to see the artists in a really comfortable and relaxed environment, in a lovely little festival precinct where everyone lives together for three or four days."

Further down the highway at Port Macquarie, the popular Festival Of The Sun is even smaller again, but that doesn't prevent great experiences in the slightest.

"When I first started FOTSUN the whole goal was a bit of a cultural tourism aspect," explains Festival Director Simon Luke. "It's the time of the year when it's predominantly quiet just before Christmas yet it's an awesome time of the year to visit Port Macquarie — the weather's good, the temperature is great, the surf's on and it's not too crowded — so festival visitors get to rock up to a town that's really cruisy. It's not school holidays and it's not peak season, so they're getting to enjoy the town just the way we as locals enjoy the town, and that's pretty unique I think. I think that's one of the reasons people from out of town like heading here for the festival.

Festival Of The Sun

"When I first started it [in 2001] was like a little free community festival, and the whole idea was about showcasing local independent bands. Just organically we started attracting interest from independent Aussie bands from outside of the region, and that transitioned into triple j getting on board to support it. Our focus has always been to put on a really solid mix of good Aussie acts — it's never been a strict rule to exclude internationals — but it just works for us, and I love the relationships we get to build with burgeoning Aussie acts over the years like Tame Impala and The Jezabels (to name but a couple) as they get bigger after they first play here and then keep coming back."

For more info on all the festivals, head to the festivals tab on theMusic.com.au