New Phillip Island New Year’s Eve festival Beyond The Valley has apologised for the use of native American headdresses in its promotional material and taken steps to remove the references today.
Yesterday fellow Victorian event Meredith Music Festival confirmed that the headdresses – also known as war bonnets – are part of their banned items list, a move that was at odds with Beyond The Valley use of the imagery as part of their promotional material.
In a statement released exclusively to theMusic.com.au today Beyond The Valley promoters apologised for any offence caused by their imagery and said that their decision to use the head wear was to represent a “wholly inclusive” festival. They are now doing “everything they can” to remove offensive footage, including a video on their website that included a male in a war bonnet, and will be changing the name of their premium camping option from ‘Chief Camp’.
“We welcome every colour, race, creed and persuasion. We celebrate all cultures in equal measure,” they said.
“As seen in the launch video, we have drawn inspiration from a variety of mythological creatures and ancient cultures to help support the festival’s strong focus on freedom – a contrast to the arguably repressive norms of modern societies.
“Our artwork reflects a love of global traditions and is in no way intended to challenge or offend and we sincerely apologise to those who have perceived our artwork and branding as offensive.”
They added that the feather costume worn by a female model in the video below was intended to represent a bird.
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