St Kilda Festival teases 2018 program by unveiling New Music Stage

The 2018 St Kilda Festival today unveiled the line-up of the New Music Stage, which will showcase 10 emerging acts to a huge crowd on Sunday February 11 next year.

Calling itself “Australia’s largest free music festival”, the St Kilda Festival draws between 350,000 to 420,000 on just the Sunday alone - with many coming from intestate and abroad.

The act deemed to be crowd favourite will be taking home $5,000, and an invitation to play the St Kilda Festival Main Stage in 2019. 

Voting opens on the day of the performances, and closes the following Friday (February 16). Voting will be online via the St Kilda Festival website.

The 2018 New Music Stage includes: 

• Baker Boy
• Batz
• Cool Out Sun
• Mayfield
• Slow Coaching
• Sugar Teeth
• Swim Season
• The Northern Folk
• The Skeleton Club
• Xani

City of Port Phillip Mayor, Cr Bernadene Voss, a long time live music advocate for the area, was delighted that the event could contribute to national artist discovery. 

“The St Kilda Festival has provided a foundation for many up-and-coming artists over the years to build on their portfolios and experience in front of large crowds through the New Music Stage competition,” she said.

“The City of Port Phillip is passionate about supporting emerging acts and Australian music industry, and we’re eager to see what next year’s performers bring to the stage.“

The New Music Stage has showcased past acts such as Client Liaison, Missy Higgins, Husky and Stonefield in the early stage of their careers.

The full St Kilda Festival line up and program will be released in January. 

A survey by the festival found that an average of 58% of the crowd had not attended any other festival in the previous 12 months, and 82% felt attending the event made them feel part of the community. 

The festival hires more than 500 musicians a year.

In 2015, the St. Kilda Festival injected $23 million into St. Kilda’s economy, and $19.7 million to the state of Victoria. 

To keep up to date on the St Kilda Festival, you can visit the official website or follow the festival on your favouriote social media platform via @stkildafestival.