Woodford Folk unveils 30th anniversary program

With pre-sales already a record 12% up from last year, Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland unveiled its program for its 30th anniversary celebrations. These are held at its 500-acre Woodfordia site between December 27 and January 1. 

The program over the six days covers music, dance, poetry, talks, circus, health and visual arts workshops. The festival plays host to over 2400 artists and presenters across 25 venues. It turns over $10 million a year. 

The music component is headed by Michael Franti and Courtney Barnett.  Given the festival’s creed that it should be about “cultural discovery”, the bill is eclectic. 

The Australian contingent includes Marlon Williams, San Cisco (pictured) Ed Kuepper, Katie Noonan’s Vanguard, Boo Seeka, Josh Pyke, Nattali Rize, Lanie Lane, San Cisco, Kim Churchill, Four Play, Katie Noonan’s Vanguard, Paper Kites, Tora, Tinpan Orange, Montaigne, Timberwolf and Briggs. 

Heading over from New Zealand are Trinity Roots and Moana and The Tribe. Harry Manx represents the US. Woodford Folk has struck partnerships with festivals in Scotland and Canada. From Scotland are Dougie Maclean and The Poozies while from Canada are The Duhks and The East Pointers.  

Chloe Goodyear, Head of Programming and part of the festival team for 14 years, told TMN, “I’m going to confidently say that this bill has taken 30 years.” One act was part of the very first Maleny Folk Festival, one took 12 years to snare, while others make their Woodford debut this year. 

About 1600 formal applications were received, while agents pitched others. Goodyear reveals, “Saying no to the formal applications is absolutely heartbreaking – the worst part of the job by far. It’s just not possible to include everyone and we genuinely would like to.  

“Maybe we could have done a 30 day festival this year. Wait, I take that back, in case it gives Bill (festival founder and Director Bill Hauritz) ideas. He always says, Why waste a perfectly good last minute?” 

This year’s Welcome Ceremony sees a 30 person community orchestra from the Sunshine Coast performing a commissioned piece with Katie Noonan. The Ceremony introduces Viktor, a specially created 5m tall puppet who will visit Woodfordia’s streets each evening, leading up to the Fire Event - a culmination of story and theatre told on a grand scale on January 1 with a spectacular fiery send-off.  

Five venues host talks and discussions, with topics including indigenous Constitutional rights, environmental World Heritage listing, new conversations for indigenous affairs, Australia’s future, building new houses and Fraser Island’s World Heritage Listing with names as Noel Pearson, Bob Hawke, Rhoda Roberts, John Sinclair and George Negus. 

Woodford’s attendances grew over the last four years, with 2014 drawing an aggregate 120,000 over the six days.  

Says Goodyear, “A 5% growth would be nice this year. Based on pre-sales, we’ve created new camping grounds and increased venue sizes to account for the increases – we watch the ticket sales really carefully so that we can try to make sure to support the comfort of the audience. It’s really important to us to manage the experience.” 

According to Hauritz, over $14 million has already been invested in site facilities such as amenity blocks, treatment plants, trees and pathways. 

This year, based on strong pre-sales, $250,000 has been spent to create 1000 new campsites, which can cater for 3000 more people. Three new amenity blocks have also been built, two in the  camping areas and one in the main precinct.