At the end of my last blog I told you to check out the tunes of the Mamas & Papas, I hope you’ve discovered the magic of 60s music as I did a few weeks ago when I spent a week in Melbourne on Magnormos’ production of ‘Flowerchildren’ which was all about the Mamas and Papas! I spent the week doing all different kinds of things at Theareworks from painting sets to building props to the stitz probe and rehearsals! Getting to work so closely with the entire cast and crew and experience first hand the ins and outs of professional theatre was fabulous and so valuable and I recommend you all do it. Painting sets and bathtubs until a brutal 4am in the morning (which luckily they didn’t make me stay for) and still perfecting the final touches up until panicking minutes before the opening preview really opened my eyes to the amount of hard work that happens in such a short period by so many committed individuals and then getting to see the fabulous final product really reassured me that this is what I’m meant to do! I would just like to give a shout out and big thanks to Marg and Aaron for having me for the week!

I’ve also spent a weekend at St Martin’s in South Yarra for a theatre forum for young and emerging artists called Totipotent (which I still can’t pronounce). People from all over the country came to give their views and opinions about the kinds of opportunities that exist for young and emerging artists at the moment and how we can expand and create more windows of opportunity for ourselves. Our feedback was then recorded and taken to a national level. I met a lot of interesting people who are doing a lot of great things and got to spread the word about the Fairfax Festival! The most inspirational moment for me of the summit was getting to hear from Matthew Lutton, the current Associate Director at the Malthouse theatre, and then getting to see him action. He has always aimed exactly for what he wanted no matter how unrealistic it seemed and never listened to anyone that told him he couldn’t and as a result is doing exactly what he has always wanted. And he’s only a couple of years older than me!

I’m just about exploding with excitement and nervousness that the festival is just three weeks away! Ahhhh! I can’t believe how quickly it has come around and I can’t wait to see all your pretty little faces again!

Love to you all and see you in a few weeks!

Caitlyn.

Looking back on when I was a Fairfax Festival participant, the in-school developments were always one of my favourite times because they always got the creative fires burning within me and the group. So you can imagine that I was very excited about getting to lead them this time around with our Principal Tutor, Petra Kalive!

It was absolutely inspiring to see what you had all been working on and to re-visit some familiar Fairfax faces and meet all the excited new ones! I’m feeling even more pumped for the Festival and I know that the Gala is going to be a spectacular night! I can’t wait to see how far you’ve come in the next round of in-school developments with Claire, that are only a few weeks away!

As you all know, my position within the Fairfax Festival is the Young Artist in Residence (or YAR as we like to call it – it helps if you use a pirate accent) and it really has been an fantastic year and amazing to think that this is my work. You also know that we’re currently searching for our 2012 YAR so if you’ve previously been involved in the Festival, finished school last year or are finishing this year and want a career in the arts……then we want you!! There’s still a few days left to apply so grab the details out of the info packs that I left you with or email Adrian on acorbett@swanhill.vic.gov.au!

Have you heard of the Mamas & Papas? If you haven’t then stop what you’re doing and Youtube them now!…..You’ll find out why in my next
blog which isn’t too far away!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Caitlyn.

This will be my third year participating in the Fairfax Festival.

Over the past two years the Fairfax Festival has played an important role in my schooling life. I have given up numerous amounts of lunchtimes, become the leader of my school’s drama club (who enter Fairfax each year), and organised fundraising in order for our groups to attend.

The reason I attend the festival each year is because I always learn so many new skills and have so much fun, making new friends and meeting people in the acting industry more experienced than myself.

I often include my experience with the festival on resumes and scholarship applications, as I am very proud of the work I put into the festival. I believe that I have learnt a lot of life skills from it, such as communication skills, confidence building and team work.

My chosen career is acting and performing arts, over the past two years I have developed my acting skills greatly, with big help from the festival.

The workshops in the festival are new and exciting and I know how much other students love them!

As an example two years ago, the year I first participated in the Fairfax Festival, my school’s drama club struggled to find enough students to make up a group. A mere 14 students represented our drama club that year.  Last year our drama club was able to enter two groups into the festival, each group made up of over 10 students, and this year we had a whopping 50 students interested in attending the festival.   The growing number of students in our drama club shows the fascination, love and commitment that students have for the festival.

The festival, and the huge amount of interest from students, has helped our school become more aware of the performing arts and also, our community.

 I thank the Fairfax family and all those who help run the festival, for creating this awareness for the performing arts, and helping me build my acting skills, and life skills.

This year, being the festival’s 15th year of running, it is going to be bigger and better than ever! I am very excited to be a part of the festival once again, and can’t wait to make even more new friends and further my knowledge about the performing arts industry that I love so much!

I’m sure you will enjoy your experience at the festival just as much as I have.

Can’t wait to meet you all!

Feather Fellows

With only 4 months until Festival week hits off things are gearing into full swing here at Fairfax HQ! Adrian has kindly returned from his off-shore adventures and so we’ve all been busy getting back into routine and down to the fiddly business of bringing you a brilliant festival!

I’m also very pleased to tell you about the Dig Deep Sound Project, which the Festival will be running for the very first time in 2011! I recently went on a trip down to Melbourne to meet with our lovely Festival Director Claire and some very cool guys, one of which will be facilitating the project, from The Arts Centre about bringing Dig Deep to the Festival and they are just as excited as we are!

In a nutshell, Dig Deep is a hip-hop and urban music project that focuses on expression and communication through the use of rhythm and music. The Arts Centre will bring their very own high tech ‘sound hub’ to Swan Hill along with Artists and studio specialists to collaborate with the Dig Deep group and produce some amazing work! The group will run on the first two nights of the festival and then perform on the Thursday, so stay tuned for that folks!

Whilst I was in Melbourne town I also met with this years principle tutor Petra Kaliv! I’ve been lucky enough to have had the chance to do a few workshops with Petra last year and can tell you that she’s very inspiring and amazing! It’s not too long until you will get to find that out yourself when Petra and I come and do your workshops!

I look forward to seeing you all soon!!

Caitlyn xx

Joining the Arts Centre and the Hugh Williamson Foundation in their generous support, these institutions recognise the place the Fairfax Festival holds within the lives of young people disadvantaged by location, learning or linguistic disabilities and/or socio-economic factors.

“The Fairfax Festival promotes the sharing of ideas, tolerance and understanding of diverse cultures and backgrounds, but most importantly the young people who participate in the Festival learn and develop skill in the performing arts.  They are given the chance to tell their own stories while making new friends and simply having fun.” said Hannes Berger, Program Manager for Outreach & Access Education, Families & Young People at the Arts Centre.

First established in 1996, the Fairfax Festival began when the then Performing Arts Director for Swan Hill Rural City Council John Fowler, invited George Fairfax to direct and host an evening with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra to be held on the banks of the Murray River. George accepted the invitation but, sadly, became ill and died before the event could be presented.

With the aim of remembering George in some significant way, John approached George’s wife, Vicki Fairfax, with the idea of establishing a regional schools’ theatre festival in the same general area where George had spent his childhood. Vicki not only agreed to have the festival named in George’s memory, but also accepted the invitation to become its patron.

The first George Fairfax Memorial Regional Youth Theatre Festival was held in November 1997.

In 2009, the festival was remodelled into a three day, non-competitive event comprising of workshops and rehearsals with leading professional artists and a gala performance event on the final evening.

“The Fairfax Festival is a time for young people from all over Victoria who are disadvantaged by their regional or remote location or socio-economic situation to come together and show each other the creativity and ingenuity that they are capable of achieving,” Fairfax Director Claire Glenn said.

Ms Glenn, who is now in her fourth year of involvement with the festival added that it was rewarding to give young people from regional and remote regions of Victoria opportunities that were not readily available to them, and having been both manager and director of the festival, has seen it go from strength to strength.

“This festival provides its young participants with the opportunity to showcase their talent while learning from the best in the business and the Fairfax Festival is proud to boast a “Who’s Who” of Australian performing artists as our tutors.”

In 2011, the Fairfax Festival can confirm the participation of guest artists Don Bridges, Kaarin Fairfax, Penelope Bartlau, Beth Child, Douglas Bair and Dan West. The festival also continues its proud association with The Arts Centre who will provide this year’s principal tutor, Petra Kaliv.

Along with the Festival Director, the Festival Committee is also proud to announce the first ever Fairfax Family Young Artist in Residence. This is an opportunity for an ex-participant of the festival, who, having completed Year 12 in 2009 or 2010 aims to pursue a career in the Arts.

Caitlyn Barclay is excited to be awarded the first recipient of this residency and will receive $3000 to help support her career development, plus the opportunity to work with professional artists throughout 2011.

“The opportunity to give something back to the festival that first kindled my love of the Arts is an amazing gift especially as it’s the 15^th year,” Ms Barclay said.

While Adrian has been tripping about through Egypt and Israel, Sharyn and I have been hard at work to make sure that 2011′s Fairfax Festival is the best yet!

Did you know that we now have 12 groups registered!! It’s very exciting – especially because eight of those groups are new to the Festival.  We have now confirmed our guest artists and I will be meeting with them on June 24 to discuss all of the workshops that we will be offering at this year’s Festival – but here’s the inside tip… there will definitely be circus… there might be some puppetry…. there might even be some sound design on some state of the art equipment… What I can tell you is that these workshops are going to be incredibly awesome and will be run by some of the biggest names in the business including Don Bridges, Kaarin Fairfax, Beth Child, Dan West, Penelope Bartlau, Douglas Bair and Petra Kaliv.  Petra will be making her way around to all the schools in August.

We are now awaiting announcements of funding applications we submitted earlier in the year.  Remember to keep all of your fingers and toes crossed for us! The more funding we receive, the more we can include over the four days!!

Claire Glenn

Artistic Director

Group Registration form 2012

Hi Fairfaxers!

Who’s excited for Fairfax?? I know I am! For those of you that don’t know, I’m very excited to inform you that I am the Young Artist is Resident for the 2011 festival, which means that I will be working alongside the Fairfax team to bring you a festival that’s bigger and better then ever! Especially since it’s the 15th year!

It’s been about a month since I officially became the Fairfax Festivals first ever Young Artist in Residence or YAR for short as we like to call it (preferably with a pirate accent), and I’ve been learning a lot about what goes on behind the scenes of putting the festival together and let me be the one to tell you that the amount that goes into it is incredible, I definitely have a new found respect for Claire and Adrian.

Since becoming the YAR I’ve been on an information road show to Portland, been working on grant and sponsorship applications, written a media release, called newspapers around the country and even done a radio interview with a local station!

You also need to get on Facebook and become a fan of our new page; not only will it keep you in the know on what’s been happening with the festival, but will let you know what awesome things are coming up!

So until next time, go on a creative tangent and keep working on your pieces!

Caitlyn.

The Fairfax Festival is pleased to announce the appointment of the first ever Young Artist in Residence – Caitlyn Barclay.

This is an opportunity extended to an ex-participant of the festival, who having completed Year 12 in 2009 or 2010, aims to pursue a career in the Arts.

Ms. Caitlyn Barclay is excited to be awarded all the opportunities afforded by this residency, including $3,000 to help support her career development, plus the opportunity to work with professional artists of international renown.

“The opportunity to give something back to the festival that first kindled my love of the Arts is an amazing gift especially as it’s the 15^th year,” Ms Barclay said.

• Swan Hill Rural City Council Performing Arts Program
• Hugh D Williamson Foundation
• The Arts Centre
• Bendigo Bank
• Swan Hill Inc
• The Malthouse
• ….and more still to come…