Crush Festival 2017 launches in October.
Bundaberg, the gateway to the Southern Great Barrier Reef, will play host to a troupe of local and touring artists, acrobats, writers, filmmakers, choir singers and Indigenous designers from 6 to 15 October for Crush Festival 2017.
The 10-day festival will kick off in style with the Dambali First Nations Fashion Exhibition and Forum on Friday 6 October at the Bundaberg School of Arts. Hosted by local Indigenous artist Julie Appo, this event celebrates the region’s Indigenous fashion, textile design and wearable art creations. It is the culmination of two years of work that has seen Appo engage with Indigenous artists learning to use their art for fabric printing.
The Orpheus Singers will be back to perform in a special concert at Moncrieff Entertainment Centre on Friday 6 October. Conducted by Gordon Hamilton, musical director of The Australian Voices and featuring works from local Bundaberg composers.
On Saturday 7 October, Crush Festival will take over the Bundaberg Kart Club with a festival first: the all-ages Crush Carnivale. The carnival will host concerts, circus performances and more including a reunion performance from Australian rock legends Moving Pictures. They will blast their mega hit ‘What About Me’ through Bundaberg more than 30 years after it was released.
Adding to the carnival atmosphere young Bundaberg locals will join Circa Zoo, the youth ensemble of Circa, Australia’s most innovative circus. It will include a farm-themed spectacle of tumbling, hoops, silks and a triple trapeze following a year-long training program.
The world-renowned Circa will perform 31 Acts in 30 Minutes. A blur of bending, flying, juggling and balancing, the show has bamboozled audiences around the world from Brighton, England to Vancouver, Canada.
Some of Australia’s most-loved authors and innovative storytellers will take over CQUniversity on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 October for WriteFest. Avid readers and aspiring writers are invited to partake in thought-provoking presentations, literary entertainment, networking events and skills-development workshops: from songwriting and characterisation to transmedia storytelling. A series of fringe events throughout Crush Festival will take place too, such as the Bundaberg Regional Library’s Author Talk and the Text As Art installation.
Another exhibition to keep an eye out for is the Stockland Bundaberg Recycled Sculpture Project at Stockland Bundaberg. Raising awareness of the environment and the impact we have through waste, masterpieces made of rubbish will be on display.
Festival-goers will be treated to campground karaoke at Grey Nomads vs. The World. The fun light-hearted two-act play is set in a campsite somewhere in Australia in those most coveted social hours of the day… the late afternoon. Exploring the 50s, 60s and 70s in music, audience members will become karaoke hopefuls. Featuring hits from The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Buddy Holly and the king Elvis Presley, this light-hearted romp shall delight anyone who has music in their heart and has ever taken the road less travelled.
There will also be the chance to enjoy a lively night of art, history, innovation, music, markets and gelato in Midweek Crush on Wednesday 11 October. Get a sneak peek of some of the region’s most talented artists’ studios in the bespoke Childers and Bundaberg Studio Tours on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 October.
The final weekend of Crush Festival 2017 will be jam-packed with a diverse range of events, with something on offer for the whole family.
David Stratton’s Travelling Film Festival (13 – 15 October) will return to Bundaberg for its 17th year to showcase Australian and international features and shorts at Moncrieff Entertainment Centre. While on Saturday 14 October The Spirit of Bundaberg will treat punters to rum-inspired local music, and rum-fuelled food and cocktails at the iconic Bundaberg Rum Distillery.
Kids Crush Day 2017 will present a family-friendly festival of creativity, combining Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths (STEAM) in a range of hands-on experiences for parents and children on Saturday 14 October at Community Lifestyle Support in Kalkie.
Crush Festival 2017 will draw to a close on Sunday 16 October with the laid back Sandsculptures and Beach BBQ event at Elliott Heads. This year’s event will feature a temporary labyrinth installation by local artist, Ramona Lane. The Treasures from the Sea Labyrinth will be created on the sand with the public invited to walk the labyrinth and to help create the final design by placing decorations of driftwood, shells and treasures of the sea on it.
Crush Festival artistic director Shelley Pisani said this year’s program will delight arts and culture crowds of all ages.
“Crush is a ten-day celebration of the wealth of talent we have in our region and beyond. The 2017 program is packed full of fantastic experiences in beautiful outdoor spaces and venues to bring the community and its visitors together through the arts,” said Ms Pisani.