In some great news for music lovers, Victoria’s creative industries minister Colin Brooks visited Odessa at Leaver’s Hotel in Creswick in recent days to announce a new round of the state’s Live Music Festivals Fund.

The fund provides grants to established Victorian festival organisers to expand much-loved music events and bring more festivals to music lovers statewide.

Delivered by Music Victoria on behalf of the Victorian Government, Live Music Festivals Fund applications are now set to open on February 25 and operators of festivals with more than 1000 attendees are eligible to apply for grants of up to $50,000. 

The first round of the Live Music Festivals Fund in 2024 awarded grants to 22 festivals, with almost two-thirds from regional Victoria.

Previously supported festivals included roots and folk music festival CresFest, set to be held over April 4-6, and Echuca-Moama’s popular Riverboats Festival.

CresFest Co-Director Judy Turner was quick to respond to the minister’s new announcement, stating that securing a grant through the Live Music Festivals Fund had been a “game changer” for CresFest this year.

“It means we can finally stop worrying about the last-minute nature of ticket sales, and in another brilliant thing for our town, this funding has enabled CresFest to contribute to making events at the Creswick Courthouse accessible to all,” Ms Turner said.

At a time when the industry is facing a challenging operating environment, the grants aim to help organisers stage their events, creating local jobs for people on and off the stage, and attract music lovers to towns, suburbs and cities across Victoria.

Applications for the Live Music Festivals Fund open on Tuesday, February 25 at 10am and close on Tuesday, March 25 at 2pm. An online information session will be held on Tuesday, March 4 to help people with their applications.  

To find out more about the Live Music Festivals Fund visit musicvictoria.com.au. For information on other Victorian Government support for the music industry, including Music Works and 10,000 Gigs: The Victorian Gig Fund, those keen to know more can visit creative.vic.gov.au.

“Victoria’s music festivals are the lifeblood of communities across our state. They provide jobs for event workers, they’re a rite of passage for young music lovers, and they provide real opportunity for artists to build their careers,” Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks said.

“Music festivals across the country have faced a challenging time, and we are proud to back our much-loved local festivals and the communities that host them.”

Live Music Festivals Fund

• Grant applications open: Tuesday 25 February 2025, 10am
• Applications close: Tuesday 25 March 2025, 2pm
• Info session: Tuesday 4 March 2025

Words: Eve Lamb. Image: Supplied

Celebrated Scottish duo Chris Stout and Catriona McKay are returning to CesFest this April, bringing their “emotional music of stark beauty and driving energy” to multiple festival stages across the town.

Chris and Catriona take the most traditional of Scottish instruments, fiddle and harp, and create glorious soundscapes and music of breathtaking simplicity.

Voted best instrumental duo at the BBC Folk Awards 2018, they have delighted audiences all over the world with their unique sound.

Ahead of the upcoming April 4-6 festival organisers say their new programming strategy means festival-goers will get five chances to see them in action.

Releasing the full festival program grid over the past weekend, festival co-director Judy Turner says an aim for this year’s festial is to feature more stages.

“We’re resolving to bring you more stages, more comedy (like Tuckshop Ladies) more crowd participation, more street and kids stuff, more Big Things to finish the festival and more food,” Ms Turner said.

Alongside the many featured, visiting and headliner acts, the festival team is encouraging talented locals to enter the annual festival busking competition.

“Once again the generous folk at Creswick IGA have sponsored our busking competition and we are seeking talented players who are not on the main bill, but who reckon they’e got something pretty special to offer,” Ms Turner says.

“This year (will be) convened and judged by a team led by Jen Hawley (the brilliant guitarist from The Royal High Jinx).

“We are offering three prizes and the chance to perform on Rosie the Caravan Stage, with the ultimate winner doing a cameo at the Town Hall on Sunday at 3pm, supporting the multi-award winnning act The Maes.”

Full festival details, including the new program grid can be found on the festival website https://cresfest.com.au/.

Words: Eve Lamb. Image: Supplied

A huge diversity of multicultural music and acts have been announced for this year’s CresFest that’s set to transform the township of Creswick over three days in early April. 

Headliners for the award-winning folk and roots festival happening April 4-6, range from Neil Murray, The Maes and Queenslands’ Joe Geia to Grace Barbe from the Seychelles, Grassy Strings from India and Kofi Kunkpe bringing West African grooves to the mix.

Festival co-directors Judy Turner and Stella Savy say that alongside the many featured concerts, festival-goers will also get the chance to participate in a packed program of workshops.

“Local players will be invited to perform with visiting professionals, in an inspirational two-way collaboration,” Turner says ahead of the multicultural  music feast.

Just before Christmas, the festival secured a $17,000 grant from Festivals Australia.

Festival co-director Stella Savy says the grant will enable a program of music to be taken into each of Creswick’s three primary schools in the lead-up to staging a featured African Extravaganza as part of the festival.

It means local students will be able to learn repertoire with guest artist Ghana’s Kofi Kunkpe and Savy, herself a renown music teacher.

They will then be able to perform, participating in the African Extravaganza set for Saturday afternoon of the festival.

A coming together of cultures, it will also involve local choirs and the Creswick drumming circle as well as the featured African musicians and will “take over the street” Savy says in anticipation.

“We’ve got an incredible line-up of first nations and overseas artists. It’s so exciting.”

Encouraging people to check out the the festival website, Savy says another particularly pleasing aspect is the sizeable component of free community offerings and workshops, with the focus on participation.

In the countdown to the event, Turner says they’re now keen to hear from Creswick locals who may be able to host a muso – or even a group of performers.

She says hosting a performer or group promises to make for a rewarding experience.

It’s a chance to hear the music up close – “getting to understand more of the musician’s life and, of course, getting a free weekend pass for the festival in return for each artist hosted”.  

Ideally host houses will be situated within 5km of the Creswick Town Hall with those interested to know more able to check out the festival’s website and click on ‘get involved’.

And in a new initiative, the visually-minded will have a chance to win an attractive prize by capturing photographic images from the colourful annual event.

Turner says they’re introducing the new competition with festival-goers invited to enter up to three images capturing the festival vibe.

By entering their three top images they’ll be competing to win two day passes or one weekend pass to CresFest 2026. 

“We will be looking for funny, quirky, soulful, heart warming pics we can use in our reporting to partners and in marketing future festivals,” Turner says.

“All good quality images will be considered by a panel of local judges. Phone cameras of course accepted.”

Full conditions and details for the debut photo comp will be announced in early March.

Tickets to CresFest are on sale through the festival website at https://cresfest.com.au/.

Words: Eve Lamb. Images: Supplied

In a new initiative for this year’s CresFest, festival-goers will have a chance to win an attractive prize by capturing photographic images from the April event.

Organisers of the Creswick folk and roots music festival are introducing the new competition with visitors invited to enter up to three great images capturing the vibe of the 2025 festival coming up April 4-6.

By entering their three top images they’ll be competing to win two day passes or one weekend pass to CresFest 2026. 

“We will be looking for funny, quirky, soulful, heart warming pics we can use in our reporting to partners and in marketing future festivals and you can help out,” CresFest founder and co-director Judy Turner says.

“All good quality images will be considered by a panel of local judges. Phone cameras of course accepted.”

Organisers say that full conditions and details for the debut CresFest photo comp will be announced on March 1.

Words: Eve Lamb

Organisers of this year’s upcoming CresFest folk and roots music festival are keen to hear from Creswick locals who think they may be able to host a muso – or maybe even a group of performers – over the weekend of the festival in early April.

In an update on preparations ahead of the April 4-6 event, the award-winning festival’s co-director and founder Judy Turner says hosting a performer or a group promises to make for a rewarding experience.

She says it’s a chance to get to hear the music up close, getting to understand more of the musician’s life, “and, of course, getting a free weekend pass for the festival in return for each artist hosted”.  

The requirements of hosting a performer or group “are not onerous, and you can even use an on-site  caravan or cabin to offer a bed, or space for a tent or campervan in  your garden – all types of hospitality considered”.

Ideally host houses will be situated within 5km of the Creswick Town Hall. Those interested to know more about hosting can check out the  festival’s website online and click on ‘get involved’.

Words: Eve Lamb. Image: Supplied

Judy Turner, the dynamic musician and founder of the hugely popular CresFest folk and roots festival held in Creswick every April, was awarded the Contribution to Folk Award late last month.  

CresFest president and Kingston resident Mark Myers said “a group of us  travelled to Melbourne to be part of the celebrations at the annual Australian Folk  Music Awards, held at Brunswick Ballroom”.  

The event, Myers said, was a gathering of the tribe, from all over Australia, with  people from every state honoured for their contributions.  

“We are very proud of Judy and of all she has achieved for Creswick. At the  awards night we realised how much she has contributed over many decades, to make music an essential part of hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.

Her energy and commitment are awe inspiring, and we are lucky to have her living in our region.”  

Judy was nominated for the award by Ballarat legend, the singer and choir  leader Stella Savy, who nominated her for her pioneering work providing musical opportunities for players of all ages through the creation and maintenance of the Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club, Stringmania Camp and CresFest.

“Above all, Judy’s secret magical power is having great ideas, making them come alive, then enthusing and inspiring other people to the extent they eventually want to take them over,” Stella said.  

Less known in the local region perhaps is her work creating and growing the now famous Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club, which grew under her leadership to a mighty performing group as well as a place for people of all ages to get together and build a life in music.  

Judy ran the club, with her partner Neil Adam, from 1995 to 2011, when she ‘bequeathed’ it to younger players.  

“The kids who came to the club in their teens have now been running the club for 15 years or so, and in 2025 will take the group to Nova Scotia on a 30th anniversary celebration tour,” Judy said.  

Starting her working life as a violin teacher in western suburbs technical schools, Judy says she has always loved sparking the joy of group playing in people of all ages.  

“One of my favourite teaching gigs was at the Council of Adult Education in  Melbourne, where adults as ‘young’ as 80 came along with – say – a late uncle’s violin,  to learn a few tunes in memory of him.

They were never going to really be players, but there was no doubt they were going to experience the joy of making their sound better by combining it with others.”  

And that, Judy says, is the secret of music in community. Stella, now the co director of CresFest, agrees.

“We have made a festival that’s for players and singers of all ages and stages. We want them to be inspired not only by what they can see and hear, but also by  what they can do.

“There are opportunities for everyone to join in, and in 2025 the  Rhythms of Africa Extravaganza will stop the festival with singing, dancing and drumming in the streets.”  

Thousands of people across Australia have reason to be grateful to Judy Turner for their engagement with music, and we in the Ballarat region can celebrate the opportunities she and her band of volunteers are bringing, with the creation of a festival with national appeal.  

There are opportunities for engagement for new groups like Creswick Chorus,  Hepburn Players and Creswick Ukestra, alongside established groups like Creswick Brass Band, Creswick Primary School singers and Creswick Drum Circle.  

Words: Fiona Watson | Image: Eve Lamb  

CresFest 2024 will be the third time around for the small Goldfields community of Creswick.

This folk and roots music festival is earning a reputation for punching above its weight, with imaginative programming and a can-do attitude.

In 2024, the bar will be raised even higher with the inclusion of an original opera written by staff and students of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Opera program, plus a performance by a string orchestra backing well-known local crooner Archer Shepherd, in arrangements by Finnish-Australian composer Erkki Veltheim.

“It really comes back to community,” said director and founder Judy Turner, “with the opera and the chamber players – it’s all about bringing local issues and local people to the fore. And getting together with like-minded people, wherever they are from, whatever their musical background, is what makes the magic happen. ”

Creswick Flood Opera

In August 2023, Professor Jane Davidson, Head of Opera at the Conservatorium, University of Melbourne, brought a group of students to meet locals at the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre. Interviewed in her Southbank office, Professor Davidson was full of enthusiasm for the Flood Opera project, and how it has opened opportunities for her young students.

“We came to CresFest 2023,” Professor Davidson said, “just for the experience of playing out of town, and we were blown away by the vibrancy of the local music scene. We got talking about the devastating floods of the year before, and the idea grew that we, as musicians, could do something to shine a light on the impact of such climate events on a small community: we could make it personal, bring out the emotion through our music.”

Enter Pat Tacey (Hepburn Shire Citizen of the Year 2023) and the Creswick Lions, and the community was involved. After a day spent interviewing local residents whose lives were flood impacted, the group went back to Melbourne to create their work.

Presenting it in ‘draft’ form at the Clunes Town Hall for a Seniors Festival audience in October 2023 was so impactful that the team decided to bring the full opera back to CresFest 2024.

“This will be the first time people can hear our opera in Creswick, and we are really thrilled to be able to present it free for the community, thanks to Creswick Woollen Mills,” said Professor Davidson.

In addition to the Flood Opera, CresFest recognises the anguish of community members affected by the floods of 2022 in a podcast series This CresFest World. Listeners can find three episodes on the floods and listen to excerpts of the opera here.

CresFest invites all locals to attend the free performance on Saturday, April 6 at 2.30pm at the Creswick Woollen Mills, Railway Parade, Creswick. Special thanks go to the residents who shared their stories for this project: Adriana (Teeny) Cunnington, Terry Cunnington, Mark Shalless, Pauline Stapleton, Bernie Tacey (Flynn), Pat Tacey and Ellie van Oirschot.

Archer and the Hepburn Players

Collaborations between popular artists and classical players are well established, almost the norm these days, and after a successful partnering with Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal at CresFest 2023, the Hepburn Players (pictured below and led by Daylesford harpsichordist Andrew Welsh) are thrilled to be back on stage, this time supporting Archer.

“Archer’s music is timeless,” says Ms Turner, also a viola player with the group, “and these string arrangements by the wonderful Erkki Veltheim will give his lyrics a chance to really shine. As community players we jump at the chance to play such sophisticated parts, supporting a truly international singer from our own region.”

The group was formed by Andrew Welsh and Judy Turner before the pandemic, with many lost opportunities over the lockdown years. Since the re-opening, they have steamed ahead, performing at community events at Daylesford Anglican Church, Creswick Art Shows, Newlyn Mechanics Institute, Daylesford Town Hall, Creswick Woollen Mills, and at CresFest 2023.

To see the Hepburn Players with Archer at Creswick Town Hall on Saturday, April 6 you need to have a festival pass. Tickets and the full program are available now at https://cresfest.com.au/

More on the festival

Now in its third iteration, CresFest has appointed Ballarat superstar Stella Savy as Associate Artistic Director.

“Stella brings a wealth of knowledge of the music industry and networks across a broad range of genres, especially deep roots in African and other world musics,” says Judy. “This year there will be dancing in the streets when Sydney band Chutney brings its exciting brand of klezmer music to Creswick.”

Stella said the festival was bringing artists from Canada, New Zealand, Argentina and the UK – the strongest international contingent yet presented.

“And along with that we have a truly national showcase of the best acoustic acts in our folk and roots genre – there’s Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse from WA, Gosti from QLD, The Cherry Pickers from SA, Spooky Men’s Chorale and Chutney from NSW and Super Rats from the ACT.”

In addition to four concert stages running from Friday night April 5 to Sunday evening April 7, CresFest will present three new ‘zones’ in 2024. KidsOwn KidZone is where puppet shows and plays meet circus skills and marimbas. Street Zone has acts coming from across Victoria to create fun in the streets.

There’s a magician – Cath Jamison – from Hepburn Springs, a kids circus expert – Luth Wolff – from Melbourne, and an acrobat – Malachi Frost – from SA, bringing high-speed juggling a 10-foot pole and a giant flyswatter, and finally Doc Andrew, all the way from Dallas, Texas, will bring his sleight-of hand and trickery.

With the ChoirZone, across the whole of Saturday community choirs will sing their hearts out on the steps of Creswick’s charming old post office. So, as well as the established choirs, you can come along with your festival ticket and join the pop-up Festival Choir.

The former Creswick Courthouse will once again host a series of fascinating conversations presented by First Nations artists Gina Williams (WA) and Trudy Fatnowna Edgeley (Ballarat) to discussion of pre colonial land management practices with famed historians Professor Bill Gammage and Professor Barry Golding.

Hosts Cate Kennedy and James Fremantle will talk with visiting artists about food, fishing, family, fame and much more.

CresFest 2024 is once again partnering with a range of visual artists to ensure there’s a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. And then, of course, at the heart of it all is community, with six Creswick groups taking part on stage, in collaborations and mashups across the weekend.

“The point of all this,” says Stella, “is to create a musical legacy for the community, where people get a chance to not only see and hear great visiting acts but also to learn from and play alongside them.”

Links: www.cresfest.com.au/program | www.cresfest.com.au/tickets/