The Fairbridge Festival is a music festival held annually since 1993 at Fairbridge village near Pinjarra in Western Australia. The festival is held over a weekend in April.
Visitors staying for the whole weekend can camp in the surrounding fields in tents or vans. The festival offers options for those who don't have their own camping equipment in the form of Cosy Camping and Glamping. Day tickets are also available. See ticketing options here.
The event takes place over three days and three nights (Friday to Sunday), across 12 stages, which include marquees, a chapel, dance stage and workshop rooms. The program features a variety of musical genres such as blues, roots, Celtic, folk, dance, a cappella and world music as well as acts and activities specifically catering for children and young people.
Fairbridge Festival has experienced steady audience growth with the 2016 tally of about 15,000 day attendees. The most common patrons are families, but Fairbridge Festival is enjoyed by all ages including teenagers, young adults and the elderly.
The upcoming 2017 Fairbridge Festival celebrates the festival's 25th anniversary, and part of these celebrations include an extended four-day event: 21-24 April 2017.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
The Festival was established by Max Klubal and Sally Grice, who at the time were committee members of the Western Australian Folk Federation (WAFF). The WAFF already ran a folk festival at Toodyay and formed a partnership with the organisation Parents for Music to run the festival at Fairbridge Village, with the intention of making it a more family-orientated event than Toodyay. The two festivals continued concurrently for two years but eventually Toodyay was closed down.
In 1996, the Fairbridge Festival disassociated itself from the WAFF to its present status as an incorporated not-for-profit association.
In 2006, a board of management was incorporated into Fairbridge Festival headed up by a president. During this time, it was further decided that the festival would benefit from a general manager to lead the burgeoning Festival Operations Group. Up until this point the president, Wendy Corrick, managed the event.
In the past, there had been confusion with Fairbridge WA specifically in relation to accounting so, in November 2011, the incorporation changed its name from Fairbridge Festival Inc. to Folkworld Inc.
Steve Barnes was the artistic director, in charge of the programming until 2014. Rod Vervest took over as artistic director in 2015. Fairbridge Festival's program is guided by their constitution: "FolkWorld Inc. is dedicated to promoting traditional, contemporary and multicultural folk music, dance and related performing arts, with particular emphasis on the involvement of families."
Programming is contributed to by several festival programmers, including a Children's Program Director, Youth Program Director and a Dance Program Director.
In 2012, the Fairbridge Festival Quest songwriting competition for high school-aged young people was launched and has been unearthing new talent from across Western Australia every year.
2017 is Fairbridge Festival's 25th anniversary.
Site
The festival site was originally Fairbridge School, a combination of orphanage, farm school and Imperial social engineering project set up as part of a colonial vision by Kingsley Fairbridge in 1912. The school was founded with the mission of taking deprived children from the orphanages (such as Dr. Barnardo's Homes) and streets of Britain and giving them a healthy life in the Colonies, (while ensuring that the Colonies continued to be populated with sound Anglo-Saxon stock, as was the prevailing ethos of the time), the school functioned until the early 1960s.
Fairbridge Festival 2018
The 2018 festival will be held 20-22 April 2018.
Fairbridge Festival 2017
The 2017 festival was held 21-24 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2016
The 2016 festival was held 15-17 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2015
The 2017 festival was held 10-12 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2014
Fairbridge Festival 2013
The 2013 festival was held 26-28 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2012
The 2012 festival was held 13-15 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2011
The 2011 festival was held 29 April-1 May. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2010
The 2010 festival was held 9-11 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2009
The 2009 festival was held 17-19 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2008
The 2008 festival was held from 24-27 April 2008. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2007
The 2007 festival was held from 13-15 April 2007. The announced performers were:
Fairbridge Festival 2006
The 2006 festival was held 21-23 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2005
The 2017 festival was held 15 - 17 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2004
The 2004 festival was held 16-18 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2003
The 2003 festival was held 24-27 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2002
The 2002 festival was held 19-21 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2001
The 2001 festival was held 20-22 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 2000
The 2000 festival was held 14-16 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 1999
The 1999 festival was held 9-11 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 1998
The 1998 festival was held 17-19 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 1997
The 2017 festival was held 4-6 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 1996
Fairbridge Festival 1995
The 1995 festival was held 31 March-2 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 1994
The 1994 festival was held 15-17 April. The acts were:
Fairbridge Festival 1993
The 1993 festival was held 7-9 May. The acts were:
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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