Rebooted National Folk Festival ready to rise again this Easter

A combination of better ticket sales and ‘savvy’ budgeting augurs well for a bounce back from last year’s big loss for the National Folk Festival, which is now less than a month away.

Organisers launched the festival at the Contentious Character Urban Winery at Dairy Road on Wednesday (19 March) with performances from Victorian singer-songwriter Daisy Kilbourne, who will be appearing at her first National, a hilarious poetry offering from Canberra icon Fred Smith and a Cajun dance exhibition.

Co-artistic director Holly Downes told Region that last year’s attendance figures were not as bad as some think, but the cost of staging the festival was a significant factor in it posting a $450,000 loss.

Ms Downes said this year’s ticket sales were tracking well, including an increase in the number of campers, which is always a good barometer of success.

“Our campground is definitely more full this year, and all of our powered camping sites sold out a long time ago,” she said.

Ms Downes said calculating audience numbers and production costs is a conundrum facing music festival organisers everywhere in such an unpredictable economy.

A federal government grant has helped, but organisers have also learnt a lot from last year’s event and budgeted accordingly without losing the essence of the festival, she said.

“We’re just being very savvy with how we’ve spent what we have and how we work with that to maximise the joy and passion that all of these artists bring and to be able to bring as many of them as we possibly can within those constraints,” Ms Downes said.

“Things are looking really solid. We’re running ahead of predictions at the moment, so that’s shaping up to be a really positive outcome.”

Ms Downes said the challenge for the artistic directors was delivering an attractive program while keeping an eye on the bottom line, but the festival again has a bevy of international artists to complement the Australian crew.

She said the overseas lineup covers a diverse range of folk genres, and the point of difference for festivalgoers is that they can experience artists in different ways.

“One of the main things is that you get to see them in an interactive way at the National Folk Festival,” Ms Downes said.

“Most will be speaking on a forum, participating in a round table, or participating in one of our special events like Live at the National, where they are backed by the house band to make a new arrangement and collaborate with other artists.”

Ms Downes said that for families, there would be a rich offering of events for young children to participate in or listen to.

“There’s a lot of options for all sorts of different niche, passionate people, and I think that’s what the National Festival is all about, something for everyone,” she said.

Daisy Kilburn is excited to be performing at her first National Folk Festival and the opportunities it presents to her as an artist.

She got the taste for festival life at this month’s Port Fairy Folk Festival.

“I feel like just the opportunity to be able to play in front of an audience that is actually there to listen as well is going to be huge for me. I’m super excited just to get in the crowd and meet everyone as much as the other artists as well,” she said.

“They’ve put together such a great lineup, and I know so much work’s gone into it, so I’m really keen to dive into as many shows as I can over the weekend.”

She had been warned about the Sessions Bar, but it sounded like a lot of fun. “I will be prepared when I walk in there,” she said.

A singer/songwriter influenced by the likes of Joni Mitchell and other late 1960s/70 icons, her slow, melodic songs explore love, loss and heartbreak, the deepest being the loss of her musician father, Wayne Kilbourne, when she was 16.

She performed 1915, based on Diggers’ letters home from the trenches at the launch, and Alice, which is being released this Friday.

The happy songs are the ones that were hardest to write, but there were a few, she said.

Daisy will perform a number of 50-minute sets across the weekend, so festivalgoers will get to hear a good sample of her repertoire.

Ms Downes urged Canberrans to buy their tickets before 3 April when more expensive gate prices kick in, “so make sure you don’t miss that if you want the extra discounted rate prior to turning up on the day”.

The festival runs across the Easter weekend from Thursday evening, 17 April, to Monday evening, 21 April. To view the complete program and buy tickets, visit the National Folk Festival.