“It’s looking fantastic because it’s a community run event, so it’s all run by artists themselves, plus myself. Everyone is really working hard at it themselves,” he beams.
With the first event beginning on March 11 (with Arts Open spread over two weekends on March 12 – 14 and 19 – 20) the two events see 148 artists spread their craft across more than 65 venues, celebrating the creativity and community that comes from Castlemaine, Newstead Maldon and Chewton.
The seed for the Fringe Festival was first planted in 1992 and was (and still is) devoted to supporting, promoting and exhibiting the golden wealth of its local talent. This year’s theme is ‘breakout’ with the festival breaking out of its biennial structure and splitting into two streams: performance one year and visual arts the next.
Arts Open was soon bred from the same community focused concept, showcasing the talent of those visual arts minded in the community. As Jennings tells me, there is around 400 professional artists in the region, and the festival is rapidly including more and more each year.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger. The first year we had 45 artists andthe second year we had 65, now it’s ballooned out,” he says.
“So there’s 50 individual events and then about 12 group shows. We’ve got one at the Castlemaine Gaol, which is looking really good as there’s about 50 people exhibiting there – which is pretty good for a 150-odd year building. Every single cell is filled with artwork as well – it’s kind of kooky and fun.”
As for the fringe festival, 20 musicians and groups will perform over the 10 days covering everything from jazz, electronic and improvised music. And then there’s the theatre, featuring the black comedy of Hobo Playhouse’s Come back, which is set in a kitchen in Melbourne in the 1980s and follows four women as they prepare traditional food for a wake. Though there’s something for everyone with reinterpretations and adaptations of local sites and stories in Company On Foot’s Promenade Locale #3 to the avant-garde spoken-word performance of town-crier Araignee Chaine’s Revelations. A highlight comes with Jail House Rock Opera, the colonial gaol-themed musical variety show packed to the bars with fun.
Part of its growth is thanks to the event being 100 percent community run. There’s no ‘big names’ calling the shots, it’s simply a team of locals passionate about their town, their craft and being able to showcase that to others.
Over the three years of Arts Open running (the event itself is biannual) and more for the Castlemaine Fringe, the most recent incarnation saw more than 6,000 people brought to the idyllic town just 90 minutes from Melbourne. People came from all over; Sydney, Melbourne and from fellow regional towns near the region, all absorbing the diverse array of artworks and shows on display each year.
“We wanted to cover all bases with the type of artwork, we didn’t want it to just be sculptural or just be contemporary artworks or traditional. We wanted to make sure the art covered stuff for men, older people, textile fans and everyone else in between. We wanted everyone to be enthusiastic and no one to be dragging their feet – the idea is that everyone can have some fun,” he says.
With diversity in both the theatre shows, musical performances and the art hanging on the walls, when Jennings declares there’s something for everyone, he truly means it.
“It’s a great thriving community with music and art everywhere; we’re going to have bands on the street, in front of cafes and everywhere,” he says. “It’ll be heaps of fun.”
BY AMANDA SHERRING
