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SOUTHSIDE FESTIVAL 2005

Planning for this year’s Southside Festival is underway, and the festival is looking like it will be bigger & better than ever. There will more activities and ways for people to get involved, with the festival taking place across three weekends in three different locations.

The Southside Festival is a celebration of community and place. The festival has grown out of a process of community renewal, lead by local community development workers, Wollongong City Council, local non government organisations and government services, and volunteer community members. The festival brings together the various cultural groupings to celebrate and highlight the assets and benefits of living in the southern suburbs of Wollongong in an ongoing effort to address community concerns around crime and safety.

The festival program will run across three weekends, in three different locations (Cringila, Berkeley & Port Kembla) with locality specific activities determined by what has been identified through a community consultation process.

Regular features of the program have been:

• cultural performances eg. music & dance
• cultural food, eg, bread making - sharing of various bread making methods (a wood fired oven was built in Cringila Community Park as part of last year's festival)
• story telling
• children’s rides and activities
• local services information expo
• craft activities
• circus skills workshops
• roaming musicians & circus performers
• lantern parade
• children’s adventure course & outdoor activities

This year will see the introduction of a Fire Event Spectacular. The Fire Event will provide a central focus to unite the three festival locations. The fire event will also provide an opportunity for broad cross cultural participation, helping unite the various cultural groupings through a symbolic performance that highlights and builds upon the inherent strengths in the community.

Workshops for the Fire Event will be held across the three suburbs where the festival is located, and participants will:

• Identify main themes and historical and/or cultural symbols that reflect what opportunities & benefits exist for residents living in the southern suburbs of Wollongong
  
• design & build props for the fire event and shadow puppet theatre performance based on these themes and symbols
  
• receive training in staging and participating in a fire event & shadow puppet theatre
  
• rehearse the performance for the fire event and shadow puppet theatre.
  

The festival is organised by a committee which is made up of local community development workers, volunteers and the festival coordinator. An opportunity exists for local people to get involved and to learn new skills and to receive training in festival organisation. We need local people to get involved and to tell us what they would like to see in this year’s festival.

The greater the involvement by local people, the better the festival will be.

If you would like to get involved in helping organise this years festival or want to suggest an activity or anything, please call either Nick or Jenny on 42 76 3433.

email nickg@pacific.net.au

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