The Festival's 'Old Glass Roadshow'

Have you ever watched The Antiques Roadshow on television and wondered about the value of that old vase or bottle or lampshade that you're keeping 'just in case'?

Now you can find out. When you visit the Festival of Glass, bring your treasured glass object with you and look out for the Old Glass Roadshow. There, two specialist collectors will give you their view on its value.

Of course, no-one can guarantee that a particular glass object will fetch a particular price. After all, something's only worth what someone will pay for it. But its nice to have an idea - is the value of your piece just sentimental ... or just under a thousand?!

Whatever the specialists' view, wander from the Roadshow to the Geelong Bottle and Collectables Club stall. There you can see a range of historic glass bottles, including some from the old water-bottling plant in nearby Jetty Road. These bottles had a distinctive, torpedo-like shape and were used in the early 20th century to bottle the spring water from Clifton Springs.
Festival of Glass: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Be creative around glass - without breaking anything!

The Festival of Glass will feature three competitions where you, too, can be creative around the wonderful world of glass without putting yourself in danger!

1. Best glass-related photograph or painting A painting about glass might seem an odd idea, but several paintings by surrealist painter René Magritte feature windows (see, e.g., www.mattesonart.com/part-2-magrittes-window-paintings.aspx) and one of his paintings is called 'The Glass Key' (but, in surrealist fashion, it contains neither glass or key).

2. Best glass-related story, poem or song This may not be as hard as it seems. After all, the story of Cinderella focussed on a glass slipper. There's a newsblog called 'Glass; a journal of poetry' (http://glass-poetry.blogspot.com/). Who can forget John Lennon's song, 'Glass Onion', Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' or Bowie's 'Breaking Glass'?

3. Best glass jewellery Several makers of glass jewellery will be exhibiting their work at the Festival, so it would be tactless to suggest others' work as inspiration here! as the Festival's web site develop, it will feature examples of exhibitors' pieces; and already, the web site has links to our exhibitors' own web sites, where you can browse for inspiration.

In each competition, the winning entry will be the people's choice - the one receiving the most voters from visitors. So get your entry in early to ensure that everyone has a chance to vote or it!

Submitting your entry
On the day of the Festival (20 February 2011), please hand-in your entry at the Festival's Information desk. Please ensure that it is accompanied by your contact details, so that we can tell if you won! You can retrieve your entry immediately after the winners are announced.
Festival of Glass: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Festival web site goes live!

The Festival of Glass web site has gone 'live'. To the sound of cheers and popping corks, DCSCA President Doug Carson pulled a large blue lever on the side of his computer, which then displayed the message, 'FoG web site live' and paid out $2.50 in plastic tokens.

But seriously ... the Festival's web site brings together in one place all the information that exhibitors and visitors need. This includes:

• information about the Festival site - Drysdale's Potato Shed - and how to get there
• an outline of the day's program (which is updated regularly)
• a presentation on the Festival's sponsors
• information about each exhibitor, photos of some of their work and a link to their web site

The web site address is as follows:
https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

At this early stage. you'll need to type the address into your browser window, rather than into a search engine (e.g. Google). As traffic to the site starts to build, search engines will start to recognise it and it will be accessible through search engines.

Tourism operators learn about the Festival of Glass

Monthly tourism newsletter 'The Bellarine Bulletin' is currently promoting the Festival of Glass to local tourism businesses as a new attraction for tourists and holiday-makers in the region.

The newsletter is published by Bellarine Tourism, which both represents and supports the region's tourism industry. Each edition of the newsletter goes to the wide range of businesses involved in tourism, from accommodation to zoos. The inclusion of the Festival of Glass means that it will be promoted directly by word of mouth from tourism businesses to their customers. The Festival's organisers are grateful to Bellarine Tourism for its support.

'Only Melbourne' features the Festival of Glass

The Festival of Glass is featured in the weekly online newsletter Only Melbourne (www.onlymelbourne.com.au).

Only Melbourne started in 1998 and is a good resource for residents of Melbourne - and visitors, too. The newsletter includes a range of guides to Melbourne, including 'What's On Melbourne', a 'Business and Services Directory' and the 'Melbourne City Guide'.

We hope that the Festival's inclusion will encourage Melbournites to have a day out in Drydsdale. Once they've visited the Festival of Glass, Melbournites can also visiting the nearby community market and ride back in time on the Bellarine steam railway from Drysdale to Queenscliff.

Here is a direct link to the Festival's page in the newsletter:
www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=28656

'Visit Victoria' promotes the Festival of Glass

Visit Victoria - the state's peak tourism body - is promoting the Festival of Glass, inviting local, national and international visitors to visit us.

The site tells potential visitors to the Festival that they can be assured of a full day out in Drysdale. Local musicians will entertain visitors as they sample the region's food, wines and olive oils; the monthly Drysdale Craft Market is happening nearby on the same day; and the fully-restored, historic Bellarine Peninsula Railway runs all day between nearby Drysdale rail station and Queenscliff.

To see Visit Victoria's article about the Festival of Glass, go to www.visitvictoria.com/
then type-in Festival of Glass in the 'Search' box.

Artists, craftspeople can rent CBD shops cheaply for Xmas

DCSCA encourages all local arts and crafts businesses - especially those participating in the Festival of Glass - to consider opening a shop through the Made in Geelong scheme.

Made in Geelong enables creative people to test their wares in the peak Christmas/New Year shopping period without having to commit themselves to a costly, long-term lease. Artists, craftspeople and community groups can lease empty shops in Geelong’s CBD at low rent on a 30-day rolling licence, which either the owner or the tenant can end with 14 days notice. The scheme is open to individuals, groups and organizations; a few people could decide to lease a shop together and share the costs and the profits. Anyone wishing to participate in Made in Geelong must have an Australian Business Number (ABN) - available (free) from the Australian Tax Office web site.

The owner of the shop takes no commission on sales, but the tenant pays the utility bills (electricity, gas, water, etc.). The tenant decides who will staff the shop. Tenants can decorate the shop with the written permission of the owner and must return the shop to its original condition before the end of the lease. The Made in Geelong Selection Committee will match potential tenants with the most suitable space available.

Made in Geelong is an innovative initiative by the City of Greater Geelong's Dept. of Arts and Culture. It's modeled on a scheme developed to help regenerate Newcastle CBD and has already seen some artists turn their short-term leases into long-term ones.

For more Information: madeingeelong@gmail.com