Forty two exhibitors, with three months to go!

With just three months to go before the second Festival of Glass on February 19 2012, forty two exhibitors have booked spaces - well in excess of the 2011 Festival.

If you are one of those exhibitors, we thank you for supporting the 2012 Festival of Glass and we look forward to seeing you in February. If you're not an exhibitor but think that you might like to be, please contact us for more information and an application form (Doug Carson: ccd21@bigpond.net.au).

Timetable: exhibitors' setting-up. Since the number of exhibitors at the 2012 Festival of Glass is so much higher than at the 2011 Festival, we need to avoid congestion as exhibitors arrive to set-up. Congestion is likely to be worst on the morning of Sunday 19 February, because every exhibitor will want their space set-up in time for the official opening and launch at 9:00 a.m. Therefore, we've created a timetable of who we would like to arrive when. (If you're an exhibitor, you should have received a copy of the timetable by now. If you haven't, please contact Doug Carson: ccd21@bigpond.net.au) Some exhibitors said on their application form when they would like to set up, so we have started the timetable with their times and fitted everyone else around them. If the times we have allocated to you are not suitable, please contact Doug Carson.

The 2012 Festival of Glass will open officially at 9.00 a.m. Following the official opening, all exhibitors can walk around and look at the rest of the Festival before the doors open to the public at 10:00 a.m.

Raffles Admission to the 2012 Festival of Glass will be free, allowing more people to attend and increasing exposure for your business. Free admission was an attraction at the 2011 Festival, but it means that we need to make some money to continue hosting and growing the Festival. Therefore, we are inviting each exhibitor at the 2012 Festival to sell a couple of books of raffle tickets between now and 19 February. (If you're an exhibitor, you should have received these by now. If you haven't, please contact Doug Carson: ccd21@bigpond.net.au)

Competitions The 2012 Festival of Glass will feature several competitions (for details, see the Festival of Glass website: www.festivalofglass.net.au). If you have entered one of these competitions, or if you are considering it, please ensure that your paperwork is completed and in place, so that judging can begin on time.

More information We will post updated information as it happens on this blog; see also the Festival of Glass website: www.festivalofglass.net.au

Festival of Glass an attractive investment

The Bendigo Bank has shown its confidence in the 2012 Festival of Glass by investing $2,500 in sponsorship. The money will help to pay for the costs of the Festival's infrastructure, marketing and promotion.

The Bendigo Bank’s sponsorship of the 2012 Festival builds on its support and encouragement for the inaugural Festival of Glass in 2011 and shows potential sponsors that this innovative event is gaining a positive reputation from which they can benefit.

The Bank's support follows an announcement by City of Greater Geelong Mayor Cr. John Mitchell that the City will invest $6,000 in the 2012 Festival of Glass, which he described as 'an innovative festival (that) is already stirring considerable interest among glassmakers and fans around Australia.'

'Ticks of approval' from these two major local funders reaffirm the vision behind the Festival and give a tremendous boost to the artists, craftspeople and business participating in it. They also show potential sponsors that the Festival of Glass has a growing positive reputation from which they can benefit.

Exhibitors investing Exhibitors at the 2012 Festival of Glass are also investing in its success. More than forty exhibitors - many of them local - have booked spaces already, three months before the Festival; and eighteen of them have donated items worth a total of $1,520 to the 2012 Festival of Glass raffle.

Doug Carson, Chairperson of the Festival Committee said, 'The Festival Committee has been (almost!) overwhelmed by the response and we really appreciate it. The number and value of items donated is a strong vote of confidence by local glass artists and craftspeople in the Festival’s potential to promote their work. It’s also clear evidence that the Festival has the potential to become a major showcase of local glass art, craft and industry, driven by the active support of local glass workers. The more that the Festival generates broad and active support such as this, the more viable it becomes. So a big "Thank you" to those exhibitors who have donated items.'
(Illustration: VA Glass)

FoG on the road!

The Festival of Glass has been on the road as part of the nation-wide 'RUOK?' day.

The occasion was the 'YouthFest' day held on 15 September at Bellarine Secondary College in Drysdale. The Festival of Glass was invited to attend because one the aims of the day was to introduce young people to some of the community events and organisations in their area. Members of the Festival Committee spent the first hour erecting a small market tent! After that, however, they spent several hours talking to young people about ... well ... glass!

People were fascinated by demonstrations of mosaic-making and bead-weaving and some local teachers said that they would promote the competition for schools that is an innovation of the 2012 Festival of Glass.

Festival Committee members on the road.
L to R: Betty O'Driscoll, Patrick Hughes, Doug Carson (standing) and Glenda MacNaughton.

36 sites ... and growing

Four months ahead of the 2012 Festival of Glass, exhibitors have already booked 36 sites and applications continue to arrive.

The sites booked so far reflect the multi-faceted world of glass. They include mosaics, jewellery, glass beads and bead-making, stained glass, sculptures, glazing, slumped glass platters, ceramics, leadlighting, glass etching and sandblasting. At the inaugural Festival of Glass in February 2011, 29 exhibitors attracted more than 6,000 visitors. The 2012 Festival looks likely to be even bigger, taking another small step towards the Festival Committee's vision of the Festival of Glass becoming Australia's primary showcase for glass-related art, craft and industry.

The Festival's move from Drysdale's Potato Shed to the nearby - much bigger - Bellarine Basketball Stadium is certainly looking justified in terms of the number of exhibitors. The next step, of course, is to attract the crowds and the Festival marketing plan is about to start, funded partly by the $6,000 investment by the City of Greater Geelong. (See 'Festival experts give tick of approval' on this blog. 29 September 2011) Over the next few months, mention of the 2012 Festival of Glass should start to appear in a variety of local and regional print and electronic media.

Festival experts give tick of approval

The City of Greater Geelong has shown its confidence in the 2012 Festival of Glass by investing $6,000 in it. The money will help to pay for the costs of the Festival's infrastructure, marketing and promotion.

The $6,000 is the result of an independent assessment of the 2012 Festival of Glass by the council's local experts in festival organisation. Their support reaffirms the vision behind the Festival and gives a tremendous boost to the artists, craftspeople and business who have expressed their confidence in the Festival already by agreeing to participate in it.

This 'tick of approval' by experts in festival organisation shows current and potential exhibitors that the 2012 Festival of Glass will be run in a professional manner by a Committee in whom they can have confidence. The 'tick of approval' also shows potential sponsors that this innovative event is already gaining a positive reputation from which they can benefit. The Festival Committee is seeking funds from other sources and the Festival's Business Plan aims to make the event self-supporting in five years.

The council invested a similar amount in the inaugural 2011 Festival of Glass and the Festival Committee is grateful for the continuing support and encouragement of officers in the council's Arts and Culture Department and of local councillors Rod Macdonald and John Doull.

Raffle prizes are a vote of confidence

The 2012 Festival of Glass Raffle is going to be a major feature! With just two weeks until the deadline for donations of prizes, eighteen exhibitors have donated items worth a total of $1,520.

Chairperson of the 2012 Festival of Glass, Doug Carson said, 'The Festival Committee has been (almost!) overwhelmed by the response. exhibitors supported the raffle at the 2011 Festival of Glass very well, but nothing on this scale. We really appreciate it.'

'The number and value of items donated is a strong vote of confidence by local glass artists and craftspeople in the Festival’s potential to promote their work', said Carson. 'It’s also clear evidence that the Festival has the potential to become a major showcase of local glass art, craft and industry, driven by the active support of local glass workers.'

The more that the Festival generates broad and active support such as this, the more viable it becomes. So a big 'Thank you' to those exhibitors who have donated items ... and a gentle reminder to other exhibitors that it's not too late to donate something!
(Illustration: L. Cleary 'Giant Clam')

Harlequin Stained Glass Mosaics

The latest exhibitor for the 2012 Drysdale Festival of Glass is Harlequin Stained Glass Mosaics, owned and operated by Sue & Paul Chreszczyk of Hoppers Crossing Victoria. Sue makes a rather large range of mosaics, ranging from birds, butterflies and fish to floral and themed items, many with an Asian background. She will also make house numbers and signs to any client specifications and will also make birds baths, water bowls and other sculptures.

Sue spent 13 years as making a large range of lead light material before discovering mosaics. She says that she enjoys the experience of using a mix of colours and textures, and a variety of materials to create something special and unique for her customers.

Festival award from Wathaurong Glass

On 10 June, Mark Edwards, General Manager of Geelong-based Wathaurong Glass and Arts, presented personalised commemorative glass plaques to members of the organising committee of the 2011 Festival of Glass.

Each personalised commemorative plaque bore the message: 'Wathaurong Glass and Arts. Presented to (name) in appreciation of your commitment to delivering a successful Festival of Glass - 2011'.

At the presentation, Mark Edwards said, 'We thought that the Festival was a great idea and so we supported it from the start. It was a very successful day for us and we're happy to offer these plaques in appreciation of the Festival committee's hard work.' In reply, Festival of Glass chairperson Doug Carson said, 'We're very grateful for these very generous gifts. Wathaurong Glass and Arts was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the 2011 Festival and their striking display of decorative, domestic and corporate glassware, each featuring distinctive Wathaurong images, was one of the highlights of the Festival. We look forward to welcoming them again in 2012.'

The 2011 Festival of Glass was held on February 20 at the Potato Shed in Drysdale. It attracted over thirty glass-related artists, craftspeople and businesses and over six thousand visitors. The 2012 Festival of Glass is on February 19 2012 (venue/s to be announced). For more information: www.festivalofglass.net.au (See also www.wathaurongglass.com.au/)

Photo: Mark Edwards (3rd from left) with some members of the 2011 Committee

State parliament hears of success of Festival of Glass

On March 3, Ms Lisa Neville (member for the Bellarine) made a statement in the Victorian state parliament about the success of the 2011 Festival of Glass.

Ms Neville's statement was recorded in Hansard and is reproduced below. The Festival of Glass committee is grateful to Ms Neville for her interest and support and wishes her well.

Ms NEVILLE (Bellarine) - I would like to congratulate all the people involved in the inaugural Festival of Glass, which was held on Sunday, 20 February, at the Potato Shed in Drysdale. This is a great new initiative on the Bellarine Peninsula and was an enormous success with around 7000 people attending on the day. The festival brought together the artists who work with and use glass, those in the commercial and building industry who design and build with glass, the culture and heritage of local glass and the innovations of glass for the future.

Members of the festival committee were delighted with the attendance, which was a masive endorsement of their dream that has taken 15 months to become reality. The ideas was generated from the Drysdale-Clifton Springs Community Association, and it was part of the Bellarine strategic plan to conduct a community festival. The president of the association, Doug Carson, had the vision for the festival and a willing and hardworking band of volunteers brought this to fruition. There were stalls presenting glass in all its forms, including sculpture, jewellery, mosaic, stained glass, leadlight, moulded glass, slumped glass and etched glass. There was glass at the cutting edge and a blast of glass from the past, with antiques and collectibles. Visitors overwhelmed by the scale and diversity of the glass on show also had a variety of musical alternatives throughout the day.

Sponsors and partners of the festival included the City of Greater Geelong, Bendigo Bank, Drysdale Rotary Club, the Lions club and many volunteers. I was also pleased to provide support for the festival. I thank everyone involved - it was a great day.

Didn't we do well!

Around 5,000 people came to the inaugural Festival of Glass on Sunday 20 February at the Potato Shed in Drysdale. The Festival committee were delighted with the attendance, which was a massive endorsement of a dream that's taken 15 months to become reality.

Thirty stalls presented glass in all its forms, including sculpture, jewellery, mosaic, stained glass, leadlight, moulded glass, slumped glass and etched glass. There was glass at the cutting edge (ouch!) and a blast of glass from the past with antiques and collectibles.

There were demonstrations of various ways to work with glass, including bead-making, glass fusing, kiln forming, beadweaving, copper foiling and leadlighting. Short videos introduced people to the economics and local history of glass and to the extraordinary 'glass harmonica' invented by Benjamin Franklin.

For visitors, there was more to do than just look and admire, browse and buy. Lots of people brought glass items to the popular Old Glass Roadshow. Voting was fierce for the titles of best glass-related story, poem, song, painting or photograph and for best glass jewellery; and the raffle prizes (glass, of course) were so attractive that the raffle tickets nearly ran out!

Visitors overwhelmed by the scale and diversity of glass on show had a variety of musical alternatives throughout the day. The Festival showcased four local acts - The Gems, Judy McGovern, Paper (the band formerly known as Steer) and a local barbershop quartet.

The Lions sizzled almost as much as their sausages, but Rotary were as cool as their drinks; and the baked potato man ran out of potatoes - in front of a Potato Shed! 'This has never happened before', he said and booked-up for next year!

Finally, the Festival's commitment to sustainability was evident in various ways. A public drinking fountain dispensed with the need for plastic bottles and was accompanied by tips on being water-wise; extra rubbish and recycling bins kept the whole site clean and were accompanied by tips on recycling; and each stallholder was asked to think about the amount of energy consumed in their products and the nature of their packaging.

Thanks to our sponsors, including the City of Greater Geelong (Arts & Culture) and the Bendigo Bank for their support.

And now ... the organising starts for the 2012 Festival of Glass!

Festival exhibitors invited to 'go green'

Festival of Glass exhibitors are being encouraged to highlight their 'green' credentials.

The Festival committee is inviting each exhibitor to provide some or all of the following information as part of their exhibit:
• How much energy is consumed in making their products
• How much energy is saved by using their products (where appropriate)
• How they minimize packaging and/or how they use recycled or re-used materials as packaging.

Each exhibitor is, of course, free to decide whether and how to display that information. Some of them may not know how much energy is consumed or saved by their products; and some may be unable to minimize or re-use packaging - we are dealing with glass, after all!

For its part, the Festival committee is 'going green' by doing the following:
• increasing the number of recycling bins at the Potato Shed; prominent signs will encourage their use
• distributing information from the local council about responsible rubbish disposal and recycling
• providing a special water fountain where people can drink and can refill their water bottles; brochures about water conservation will be nearby!

The Festival committee - part of the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) - is taking these steps to support one of DCSCA's major projects, 'Going Green on the Bellarine'. This project aims to promote and develop the local area as a showcase for tomorrow's 'green' economy by:

• inviting local businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money by installing efficient lighting, heating and insulation
• pressing the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) to ensure that its planned massive expansion of the local population is accompanied by a range of new jobs, to prevent the area becoming a 'dormitory town' for Geelong and Melbourne;
• lobbying for the local area to be part of any evaluation of electric vehicles' potential to reduce greenhouse gases.

Glass artist profile: Angela Robinson (Govinda Design)

The Festival of Glass is very pleased to welcome Angela Robinson, the name behind Govinda Designs - one of Melbourne's leading producers and installers of leadlight windows.

Angela started making leaded glass windows in 1991, working for her father's double-glazing company in the West of Ireland. She was the company's main designer and created many leaded windows and doors, including 42 windows for The Lighthouse Hotel in County Donegal.

Angela returned to Australia and completed a BA (Textile Design) in 1995 and worked as a Textile Designer for the next 15 years. In the last two years, she has returned to leadlighting, designing and making leaded windows through Govinda Design.

On this page is a small selection of Angela's work - see more at the Festival.

Festival of Glass: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Glass artist profile: Lucy Cleary (Ozzie Mozzie Mosaics)

The Festival of Glass is very pleased to welcome Lucy Cleary - the name behind Ozzie Mozzie Mosaics (www.ozziemozziemosaics.com.au)

Lucy began making mosaics in early 2006, to cover an outdoor area in the home she was planning to build. 'I quickly became obsessed with this wonderful art form', she says.

Lucy's work often features natural elements, and also shows the influence of the seven years she lived in Korea. She uses a variety of materials, in her work, including stained glass, smalti, fused glass and a variety of natural materials.

On this page is just a glimpse of the wide range of subjects and styles in Lucy's mosaics.

Festival of Glass: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

'Gems' at a Festival of Glass?!

Local band 'The Gems' will play two sets at the Festival of Glass on Sunday February 20.

Trish, Sam and Dale created 'The Gems' in 2006 and for them, flexibility is the key. They play as a two-, three- or four-piece band playing 'folk, pop, country and everything in between'.

Says Trish, 'People like us because we play what they want to hear. Our main audience is the over-30s and we always have a good time.'

Catch Trish, Sam and Dale at 11.15 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. With a name like 'The Gems', how could they not play at the Festival of Glass!

Festival of Glass: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Festival of Glass a 'mini' destination!

The Victorian Mini Club is coming to the Festival of Glass! Members from across the state will converge on Drysdale on 20 February for an informal getting together where they can show-off their iconic cars.

In the spirit of the Festival of Glass, the mini drivers will bring with them their glass windscreens, their glass headlights, their glass wing mirrors, their glasses ....

The Festival may be a 'mini' destination, but it's a major event! as you can see in the picture, 'early birds' in the Club are rushing to make sure they arrive despite recently flooded roads.

For more about the Festival of Glass: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Festival of Glass reaches another 15,000 readers!

The SpringDale Messenger, published this week, features a full-page centrefold spread about the Festival of Glass.

The Messenger is a free community magazine that is published by the Springdale Neighbourhood Centre and distributed across the Bellarine Peninsula - Drysdale, Clifton Springs, Portarlington, Indented Head, St Leonards and Ocean Grove. Each edition has a print run of 6,500, but each edition is read by at least two people, because it's to households and is also present in cafes, shops and newsagents and local doctors' surgeries! So we're confident that around 15,000 readers will see the Festival centrefold.

The Festival is on the front cover of the Messenger, which is pictured here; the Festival centrefold is on pages 12 and 13. The Springdale Neighbourhood Centre is a sponsor of the Festival of Glass, for which we're very grateful.
For more about SpringDale: http://springdale.org.au/
To download the February Messenger: http://springdale.org.au/category/messenger/

Wrapped around (pages 11 and 14) the centrefold is a special feature on the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association Inc., which initiated the Festival of Glass.

For more about the Festival of Glass: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Festival of Glass to reach 50,000 readers!

What's On in Geelong, published today, features a full-page colour advert/editorial about the Festival of Glass.

What's On is a free listings magazine that is distributed across central Victoria and is a prime site for advertising events. Each edition has a print run of 32,000, but each edition is read by at least two people, because it's present in all the Tourism Information centres and in cafes, shops and newsagents. So we're confident that the advert will reach more than 50,000 readers.

The advert (p13) is pictured here; the Festival also appears in the magazine's calendar of the month (p4).

What's On is a sponsor of the Festival of Glass, for which we're very grateful.

Please visit the Festival's web site: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Festival of Glass becomes a tourist attraction

The Festival of Glass is attracting growing interest from the regional tourist industry, with increasing numbers of 'hits' on Google searches. See: https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

Part of the Festival committee's promotional strategy has been to create a significant profile for the Festival among the publications and online sites of the regional tourism industry. The aim has been to make tourism operators in the region aware of the Festival as a new attraction; and, in doing so, to increase the numbers of tourists attending the event and seeing the work of the exhibitors.

The strategy is starting to pay off. The Festival is featured in:
Visit Victoria (premier state tourism website)
The Bellarine Bulletin (monthly regional tourism newsletter)
Only Melbourne (online events magazine)
Geelong-Otway Tourism (premier regional tourism web site)
About Australia (national tourism website)
Australia Shopsafe (national consumer web site)
Planbook Travel (international tourism web site).

The Festival also features, of course, in the web site of our venue, the Potato Shed in Drysdale.

All of those sites can be found in a Google search for 'festivalofglass'. It's nice to see the entries for our Festival of Glass mingling with those for other, well-established glass festivals at Wanganui (NZ), Houston (USA), Blenko (USA) and also the biennial International Festival of Glass at Stourbridge, UK. We've been in touch with the organisers of the Stourbridge festival and their web site is really worth a visit:
www.stourbridge.com/htm/ifg.htm

Festival road-side signs stand out!

Signs for the Festival of Glass are springing-up on roadsides throughout Geelong - well, on quite a few!

The signs feature the Festival logo, plus brief details of the event and the address of the Festival blog site. The colourful logo makes the signs stand out from others around them, most of which are just black-and-white.

The signs are on major roads, including the Portarlington Road (opposite Cheetham Salt), the Ballarat Road (at Kardinia College). One of the signs takes pride of place outside the SpringDale Neighbourhood Centre in High Street, Drysdale.

Please visit the Festival's web site:
https://sites.google.com/site/afestivalofglass/

People on the Bellarine Peninsula may also just have seen one of our smaller signs on a certain trailer ...

Online gallery now open

The latest feature on the Festival of Glass web site is a gallery of some of the glass products that will be on display on the day - February 20 2011.

The gallery includes glass sculpture, pendants, dishes, bracelets and decorative pieces and much more. A visit to the gallery will give you just a taste of the delights in store on the day and indicates the extraordinary diversity of artifacts brought together under the 'glass' banner.

It's worth dropping-in to the gallery more than once, because as new exhibitors sign up to the Festival, examples of their work will be added to the gallery.

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

You can also access the web site by Googling 'afestivalofglass', because already the site is now generating enough traffic for Google to prioritise it in its searches.

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