As Festival of Glass Chair Doug Carson reports, the City of Greater Geelong has supported the Festival of Glass consistently since it started in 2011, as has local councillor Rod Macdonald. The council invested significantly in the Festival of Glass in 2011 and 2012 and will be a major investor in the 2013 Festival. Its support has come through its Community Arts & Festivals grants scheme and each year it holds an awards night to recognise the latest grant recipients.
As people arrived at the awards ceremony, the first thing they saw was the Festival of Glass display. This included pull-up banners, brochures, laminated photos and images of the last 2 Festivals, plus a rolling slide show. There was also a selection of the large number of glass items donated by exhibitors to the Festival raffle, together with books of raffle tickets .... and anyone who missed the tickets was soon cornered!
The City of Greater Geelong is aware that the Festival of Glass is having a significant impact on the region's arts and culture - it was introduced at the awards ceremony as 'The wonderful Festival of Glass'. The Festival is a major new showcase for glass-related arts and crafts not just locally but also interstate; and a couple of glass artists have started businesses in the area as a result of their success in exhibiting at the Festival.
A vote of confidence in Festival exhibitors
Visitors' responses to the display were consistently positive - a resounding vote of confidence in the Festival and, especially, in the exhibitors. People commented on the 'originality', 'quality' and 'style' of the exhibits at the last two Festivals. Many people said that they had attended the 2012 Festival of Glass (despite the hot day!) and were definitely coming to the 2013 Festival. They were delighted to learn that many of the exhibitors were local people, but were impressed that the Festival is attracting exhibitors from interstate. They were genuinely interested in the work of the Festival and a lot of brochures were distributed!
In January and early February 2013, the Festival committee will run mount the awards display four times at local venues, each time highlighting and promoting the work of Festival exhibitors and encouraging people come and see more for themselves.
