SES coming to the Festival!

The local branch of the State Emergency Service (SES) will be present at the 2013 Festival of Glass.

But don't worry - there's no emergency! The local SES is aware of the Festival's growing popularity and has asked if they could attend this year and tell people about their work. The Festival committee is very pleased that the SES - a vital local community organisation - is interested in the Festival enough to take this initiative and so we invited them warmly to attend.

So if you've ever wondered what secrets are held in an SES emergency truck, Sunday 17 February at the Festival of Glass is the day to find out!

The Festival committee has accepted the SES's kind offer to look after the parking bays reserved at the venue for disabled drivers. So if you think you might sneak into one of the 'Disabled' parking bays when you shouldn't - the SES will be watching!

Festival of Glass features in online promotions

The 2013 Festival of Glass is featuring now in various online promotions reaching across Victoria and interstate.

The Festival committee has worked hard to promote the Festival in a variety of media, including print, broadcasting and online. Exhibitors at this year's Festival can be assured that the event is being promoted to a diversity of potential visitors; and that the promotions often feature exhibitors' work.

Adverts and promotional material should appear in print and broadcasting in February; much of the online promotion has been via tourism-oriented websites reaching local, regional and (inter-)national audiences. 

Locally
* The City of Greater Geelong is a major sponsor of the Festival of Glass and is promoting the Festival via its web site in two ways:
The 'Events' calendar (www.geelongaustralia.com.au/events/default.aspx)
'Arts Bulletin' (www.geelongaustralia.com.au/community/arts/artsbulletin.aspx and scroll down).
*  Geelong-Otway Tourism is promoting the 2013 Festival of Glass through its newsletter and through Facebook (Visit Geelong Bellarine) and Twitter (Visit Geelong Bellarine).
* 'My24/7' is a national listings site with a section devoted to Geelong. The Festival of Glass is due to be promoted in February: my24/7.com.au/geelong.whats-on/more
* 'WeekendNotes' is a listings site that covers the Bellarine Peninsula and is featuring the Festival of Glass at present: m.weekendnotes.com/festival-of-glass/

Regionally

The Festival of Glass features in these Melbourne-oriented online listings sites:

* Locanto Classifieds online: vic.locanto.com.au/other-events/757/

* Only Melbourne / What's On in Melbourne: www.onlymelbourne.com.au/whatsonmelbourne.php (search for February 17 and scroll down)

* AroundYou: www.aroundyou.com.au (listing to appear in February)

* InTown: www.intown.com.au/events/events

(Inter-)Nationally
The Festival of Glass features on some state-based and national web sites that are designed to reach potential visitors to Victoria, as well as visitors who have arrived here already:
* Victorian State Government: www.vic.gov.au/calendar/2013/02
* Visit Victoria: www.visitvictoria.com/ (search for 'Festival+of+Glass')
* Flight Centre: www.flightcentre.com.au/world-travel/australia/great-ocean-road/2013-festival-of-glass-9147500 (via Great Ocean Road)
* PleaseTakeMeTo: www.pleasetakemeto.com/australia/great-ocean-road/2013-festival-of-glass-9147500
* PlanBooktravel: www.planbooktravel.com.au/ (search for '2013 Festival of Glass')
* Visit Vinyards: www.visitvineyards.com/events (click on 'events', then 'Victoria', then scroll down)

Elsewhere

Keen readers of the RACV bi-monthly glossy magazine may have noticed that we’re in their 'Events' listing, towards the back of the magazine. Festival fans in Queensland might have seen the Festival of Glass mentioned by the Mackay Daily Mercury: www.dailymercury.com.au/things-to-do/2013-festival-of-glass/42776/
Finally, 'Beadywendy' will be a first-time exhibitor at the 2013 Festival of Glass and she wrote this in the December 2012 edition of her blog: 'February brings another big event - the Festival of Glass in Drysdale, Victoria (http://www.festivalofglass.net.au/).  This will be my first time at the Festival but it was a good event for my Flaming Mathilda Friends last year.  It will mean an early start to drive from Drouin (S-E of Melbourne on the M1), but hopefully well worth it.' We're looking forward to meeting you, BeadyWendy!

Geelong - a 'City of Festivals'?

Monday, January 14, 2013

DCSCA has suggested to the City of Greater Geelong council that it considers promoting Geelong as the ‘City of Festivals’.

Each year, the City of Greater Geelong council supports at least fifteen community festivals through its Community Arts & Festivals grant programme. (This includes, of course, the excellentFestival of Glass in Drysdale - a DCSCA initiative!) Some of these festivals are one-off events receiving a one-off grant, while others are recurring events which receive triennial funding.

A glance at the list of these festivals shows its great diversity - a tribute both to the council's Arts department that has nurtured community arts and festivals in Geelong and to the council committee that disburses the grants.

DCSCA has suggested to the council that it considers building on Geelong's strength and diversity in community arts and festivals by promoting Geelong as the 'City of Festivals'. Such a strategy has three advantages:

1. Promoting Geelong as a 'City of Festivals' would build on and celebrate Geelong’s diversity and would highlight the creative activity that is happening across the whole of Geelong, rather than focus simply on the city centre.
2. Having several strong festivals throughout the year would mean that visitors would be likely to find a festival in Geelong, no matter when they visited.
3. Promoting Geelong as the ‘City of Festivals’ would make better use of a lot of the grant money that the council disburses currently. At present, each festival has to spend a significant part of its budget on promotion, whereas promoting Geelong as a 'City of Festivals' would offer each festival the chance to fold its specific promotions into an ongoing promotional effort.

DCSCA's proposal draws on our three years experience (and success!) in presenting the Festival of Glass, which each year attracts a greater number and - more importantly - a greater diversity of exhibitors from across the wide world of glass. Our focus remains the Festival of Glass as an event in our local area, of course, but we are proposing this city-wide initiative because it would benefit all the community festivals in the area by making each one part of a bigger identity - 'Geelong, the City of Festivals'.

Featured exhibitor: Helen Walsh

Helen Walsh is an exhibitor at the 2013 Festival of Glass who creates pictures with glass. She specialises in dramatic wall hangings, a couple of which are featured here.

Helen is a member of the group Melbourne Artists in Glass (MAIG). Group members work with glass in many ways, including slumping, fusing, painting and sandblasting. They meet monthly to share their ideas and their latest work.