:: 2008 Evolve Festival

By: Carmine Pascuzzi

An exciting and unique new festival, never before staged in the Byron shire, has just been announced. The inaugural Evolve Festival will be held at Red Devil Park on Saturday October 4, 2008. It will nurture an existing wealth of talent and charm and set forth a path of cultural growth, promise and opportunity. Arts lovers of the bay and beyond; prepare yourselves. An eclectic array of entertainment awaits; ballet, opera, orchestral works, world music, theatre, comedy, film, circus and a fine selection of mixed media art installations are just some of the ingredients that will comprise an unforgettable day of visual and aural delights.

People of all ages are blessed with the ability to Evolve and this is a festival that welcomes and encourages an audience of all ages to attend. After all, shouldn’t we all Evolve together? Commenting on his vision for the festival, Festival Director Stuart Hucker said, “I’ve had a passion for festivals since I was a kid and a broad interest in the arts, so creating Evolve Arts Festival has been a natural progression. It’s very exciting to be able to give artists a platform to display their talents and provide a forum for a wide range of genres and cultures to share their experience.”

This carbon neutral festival will nurture both the environment and its community. It will highlight the abundance of talent within the region whilst joining forces with the already well renowned and inspiring artists of the country, forming a creative hub that will continue to inspire outside the ‘typical’ audience. What better place to ‘Evolve’ than Byron Bay, which has been known to Aboriginal people for thousands of years as a sacred meeting place. With a capacity of 8000 people, all walks of life are invited to attend. Being situated directly opposite the beach and just minutes to town, the ‘Evolve Festival’ will support Byron High and St Finbarr’s with the parking proceeds.

Artists are invited to submit their works in and around the ‘Epi Centre’ gallery space; the space will boast over 90 exhibition stalls and feature more than 500 artworks available for purchase. A competition will also be held for high school and university students who will be given the opportunity for exposure at the festival in the form of art, drama, literature and film. More details of the submission process will be announced soon.

There’s no need to leave the kids at home. Children under 12 enter for free and with a wide range of amusement including kids shows, you’ll be thrilled you brought them along for the ride. For ages 13 to 17 tickets cost $35 and for adults $95.

Early bird tickets go on sale next Monday, July 28 and can be purchased online