Stonefest 'to return to its roots’

By JEREMY STEPHENS
STONEFEST will be returning to UC this year while attempting to find its roots, despite significant cutbacks to the 2011 program and a changing festival market.
Anna Wallace, Manager and Programming Director of UC Live!, believes this is an important step for the festival.
“We want to look at exactly which ‘old Stonefest’, and which elements of this ‘old Stonefest’ people love – and we want to bring that back,” Ms Wallace said.
“We want to regrow the festival organically.”
While 2011 saw Stonefest’s line-up reduced due to low ticket sales, Anna said it had been going that way for a few years.
“Even if our last month of ticket sales tracked at the same rate as our best ever year, we were going to severely miss the mark,” Anna said.
If Stonefest had gone ahead as a full scale festival in 2011, not only might it have been lost for good, but a lot of UC Live! could have been lost in the process, according to Ms Wallace.
But this isn’t an issue being faced solely by Stonefest – Ms Wallace said the wider market is experiencing “festival fatigue”.
Amy Moon, General Manager of the Corinbank Music and Arts Festival, agrees.
“People have a set amount of money they can spend on festivals in a year, and they have so many choices that they either go to something like Splendour, or they have to be a bit more discerning and split their budget up,” Ms Moon said.
Jem Natividad, Transit Bar’s Booker and Promoter, believes the market can’t continue in its current state.
“If you’re trying to compete at the high level all the time, that bar keeps getting pushed up,” Mr Natividad said.
“There is a certain limit where economically and culturally that doesn’t quite relate to each other.”
2012 will mark a new era for Stonefest as it looks to return to its roots, and Ms Wallace wants its fans to help.
“Even if you’re not going to buy your tickets early, get on there and talk about it early. Keep the conversation going. Let us know that you will buy your tickets eventually! That’s what we want,l” she said.