FESTIVAL HITS SWELL NOTE ON ARTS VIBE
IF free live tunes along one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in Australia sounds like a swell backdrop for viewing art, the Gold Coast is the place to be this month.
This year’s 15th annual Swell Festival, from September 8-17, will crank up its seaside soundtrack with an expanded program of free weekend gigs on Currumbin foreshore as part of Swell Sounds.
Julie Hayes, Phil Barlow, Benny D Williams, Kimmy & Crew, Felicity Lawless and Josh Lovegrove will play the festival’s Green Stage on September 9-10, before Mitch King, Salt and Steel, The Lyrical, Electrik Lemonade, CC the Cat and Shanon Watkins round out the bill on September 16-17.
The free live shows, street food stalls, artist talks and masterclasses have been instrumental in the festival’s evolution from boutique public art exhibition into a 10-day, all-ages festival-style celebration of coastal life.
The work of almost 50 Australian and international artists will help transform a 1km stretch of coastline at Currumbin into a public outdoor art gallery.
Winners of this year’s $15,000 Swell Sculpture prize, the $5000 artist award, $3000 environmental awareness award, $1000 artist peer award, $1500 emerging artist award and $1000 smalls gallery award will be announced at the festival’s official opening event at Dust Temple on September 7.
Visitors can play critic by voting for their favourite Swell sculpture in the $3000 People’s Choice Award and $3000 Kids’ Choice Award. Entries close at 3pm on September 17, with the winning artists to be announced via the event website on September 24.