Welcome return of camping festivals

Areturning popular music and arts festival is set to attract more than 15,000 festival goers to the south-east fringe of the Grampians plains this long weekend.

After a COVID-19 induced hiatus, Pitch Music and Arts Festival will again see electronic music lovers flock to western Victoria for the Labour Day weekend in anticipation of four days and nights of house, techno, disco and psytrance music styles.

The festival, in its fifth year, has regularly attracted renowned Australian and international dance music artists to the region to headline an event organisers describe as an ‘aural experience of electronic music and assembly of visual delights’.

The festival is renowned in Victorian dance music scenes for its lavish visual light and art displays that accompany the music.

Popular dance-music artists such as Denis Sulta, HAAI, Floating Points,

Skin on Skin, Peach, INNER CITY, Cc:disco, Wax’o Paradiso and Sleep D will help headline the 2022 festival.

Visitors will also experience art installations and projects from creators such as Australian sculptor Clayton Blake, who won best art at Burning Man festival 2018, and Adnate, who painted a 20-storey-tall mural on Collingwood housing commission towers.

The event will mark the return of camp festivals to the Victorian entertainment landscape.

Pitch will be the first of such events to welcome punters back through its gates since the easement of Victorian COVID-19 restrictions in 2022, which had cruelled the operational capacity of large-scale music events in recent years.

Ararat mayor Jo Armstrong said the council was pleased to welcome the festival back to Moyston.

“The return of major events in our rural city is a testament to the collective effort and co-ordination of organisers, our community, council, and authorities,” she said.

“Hosting a major event like the Pitch Festival strengthens Moyston’s appeal and creates more opportunity for people to experience and enjoy what our region has to offer.

“The Pitch festival not only gives our economy a boost but invests back into our community, supporting vital services and clubs.

“I encourage local businesses to stay open and capitalise on these events and show visitors true country hospitality.”