As Mullum Music Festival (Northern Rivers) prepares for its eleventh year next week, Festival Director Glenn Wright reveals what makes it a grassroots success story.
Mullum Music Festival takes over the small NSW coastal town of Mullumbimby, spreading out through its halls, pubs, clubs and streets for three days and four nights of music, arts, and camping.
“It's something that seems just like another festival, but you come you realise how unique it is in the fact that we really do utilise the town in a really special way,” Glenn says.
“There are venues that aren't normally venues getting used as venues. A good example of that is the high school; the high school in regional areas is a really important place, and it’s also a way for them to make money.”
In its first ten years, the festival has grown to be a major economic boon for the people and businesses of Mullumbimby, with the entire town reaping its benefits. “One of the things is that we're not in a field, but we're in the town,” he explains.
“People are booking their accommodation for the three or four days, but they also dine at all the restaurants.
“Whereas often if it's a rock & roll festival in a paddock, maybe it’s only one day or two days, but the two days are spent in tents on a paddock and feeding directly into the festival’s bars and stalls.
“At Mullum Music Festival they’re going to the local cafe, which is run by an independent person. I tend to think that although we're a boutique festival and small in size, the economic benefits are larger per-person.”
On a grander scale, Mullum Music Festival generates approximately three million dollars every year into the local region, a substantial contribution for a regional town and event.
In 2018, Mullum Music Festival presents yet another carefully curated programme of music that balances national and international drawcards with local emerging artists. This year’s line-up features Tuareg guitarist and ‘Sultan Of Shred’ Bombino, neo-soul artist Kaiit, roots duo Hat Fitz & Cara as well as Tangents, Gordi, Caiti Baker, Georgia Fields and many more.
Mullum Music Festival will also be running its acclaimed Youth Mentorship Programme, which has previously introduced us to new talents such as Asha Jefferies. “Mullum Music Festival is really good at introducing new artists, finding emerging artists and championing career artists,” Glenn says.
“Therefore they may not be the biggest artist at the moment but hopefully they will be at some stage.
“We like to have popular acts and obviously want to sell tickets, but we tend to be able to do that by booking interesting artists rather than booking a headliner that will sell our tickets.”
Mullum Music Festival is characterised by its small-but-mighty nature, and Glenn says it’s important the event’s growth is sustainable and doesn’t exceed what the town can manage.
“We’ve tried not to be greedy and we've tried to make sure we don’t get too big for the town,” he says.
“We try and add venues where we can where we think it’s going to add to the experience of the festival, but we're not in the business of going out and expanding it to the point where it changes what it is.”
