Friday 31 August 2012

Cairns Festival Wraps Up this Weekend

After 17 days of entertainment, events and good old-fashioned fun in the sun, Cairns Festival 2012 will come to a close this Sunday having successfully delivered its biggest ever program.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said this year's Festival had been an overwhelming success in all aspects.

"Everything has gone to plan and we couldn't be happier.  On behalf of our team, I would like to thank and congratulate everyone in this community who came out and supported our talented artists, singers, dancers and entertainers performing and showcasing their creativity over the past two weeks," he said.

While the city's annual party is coming to a close on Sunday with Father's Day favourite, Carnival on Collins, there are still plenty of events to enjoy, including those with a strong musical focus. 

Tonight's concert line up includes Hilltop Hoods in Fogarty Park, The McMenamins at Centre of Contemporary Arts and Grace Knight at Tanks Arts Centre.  At the Village on Esplanade a local alternative four-piece rock band will play on the Cooked in Cairns stage.

Tomorrow serves up another big musical line up with Reggaetown World Music Festival at Kuranda Amphitheatre, Jazz Under the Stars in the Botanic Gardens, Comrade Z Cabaret Quartet at Centre of Contemporary Arts and a free performance in The Village On Esplanade's Peformery by TOPShelf - a huge 13 piece collaboration of some of Cairns most sought after professional musicians.

Cairns Festival 2012
 - This year's 51st season comprised well over 100 unique productions, events, exhibitions, and creative projects.

- It is estimated that Cairns Festival has been enjoyed by more than 100,000 people, including major events such as the Overflow FNQ Grand Parade (19,959), Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Music Botanica, Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Tropical Pride Festival, Dein Perry's Tap Dogs, Reggaetown World Music Festival, Colin Hay, Grace Knight, The Australian Ballet's Don Quixote, Hilltop Hoods and today's Carnival on Collins.  Other events of note that have enhanced this year's Festival program and community enjoyment include Esplanart, The Village on Esplanade and Jonathan Brilliant's installation at Botanical Gardens Visitor Centre.

- Key venues The Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns Civic Theatre and Centre of Contemporary Arts, as well as smaller venues like Arthouse, played an integral role in providing quality content to this year's programming.  These included Colin Hay, Lanie Lane and Mia Dyson, Australian Ballet's Don Quixote, Tap Dogs, The Big Laugh Comedy, The Winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition, Frank Yamma and Dancenorth.

- The launch of this year's new The Village on Esplanade was deemed very successful in providing an interactive Festival hub in the centre of the city with programming that spanned music, comedy, roving entertainment, workshops, activities and a children's village over two weekends.

- 40 local volunteers provided amazing support in the day to day running of Festival's events and information services.

- A new website and program design, the Festival car, Festival HQ at City Place, a strong visual presence at key shopping centres as well as 30 tri-signs
throughout the city provided excellent communications support in terms of highlighting the events and supporting their subscription.

- Special thanks to this year's Festival partners. Gold Partner, James Cook University; Silver Partners Overflow FNQ, Cairns Central and Stockland; Bronze Partners McDonalds Restaurants Cairns, Pacific Toyota and The Good Guys; Distinguished Partner, Cairns Airport; and a large group of supporting partners.

Cairns Festival runs from August 17 to September 2, 2012 and is supported and presented by Cairns Regional Council with generous support from event partners and sponsors.

For more information, www.cairnsfest.com.au

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