- Latest News
COMMUNITY EVENT: Whyalla's uneARTh Festival is growing.
Whyalla’s uneARTh Festival is moving forward to become a truly community-driven and self-sufficient event.
Proudly initiated by the City of Whyalla in 2017, uneARTh is already an award-winning event as it continues to gain momentum, popularity and professionalism. This year’s uneARTh is being driven by event organiser Cara Hume who joined the organising committee to bring extra events, an extra day of celebrations and an organisational model that is pushing the festival towards self-sustainability.
The Whyalla Film Festival kicked off uneARTh for the first time last Friday night while the Middleback Arts Centre is hosting a Taste of Ireland on Wednesday night as part of the program. Also for the first time, other community groups are coming together to bring their own events to life in conjunction with the uneARTh Festival and support from the City of Whyalla.
This includes the Whyalla Tourism Focus Group and Bis that are bringing an extra day of celebrations with the creation of a ‘Lazy Sunday’ event to add to the packed Friday and Saturday program. This year’s event organisation also sees a wider range of food and market stalls with more community involvement including volunteer organisations helping run the festival.
The licensed bar area will be run by the uneARTh organising committee this year as part of the strategy for a sustainable festival for years to come. It will have full security and be sectioned off to allow those that want to have a drink to enjoy themselves while not impacting on the family focus of uneARTh. The licensed area encompasses the entirety of the Ada Ryan Gardens with no BYO alcohol allowed.
For the first time this year there is also uneARTh merchandise available online and at the festival in Ada Ryan Gardens.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Festival goers even got in on the act with the entertainment on stage last year.
Council Events and Tourism Development Officer, Rebecca Neilson said the growth of the event had been “amazing”. Rebecca was on hand after the first year to collect the Arts SA People’s Choice Ruby Award and last year accepted the Australian Event Awards ‘national finalist and South Australian winner’ for the best small event.
“From a small idea among Council officers, uneARTh has taken off to be one of the premiere regional events in South Australia,” Rebecca said.
“Council is proud to have kicked uneARTh off and even more satisfied that it is now starting to stand on its own feet as a genuine community-driven event with its own income streams."
Event organiser Cara Hume said it was an encouraging example to see community groups kick off events such as the ‘Lazy Sunday’ and Auntie Boo’s variety diner.
“The Whyalla Tourism Focus Group and long-time sponsor BIS have jumped on board to host an event on Sunday to grow the festival," Cara said.
"The ‘Lazy Sunday’ event is a fantastic example for other business’ and community groups to follow to bring their own events to life for future uneARTh festivals.”
Last year’s event attracted more than 15,000 people over two days with organisers expecting that to grow this year with three days of events on the Easter long weekend. Whyalla’s uneARTh Festival runs from Friday, April 19 to Sunday April 21 in Ada Ryan Gardens and the foreshore with satellite events around the city.
The full program for Whyalla's 2019 uneARTh Festival can be found at https://www.whyalla.com/unearthfestival