It gets to the best of them unfortunately, and I have to admit that when I saw the fence being erected around Glastonbury back in 2002, I was witnessing the final nail being dutifully hammered into the festival’s bohemian heart. Gone are the straggly haired hippies, now replaced by a shock of trust fund babies, in fashionable gumboots.
“The times, they are a changing,” Bob Dylan once croaked, and April 30 marks the inaugural Sugar Mountain festival. Sugar Mountain purports to “celebrate the diverse creative forms of music and visual art, with a focus on the natural meeting points between.” As this all suggests, the festival has a very organic feel, and it implies that we may need to get back to the grassroots. The reaction by local Melbournians has been very appealing, and even before the lineup for the festival was announced, internet forums, and social networks were buzzing with the sound of expectation.
The website for the festival did not go live until March, and when it finally opened its doors, it highlighted just what we could expect. Indeed, the first image you are met with when you enter the email address is a piece by Melbourne artist, Michael Longton. Michael is one half of And, along with Leif Podhajsky, who describe themselves as “an innovative design studio operating across a diverse range of creative mediums”
The goal is to wash the streets of CBD with a select group of the best underground musicians and visual artists, which seems quite contrary. If Meredith wants to take major acts to the country, then Sugar Mountain will bring underground acts to the streets of Melbourne, Pete Keen, Creative Director of the visual arts program, explains. “It’s really important for us to expose new stuff that’s happening in Melbourne and from Australia, so that people can begin to understand how great we do have it; especially in Melbourne”
Having scouted acts from the US, and Australia, the music portion of the festival has been curated by Melbourne indie-label kids Two Bright Lakes and touring company Egad Amia, as well as hook ups with InPress, Triple R and ThreeThousand. “We really wanted to be conscious of being able to showcase stuff from overseas that we really liked and also being able to have that alongside Australian art and people being able to see that they’re just of equal measure. Sugar Mountain wants to offer punters a unique experience for both the eyes and ears.”’ The music lineup includes Virgo Four (USA), Rats Vs Possums, Aa (USA), No Zu and many more. The full lineup is available on the Sugar Mountain festival.
The main venue for the festivities is the Forum Theatre, with other events taking place at No Vacancy gallery at Federation Square, but “we’ve got these special pop up events all over the joint,” Pete confesses. The visual arts program features an impressive roster of Australia’s finest young creatives alongside very special international guests. Highlights include a live painting performance by Thomas Campbell (USA), a live visual and light show by Kit Webster & James Wright, and Every Shape Has A Secret starring Jane Badler. There will also be exhibitions by Cornelius Brown, David Potes (USA), and Mark Whalen.
