Matt Hewson
Five local government schools are coming together to showcase the best of their student bands at a free music festival.
The Geelong Evening Music Fest 2024 will be held from 4pm to 7pm on Wednesday, March 20 at Matthew Flinders Girls (MFG) Secondary College’s Helen Fraser campus.
The festival will feature student bands from MFG, Geelong High, Belmont High, Oberon College and Bannockburn P-12 performing rock, jazz, classical, and concert band material, with around 80 students performing.
The event is the first put together by Geelong Heads of Music, a group of local school music program directors who have come together to provide more and better opportunities for their students to perform.
The open air concert is a free event, with drinks, a sausage sizzle and a bake sale available as well as plenty of space to spread a picnic rug and enjoy BYO snacks.
In previous years the school calendar was packed with eisteddfods and band competitions across Victoria and the country for students bands to perform at.
However, MFG head of music John Kingma said the combination of fewer of those events and the rising costs associated with travel now mean many schools, particularly regional ones, get far fewer chances to perform.
“We’re really trying to start up an annual community event of state schools with a focus on engagement and participation,” Mr Kingma said.
“It’s about providing opportunities for students to network with people from other schools and perform to different audiences in different situations.
“It’s going to be fun, it’s going to be collaborative… it’s free and it’s really all about the students and local community enjoying a local, accessible festival.”
