ROLL up roll up, the Fairfax Festival is coming to town.
The annual event will officially begin next Tuesday as 80 high- school students converge on Pental Island to partake in a week defined by creativity and acceptance.
Over the past three months a range of Australian artists and theatre groups have travelled to the Mallee for in-community workshops.
Groups aged 12 to 17 in Birchip, Shepparton, Barham, Sea Lake, Manangatang, Red Cliffs and Swan Hill were taught a variety of performance skills from circus tricks to shadow art, puppetry to pantomime.
The diverse program continues next week as the artist mentors return to Swan Hill to conduct more workshops, culminating in the main event — the Fairfax Festival Gala on Thursday, where eight performance pieces will be unveiled.
Festival manager Dominique Haslam said the Fairfax allows regional youth to try a range of performance based activities that they normally would not be exposed to.
“It’s a really great opportunity for so many kids to experience a lot of different art forms,” Ms Haslam said.
On Friday, September 19 the Fairfax finishes with a bang, with the likes of X Factor alumni Dean Ray and homegrown acts Yung Gunz and Hellicity taking to the town hall stage.
The Fairfax Festival Gala takes place at 7pm, Thursday, September 18 at the Swan Hill Town Hall, with entry a gold coin donation.
Closing night Dean Ray tickets cost $25 and are on sale now.
