Dr. Erin Evans, President of West End Community Association, reports on the 2014 West End Festival.
On Saturday 11 October West End celebrated the first West End Festival from the West End Community Association. It was a superb event that highlighted everything that is great about West End. It showcased great local talent, had a dedicated team from the community and other festival professionals who gave generously of their time and passion for the community.
Sarah Gall, the Festival Director and Jess Latham the Festival Manager and their team, delivered an excellent program and event management. The success was evident in the fantastic atmosphere at the event all day – West End was awash with smiles and dancing.
The event’s aims were to celebrate and promote the vibrant and diverse West End community in the original spirit of the Boundary Street Festival. A highlight of the event was the silver train at the market site being transformed into a museum of the Boundary St Festival with amazing memorabilia such a s posters and Tshirts that were produced at the time.
Key members of Street Arts facilitated sessions during the afternoon about the Boundary St Festival activism in West End and how it is still alive today. Three wishes for West End – these ranged from “More Monsters” and many wanted West End to remain a vibrant inclusive place with more greenspace.
We set out to showcase artists, organisations and businesses who are situated in 4101, or have historic or other demonstrable links to 4101. We had over 30 performers, all with links to the local area. A clear stand out is the standard of the talent in West End.
The area around the Absoe site was a buzz with activity and events on the day with our event, the Boundary St markets, an event at the Motor Room and the Brisbane Undress fashion event. There were 1000s of people who attended for small or large parts of the day. Firm numbers are difficult to determine due to the large number of events on the day and that we kept to a free entry un-ticketed event.
The event went through without incident with the police and no noise complaints or issues from the nearby residents. It is our aim to take it to the street next year and we are working with the business community to gain greater support for the event.
