Street Choirs
What sort of Choirs?
The National Folk Festival engages up to twenty singing groups as volunteer performers. The Street Choirs are valued for their mobility, spontaneity and up-close involvement with street audiences.
The Festival is widely regarded as unique for the rich interaction and experience available to musicians. The workshop and performance programs as well as incidental sessions with national and international musicians allows enrichment and cross-fertilisation at a level rarely found at music festivals. The Street Choirs are part of the growing engagement with world vocal traditions and their integration into contemporary folk music.
What’s new for 2010?
In 2010, a collaborative repertoire swapping session will be included in the workshop program for interested street choir directors and singers to contribute to the building of common repertoire among the broad, national vocal community.
Application Due Date?
Applications are now closed for the 2010 Festival
What are the expectations?
· Each group sings three, 30 minute sets in exchange for season tickets (with a free camping pass for interstate groups).
· One of the three sets would be scheduled at a 9-10am or 5-6pm slot to a captive and longing-to-be-entertained, ticket queue.
· Groups perform their preferred repertoire,
· Groups sing at a location in one of a number of outside spaces
· Provocation of audience involvement is highly valued
· In 2010, priority goes to Tasmanian groups
· Ideally, ACT groups would be available for a couple of their times on the Friday and/or Monday (due to interstate groups often having to travel on those days)
· Due to audience request, the street choirs schedule will be published in the Festival Program.
This model provides choirs with an opportunity to sing in a busking environment and to play with attracting and engaging passing audience with their singing. This gig appeals to groups that enjoy getting off the stage, out from behind microphones and up close with their audience. Those groups preferring an indoor performance venue should apply to the formal performance program described on the Performer Application page of the website. Volunteer Street choirs are encouraged to book for a spot at one of the available blackboard venues.
Choirs choose their own sites at the street, under trees, at café table areas, from a small number of options that limit noise contamination from other performers and have good pedestrian traffic. This is unlike the volunteer dance display groups who dance their sets on a weather-proof wooden floor for safety reasons.
Groups contribute enormously to the Festival ambiance, enrich the Festival experience for passers-by and expose everyone to a range of the all-year singing opportunities out there in the community.
How to Apply
To apply, please copy this list of information headings into an email, add your details
and send to festival2010@folkfestival.asn.au by the 31st August. Programming decisions will be made and notifications to engaged choirs sent out by the end of October.
Choir Name –
MD name and contact email –
Nominated organiser name and contact email –
The anticipated number range of singers who would attend in 2010
Type of ticket required for each member (one performance for a Day Ticket /
Three performances over the four days for a Season Ticket) –
A description of your group and its repertoire style(s)
Please also refer this info to any singing group you know of in Tasmania. Thanks for your consideration and we look forward to receiving your applications for 2010
