Canadian folk powerhouses The Small Glories and captivating Australia star Claire Anne Taylor will join the Festival of Small Halls Summer Tour 2018, playing 20 community halls across regional Tasmania and New South Wales throughout January and February.
Produced by Woodfordia Inc. in partnership with Cygnet Folk Festival and the Illawarra Folk Festival, the Festival of Small Halls is a locally driven music tour bringing high-quality live original music to small towns across Australia.
Each Festival of Small Halls tour is a collaboration between community groups, councils, state bodies, international musicians and other stakeholders.
Festival producer Eleanor Rigden says the tour offers more than just a rare opportunity for towns to access a high standard of music.
“This kind of arts production can improve social cohesion amongst locals, and help attract visitors to small towns,” she says.
“This particular project goes even further to empower communities. Each show has the distinct brand of the hosting town.”
The Festival of Small Halls Summer Tour 2018 will start in Rowella, a tiny river town in the north of Tasmania with a population of little more than 1,200, and will finish in the hinterlands of the Mid North region of New South Wales.
Both artists on this year’s tour are looking forward to the intimacy of playing a regional tour.
The Small Glories are a new folk ‘supergroup’, made up of Cara Luft and JD Edwards. Not so much known as revered in their native Canada, each enjoyed decades of individual success before being thrown together by pure chance at an anniversary concert.
Claire Anne Taylor crafts soulful folk songs that capture both the beautiful and dark elements of the human experience. Her music ranges from warm, mesmerising ballads to epic anthems. With vivid storytelling, colossal vocals and a powerfully captivating stage presence, her live shows leave the audience in no doubt that they have just witnessed something extraordinary.
“To witness the excitement in the regional towns and the sell-out shows in almost every town visited on the previous Festival of Small Halls Summer Tour speaks of the vibrant and proud communities that exist in Australia’s southernmost state,” said Cygnet Folk Festival Programme Director Erin Collins
“Bringing world class musicians into these far-flung communities was such a mutually thrilling experience,” she said.
“The excitement is truly building in Tasmania’s regional towns for the return of Festival of Small Halls.”
Now in its fifth year, the Festival of Small Halls tour will take in 20 regional towns across Tasmania and New South Wales in 2018 before moving on to Victoria and outback Queensland.
Tickets on sale Thursday 9 November at:
festivalofsmallhalls.com and selected outlets
Tour Dates …
Friday, Jan-05 Rowella, TAS Rowella Hall
Saturday, Jan-06 Longford, TAS Longford Town Hall
Sunday, Jan-07 Rosevale, TAS Rosevale Hall
Monday, Jan-08 Sulphur Creek, TAS Sulphur Creek Hall
Tuesday, Jan-09 Wynyard, TAS Wynyard Theatre
Wednesday, Jan-10 Stanley, TAS Stanley Town Hall
Thursday, Jan-11 Queenstown, TAS The Paragon Theatre
Jan-12 – 14 Cygnet, TAS Cygnet Folk Festival
Tuesday, Jan-16 Dunalley, TAS Dunalley Community Hall
Wednesday, Jan-17 Triabunna, TAS Triabunna Hall
Thursday, Jan-18 Bagdad, TAS Bagdad Hall
Jan-19 -21 Bulli, NSW Illawarra Folk Festival
Wednesday, Jan-24 Goulburn, NSW St Saviour’s Cathedral Hall
Thursday, Jan-25 Dalgety, NSW Dalgety Hall
Friday, Jan-26 Ganmain, NSW Ganmain Hall
Saturday, Jan-27 Orange, NSW Bloomfield Hall
Sunday, Jan-28 Cooyal, NSW Cooyal Hall
Wednesday, Jan-31 Frederickton, NSW Frederickton School of Arts
Thursday, Feb-01 Woolbrook, NSW Woolbrook Hall
Friday, Feb-02 Toormina, NSW Toormina Community Centre
Saturday, Feb-03 Ulong, NSW Eastern Dorrigo Community Hall
Sunday, Feb-04 Diehard, NSW Wytaliba Community Hall
Courtney Wild
