MEDIA RELEASE                                                 5 June 2009

WANTED: FLOATS THAT ‘TELL OUR STORIES’ IN GRAND PARADE

Saturday 22 August 09

Wanted: Grand Parade Floats bringing colour and life to Festival Cairns’ twilight procession along the esplanade on Saturday 22 August.  Today, Festival Cairns event coordinator, Belinda Griffin has put out a call for entries with news a free parade float workshop will take place on Wednesday 17 June with Scott Maidment, Grand Parade Creative Director.

Attracting crowds of more than 35 000, the Grand Parade is one of Festival Cairns’ most highly anticipated and popular, free, family-fun events. 

This year, instead of being the finale highlight, the Grand Parade has been repositioned in the program to open Festival Cairns with a bang as the first of many highlights.

According to Belinda Griffin, Festival Cairns event coordinator, the Grand Parade is the community’s chance to shine, while celebrating life in Cairns; its natural heritage and idyllic tropical lifestyle. 

“With thousands of people lining the streets to enjoy this annual spectacle, the Grand Parade is an excellent opportunity to showcase and promote your company, group or association to an extensive and receptive audience.  And while the exposure value is outstanding, there are many other benefits, not the least of which is having fun,” she said.

Entries are now being taken for all businesses, community groups, artists, clubs and organisations interested in being involved in this year’s parade.

This year Festival Cairns’ Grand Parade will receive creative direction from Scott Maidment and his team who are responsible for Adelaide’s Fringe Festival parade.

“We anticipate this contribution will breathe new life into the parade.  As such, there will be many free opportunities for your group or business to work with professional project artists on creating exciting and innovative floats for this year’s parade,” said Mrs Griffin.

The first is a FREE Workshop with the man himself, Grand Parade Creative Director, Scott Maidment  and his team of creatives, which will take place on Wednesday 17 June.  Details to be advised.

Get your Application Form now from Council’s website www.cairns.qld.gov.au or contact Caress Creed on 4044 3594 or c.creed@cairns.qld.gov.au for more details. 

The opening of a new Green Island jetty on 26 May, 1962 was established as the first annual Cairns Tourist Festival, and renamed ‘Fun In The Sun’ the following year.  Since then Tropical North Queensland’s most significant annual celebration, now in its 47^th year, has experienced a number of changes including its re-launch in the early nineties as ‘Reef Festival’ before its dynamic incarnation in 2002 as ‘Festival Cairns’.

This year Festival Cairns begins a new chapter.  For the first time in many years it will be managed and directed by its founding organisation, Cairns Regional Council; who last month, unveiled details of its vision to deliver a reinvigorated, brighter and bolder event program spanning visual and performing arts, culture and entertainment – showcasing the city’s key cultural precincts with a mix of free and ticketed events.

Festival Cairns will run between Friday 21 August and Sunday 6 September 2009.  This year’s theme is “Telling our Stories”.

Ends

For more information:

Belinda Griffin, Festival Cairns Coordinator 

T: 07 4044 3593 M: 0407 966 530 E: festival@cairns.qld.gov.au

www.cairns.qld.gov.au

Issued by:

Pip Miller PR                

T: 07 4032 4400 M: 0419 681543  E: pip@pipmillerpr.com.au

www.pipmillerpr.com.au

The Grand Parade is a Community Showcase for TNQ

FESTIVAL CAIRNS 09

 

Want to be part of this year’s Festival Cairns Grand Parade?

Saturday 22 August 2009

Attracting crowds of more than 35 000 the Grand Parade is one of the most highly anticipated and popular free, family fun events in the Festival Cairns program. 

The chance to celebrate our unique tropical lifestyle, as well as the best opportunity to promote your company or group to the community you live in, bar none.

Entries are now being taken for all businesses, community groups, artists, clubs and organisations interested in being involved in this year’s parade.

This year, under the Creative Direction of the Adelaide Fringe Festival parade team, new life will be breathed into the parade, and there are many free opportunities for your group or business to work with professional project artists on creating exciting and innovative floats for this year’s parade.

Get your Application Form now from Council’s website www.cairns.qld.gov.au or contact Caress Creed on 4044 3594 or c.creed@cairns.qld.gov.au for more details. 

MEDIA RELEASE                                                 11 May 2009

NIGHT LIGHT: SHORT FILMS IN THE CITY

Calling all filmmakers!  Festival Cairns 2009 takes creativity to the streets when it presents “Night Light – Short Films in the City”, a series of local, silent films projected onto existing walls, floors and interesting spaces around Cairns city and its cultural precincts.

All aspiring and established filmmakers, of all ages, are encouraged to take part by producing a short film made specifically for this first time event in the Festival Cairns’ program. 

According to Festival Cairns Coordinator, Belinda Griffin, submissions can span all genres, albeit they must take cue from this year’s official theme, ‘Telling Our Stories’.  “We want to see and show stories from all over the Cairns region, and as such we are asking filmmakers to ensure their production features a strong local connection in its visual portrayal.”

“This event is really about telling our unique stories, which could mean either referencing our rich history through the images supplied courtesy of the Cairns Historical Society, or creating vignettes of life in TNQ today.  Or a combination of both!”

“In short, this project will reflect back to us who we are and how we live, in a visually interactive and exciting way. Aside from the theme, the other criteria for entry is that the film is silent, between one and three minutes in duration and has never been screened publicly before in its entirety,” she said.

The final selection of films will screen on a looped reel, after dark throughout Festival Cairns that rolls out between Friday 21 August and Sunday 6 September, and will appear anywhere from the side of a building to a shop front in the CBD.

Entries must be submitted by 4pm, Monday 15 June 2009. 

For more information and entry pack contact Night Light: Short Films in the City Coordinator, Annaliese Ciel Walker at Tanks Arts Centre:  Ph: 4032 6600 – Email: a.walker@cairns.qld.gov.au

The opening of a new Green Island jetty on 26 May, 1962 was established as the first annual Cairns Tourist Festival, and renamed ‘Fun In The Sun’ the following year.  Since then Tropical North Queensland’s most significant annual celebration, now in its 47^th year, has experienced a number of changes including its re-launch in the early nineties as ‘Reef Festival’ before its dynamic incarnation in 2002 as ‘Festival Cairns’.

This year Festival Cairns begins a new chapter.  For the first time in many years it will be managed and directed by its founding organisation, Cairns Regional Council; who last month, unveiled details of its vision to deliver a reinvigorated, brighter and bolder event program spanning visual and performing arts, culture and entertainment – showcasing the city’s key cultural precincts with a mix of free and ticketed events.

Festival Cairns will run between Friday 21 August and Sunday 6 September 2009.  This year’s theme is “Telling our Stories”.

Ends

For more information:

Belinda Griffin, Festival Cairns Coordinator 

T: 07 4044 3593 M: 0407 966 530 E: festival@cairns.qld.gov.au

www.cairns.qld.gov.au

Issued by:

Pip Miller PR                

T: 07 4032 4400 M: 0419 681543  E: pip@pipmillerpr.com.au

www.pipmillerpr.com.au

MEDIA RELEASE                                                 11 May 2009

NIGHT LIGHT: SHORT FILMS IN THE CITY

Calling all filmmakers!  Festival Cairns 2009 takes creativity to the streets when it presents “Night Light – Short Films in the City”, a series of local, silent films projected onto existing walls, floors and interesting spaces around Cairns city and its cultural precincts.

All aspiring and established filmmakers, of all ages, are encouraged to take part by producing a short film made specifically for this first time event in the Festival Cairns’ program. 

According to Festival Cairns Coordinator, Belinda Griffin, submissions can span all genres, albeit they must take cue from this year’s official theme, ‘Telling Our Stories’.  “We want to see and show stories from all over the Cairns region, and as such we are asking filmmakers to ensure their production features a strong local connection in its visual portrayal.”

“This event is really about telling our unique stories, which could mean either referencing our rich history through the images supplied courtesy of the Cairns Historical Society, or creating vignettes of life in TNQ today.  Or a combination of both!”

“In short, this project will reflect back to us who we are and how we live, in a visually interactive and exciting way. Aside from the theme, the other criteria for entry is that the films are silent, between one and three minutes in duration, and that the footage has never been shown before in its entirety,” she said.

The final selection of films will screen on a looped reel, after dark throughout Festival Cairns that rolls out between Friday 21 August and Sunday 6 September, and will appear anywhere from the side of a building to a shop front in the CBD.

Entries must be submitted by 4pm, Monday 15 June 2009. 

For more information and entry pack contact Night Light: Short Films in the City Coordinator, Annaliese Ciel Walker at Tanks Arts Centre:  Ph: 4032 6600 – Email: a.walker@cairns.qld.gov.au

The opening of a new Green Island jetty on 26 May, 1962 was established as the first annual Cairns Tourist Festival, and renamed ‘Fun In The Sun’ the following year.  Since then Tropical North Queensland’s most significant annual celebration, now in its 47^th year, has experienced a number of changes including its re-launch in the early nineties as ‘Reef Festival’ before its dynamic incarnation in 2002 as ‘Festival Cairns’.

This year Festival Cairns begins a new chapter.  For the first time in many years it will be managed and directed by its founding organisation, Cairns Regional Council; who last month, unveiled details of its vision to deliver a reinvigorated, brighter and bolder event program spanning visual and performing arts, culture and entertainment – showcasing the city’s key cultural precincts with a mix of free and ticketed events.

Ends

For more information:

Belinda Griffin, Festival Cairns Coordinator 

T: 07 4044 3593 M: 0407 966 530 E: festival@cairns.qld.gov.au

www.cairns.qld.gov.au

Issued by:

Pip Miller PR                

T: 07 4032 4400 M: 0419 681543  E: pip@pipmillerpr.com.au

www.pipmillerpr.com.au

Click on the links for promo descriptions and today’s presser.promotional-descriptions-of-festival-cairns-2009fc09-crc-look-unveiling-7-apr-09-3

MEDIA NOTIFICATION                                                        Monday 6 April  2009

COMMUNITY LEADERS FIRST TO VIEW NEW ‘LOOK’ OF REGION’S

 KEY CELEBRATION

What will Festival Cairns look like in 2009?   This question will be answered with an unveiling of the new logo and brand by Councillor Val Schier, Mayor of Cairns Regional Council at Cairns Regional Council tomorrow, Tuesday 7 April 2009.  Witnessing this special event will be a gathering of invited guests spanning representatives of local business and the cultural community.

Date:    Tuesday 7 April           Time: 8.00am               Place: Cairns Regional Council

Mayor Val Schier says this gathering will provide a two-fold opportunity.  To share Council’s new vision of a reinvigorated, brighter and bolder Festival Cairns and to unveil the potential corporate sponsorship opportunities for local businesses; provoking community support of this much loved event.

Festival Cairns Coordinator, Belinda Griffin, will also be presenting on the day.  “We are looking forward to unveiling the new ‘look’ and ‘theme’ of festival, both of which evolved from the community engagement we did last year for the new Regional Cultural Plan.  Over 1000 members of the community gave us a good dose of local perspective on their thoughts about many issues, including Festival Cairns – and this reinvention is our response to that feedback,” says Mrs Griffin.

Festival Cairns 2009 will roll out between Friday 21 August and Sunday 6 September.  It is Tropical North Queensland’s most significant community celebration and will incorporate a vibrant and dynamic program of free and ticketed events.  In 2009 it will be proudly presented and coordinated by its founding organisation, Cairns Regional Council.

Ends

For more information:

Belinda Griffin, Festival Cairns Coordinator  

T: 07 4044 3593 M: 0407 966 530 E: festival@cairns.qld.gov.au

www.cairns.qld.gov.au

Issued by:

Pip Miller PR                

T: 07 4032 4400 M: 0419 681543  E: pip@pipmillerpr.com.au

www.pipmillerpr.com.au

MEDIA NOTIFICATION                                                        Tuesday 31 March 2009

COMMUNITY LEADERS FIRST TO VIEW NEW ‘LOOK’ OF REGION’S

 KEY CELEBRATION

What will Festival Cairns look like in 2009?   This question will be answered with an unveiling of the new logo and brand by Councillor Val Schier, Mayor of Cairns Regional Council at Cairns Regional Council on Tuesday 7 April 2009.  Witnessing this special event will be a gathering of invited guests spanning representatives of local business and the cultural community.

Date:    Tuesday 7 April           Time: 8.00am               Place: Cairns Regional Council

Mayor Val Schier says this gathering will provide a two-fold opportunity.  To share Council’s new vision of a reinvigorated, brighter and bolder Festival Cairns and to unveil the potential corporate sponsorship opportunities for local businesses; provoking community support of this much loved event.

Festival Cairns Coordinator, Belinda Griffin, will also be presenting on the day.  “We are looking forward to unveiling the new ‘look’ and ‘theme’ of festival, both of which evolved from the community engagement we did last year for the new Regional Cultural Plan.  Over 1000 members of the community gave us a good dose of local perspective on their thoughts about many issues, including Festival Cairns – and this reinvention is our response to that feedback,” says Mrs Griffin.

In its eighth year, Festival Cairns 2009 will roll out between Friday 21 August and Sunday 6 September.  It is the region’s most significant community celebration and will span a vibrant and dynamic program of free and ticketed events.  In 2009 it will be proudly presented and coordinated by its founding organisation, Cairns Regional Council.

Ends

For more information:

Belinda Griffin, Festival Cairns Coordinator  

T: 07 4044 3593 M: 0407 966 530 E: festival@cairns.qld.gov.au

www.cairns.qld.gov.au
Issued by:

Pip Miller PR                

T: 07 4032 4400 M: 0419 681543  E: pip@pipmillerpr.com.au

www.pipmillerpr.com.au