New Annual festival in Newcastle draws local and internationally-renowned artists

City of Newcastle's flagship arts and culture festival - which ended last month - was acknowledged in a lord mayoral minute at last week's council meeting. The festival has attracted more than 95,000 visitors to date.

Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said New Annual was an important boost for local artists, who made up more than 60 per cent of the festival's program this year.

Up to 1500 visiting and local artists and performers have been involved in New Annual so far, including dance, circus, visual art, music, and theatre acts. The festival symbolises part of a broader investment into the local Newcastle arts scene.

"During the past three years we've invested more than $3 million into developing and delivering our flagship festival as part of our wider commitment to arts and culture in our city, which we continue to proudly support through our range of grants and sponsorship programs," Cr Nelmes said.

Cr Nelmes said New Annual's success marked a significant milestone in Newcastle's ability to deliver large-scale, multi event festivals. This year, it coincided with the Locally Made and Played program, during which 40 local acts took to the stage.

Newcastle-based band Butterknife said the grants offered for the program, which were funded under New Annual, were crucial in helping young musicians find their feet.

"There's not really enough funding going into the music scene," band member Athena Christensen told the Newcastle Herald in September.

"For the venues to pay us properly sometimes they have to run at a loss, so the grants are a huge help," fellow Butterknife member Lilli Sullivan said.

Cr Nelmes also hopes to see more world-class acts in Newcastle. This year, the festival scored renowned Circa Contemporary Circus who performed in Christ Church Cathedral.

"It's always exciting to come into a festival that is new," Circa associate director Ben Napton said. "It's really exciting because something is building, something is being born, something is being developed, and we are in at the beginning of that process.

"All of sudden, people are seeing things in different spaces."

The lord mayor said sharing a space with such sought-after artists was a real encouragement for born and bred Newcastle artists.

"With local artists and performers accounting for more than 60 per cent of this year's programming, New Annual also provides a high-profile platform for Novocastrians to showcase their talents alongside leading national and internationally-renowned practitioners," she said.

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