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September 11, 2025 • 14 mins

This week Gareth Thomson takes a look at the history of the Junction Festival ahead of its 15th year. We'll hear from organisers and performers about what you can expect this weekend and next. 

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Iheartazzi festivals in general of across the country are obviously struggling.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's a really weird time.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
As a live performer and live musician that you know,
a lot of my focus in music is live, but
I think the scene in Tazzi in general has grown
and so it's really great to have those opportunities for
local artists.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
The Junction Arts Festival is celebrating its fifteenth birthday this
year with a bumper edition taking place across two weekends.
I'm Garret Thompson and this week on iHeart Tazi we'll
be looking at the history of Junction and its importance
within Tasmania's festival landscape. Also find out what you can
expect from this year's program.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
It was a really successful small event that was linked
to the twenty ten Regional Arts Australia Conference and because
it was so successful that then led to getting some
funding from Events has and from a city of lun
Seston to make it well to a whish that not
for profit independent festival. There's now fifteen years on, which

(01:04):
is pretty amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
This is Beck Berrel. She's the president and board chair
of Junction.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
One of the things that I really love about Junction
is that we're so passionate about making arts experiences accessible
to a wide, wide range of people. And I've been
art experiences are really transformative for a community and also personally,
so it's just wonderful to be able to share that
with people who maybe some of them don't normally go

(01:32):
to arts events, maybe some of them like to take
their children along to get experiences. So over the years
it's been very diverse.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Thin she might be Junctions fifteenth, but it's the first
time it's eclectic arts programming will be spread over two weekends.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
It's much bigger now, And I remember back in the
day it was in civic squares and we had one
Spiegel tent and a couple of little box office types offerings,
and it was sort of spread around the city. And
now I think I can't remember exactly what the date
was that we moved to Princess Square and created more
of a hub vibe, so that there was sort of

(02:11):
a meeting place in the gathering place in between a
few sort of other areas that the festival ran out of,
and I think that really changed the vibes of Junction
quite a lot. It had a bit of a home.
It started to activate that whole precinct and we can
see that, you know, as the festival grew, so did
the precinct and people were feeling confident about investing around

(02:34):
the square. We've had a lot of development, so that's
sort of the difference that you can see in a
city when you have an artistic experience and an offering
like that. The festival has fostered activation of a formerly
probably under used space. So as we've grown, so in
turn has the community that supports them as well. I

(02:57):
got a two weekend model this year because we really
wanted to honor some of those past, some of the
history where junctions come from the people who have worked
on it and been involved. But we also wanted to
make sure that we use this as a lovely milestone
to have our usual festival offering as well. So we've
decided to include two weekends and really link them with

(03:20):
a premiere piece, which is the Airship Orchestra that is
coming down as a Tasmanian premiere. It's going to be
so impressive. I cannot wait to see it. We've been
in conversations with them for several years now and it's
just been really amazing. This felt like the right year
to bring it down to mark the milestone, and at

(03:42):
sixteen quite enormous interactive self sculptures. The more you interact
with it, the more that it plays music, and it
sort of changes in its lights, so it'll be a
very experiential and immersive experience, and I am very excited
to see that. That'll be up till both the weekends,
so that's going to really look quite impressive, I think

(04:07):
in the park, and I'm looking forward to seeing how
people interact with it and take photos of themselves with it,
So that's going to be exciting. And then we have
a Junction Gallery a retrospective in the first weekend, which
really I think will be fantastic for some of the
people who have worked on the festival over the years.
We have a lot of people who have really started

(04:30):
in arts organizations at Junction fifteen years ago and they've
gone on to do incredible things with their careers. So
we see ourselves as being a bit of an incubator
for a lot of arts professionals, and I think some
of them are really going to enjoy looking back at
where they were in their careers at that time. So

(04:50):
that'll be really exciting to see. That's going to be
in the Little Devil only on the first weekend. Oh
and of course the extravagant a Fair opening night is
going to be sensationals definitely, definitely get into that one.
That's on the twelfth Friday the twelfth. Then as we
move into the second we can we have some really

(05:11):
striking performances in the square itself, which is totally free access.
This year, there is a beautiful piece called for Whom
the bell Holes. I'm really looking forward to seeing that one.
And we have a speak easy back. We have a
long table dinner which will be a very beautiful experience,

(05:33):
three artists, incredible food as art as well, and that's
being hosted down at Design Tasmania. And oh my gosh,
I'm just looking at there are so many things I
want to do. I'm actually really sad that I can't
do them all because some of them overlap. Of course,
one of our favorites has been up later over the
last few years that has a new iteration called Rook's

(05:57):
Nook and so that's an all new Lafe night sort
of slightly riskuy cabaret. So that should be fun lots
of club night mizaza and the activation around the fountains
that'll be amazing as well. Oh, there's just too many.
I don't know when to stop. I'm just like sticking off.
Which are all the ones that I want to see too?

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Beck believes these Junction program has something for everyone, even
those who may be a little skeptical of the arts.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
The Sea Easy is probably a really nice one to
go to. It's sort of a jazz bar. There'll be
people chilling and having cocktails, so it's not particularly an
arty experience like maybe the Contemporary Vance or things like that.
So even just sitting in the square and having some

(06:45):
beautiful food from the food vendors, having a gin and
tonic or you know, whatever your choice of beverage is,
and just enjoying sitting in the sun would be lovely. Yes,
it can just go on around them. All the art
can just happen around them.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Coming up on iHeart Tazzy will take a closer look
out the program for the Junction Arts Festival twenty twenty five.
And here from performer Maddie Jane I Heart Dazzy. iHeart Dazzy.
This week we're exploring the Junction Arts Festival, which opens

(07:22):
tonight at Prince's Square in Lonceston. The festival is celebrating
fifteen years with an expanded program across this weekend and next.
Event producer El mccleman says it's been exciting to bring
together a combination of new ideas and legacy programming.

Speaker 5 (07:37):
So things that have happened before with a little bit
of a twist, So you have things like the Dog
Show which is coming back again this year whichuld be
really spectacular, and some other bits of programming like our
fifteen year Gallery of the Junction retrospective which takes you
through a bit of a look of what the last
fifteen years has been and how the festival has transformed
over those years, and there's beautiful soundscape and video to

(07:59):
go along side that as well.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Junction also has a focus on remaining accessible to all,
with many free events taking place at.

Speaker 5 (08:07):
The park the Princess Square, so Festival Hub at Junction
is free this year, which is really exciting. So there's
plenty of wonderful offerings within the Square, the Airship Orchestra
which is a big inflatable you've got for whom, the
Bell Tolls, which is an incredible piece about hope that
is on the second weekend for the eighteenth, nineteenth and

(08:27):
twenty year. We've also got a wonderful kids space called
WonderGround which has lots of self paced activities as well
as some workshops as well. And of course we've got
our free music nights as well as some ticketed music
nights in the mix as well, so there's plenty to
do within the park and it'll be really nice space
to spend a lot of time and get some food

(08:48):
and have a drink.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Well. Bruney Islands on Maddie Jane is performing next Thursday
night in a free show at the Fountain Pavilion.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
I've the full band and I've got a new EP out,
so we'll play did a new music couple of the
staple songs that I've been playing for years, and yeah,
it should be good put on a bit of a show.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
But he's been hard at work crafting her new APay
Clearers Mud Part one, which she's described as the first
half of future album.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
It's been a long time coming in I went independent
as an artist after the pandemic. It's been a big
journey to get to where I am in releasing music
again and it was a good time to kind of
take stock and rethink. This music has come from picking
myself back up and coming to terms with like there's
nothing else I'd rather do, and when it all comes
down to it, it's all about the music. So I

(09:37):
worked with Alex Burnette as kind of the collaborator on this,
so it's first time kind of doing a little bit
of co writing and he's a massive part of the story.
But yeah, we really leaned back into my roots being
Tasmanian and from Bruney Island and how that's my story
and that's my come back to my most genuine, self
assured kind of self. So I think this music is

(09:59):
a little bit different, but there's just a whole lot
of soul in it. So we've got songs that are
will make you cry and make you want to scream
and yell, and yeah, I think it's a it's a
good start to the new era. So I'm back in
the studio at the moment finishing off those few songs
and we'll put it all together. It was a cool
way to go about it and being able to kind
of release like a first half and a few songs

(10:21):
and then like a gain perspective and head back into
the studio and take stock of what we've got and go, yeah, cool,
okay with the perspective of everything that we've released and
what that means.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
It's obviously very.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Different when a song is actually out, it kind of
takes on its own life. So I think it's been
a really cool process to kind of put half of
it out as an EP and then finishing off these
songs that are left now going like wow, Part two
is going to be even stronger, so I think, yeah,
it'd be exciting.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
So hopefully by the end of the year I can
get another song.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Out of Part two or may like maybe start early
next year.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
For local musicians like Maddie, festival's like Junction are a
crucial part of the Tasmanian arts and music scene.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Especially in Tazi.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
The local festival scene was what allowed me and a
lot of other Tazi muzos to get going and get
in front of a big audience. But yeah, festivals in
general of across the country.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Are obviously struggling. It's a really weird time.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
As a live performer and live musician that you know,
a lot of my focus in music is live and yeah,
so it is a really weird time for music and
festivals in general. But I think the scene in Tazi
in general has grown and so it's really great.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
To have those opportunities for local artists.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
But yeah, you know, there's people out there really trying
to make it work, like the boys that are good
friends of mine that have taken over the New Year's
slot of Great Escape Festival. And I think it's just
like a changing of the times too. I think people
are less likely to go to the really big festivals,
and any boutique kind of smaller festivals that can happen
are really special and well worth happening.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
But yeah, everything is so expensive.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
It's really expensive and hard to run event be a musician.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
So it's tough out there, but we've got to keep
going and trying.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Hey, obviously government funding comes into it too, and it'd
be great, you know, if the government could realize that
that's bringing a lot of tourism and culture to see in.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
Such a difficult landscape for festivals. Beck beer All says
she never thought they'd get to fifteen years.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
This is a beautiful sort of pivotal point. I think,
you know, in the landscape that we're seeing now as festivals,
it's a really tough time and I think Junction has
seen incredibly lucky and I'd like to put that down
to a bit of strategy as well to survive the
difficult landscapes that festivals have found themselves in after COVID,
so the rising costs. There's a lack of really dedicated

(12:49):
and skilled darting levels in the festival space, which is
interesting given that we have so many festivals. It's just
a very small team who live here who actually do
have the ability to pull off the production. So you know,
it's a challenge every year. And so where do we

(13:09):
go from here. Well, we'll see how this two weekends
model goes. I mean we're trialing it. We may not
do two weekends in future, will sort of gauge the response.
But it's just really lovely to have a point of
difference for this milestone this yere. We'd love to see
everybody come down and celebrate this amazing anniversary with us

(13:31):
and come to opening night, which will be spectacular, and
then come to the second weekend which will be a
very full and packed program. There's so many things on
there that I would like to see that I'm sure
you'll find something that you will love.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
And that's it for this week's episode of iHeart Tazzi.
A huge thanks to our guests Rebecca Beryl, Elle mccleman
and Maddie Jane. The Junction Ards Festival opens this weekend
in Launceston, with Maddie performing a free show this week
and for those in the south of the state, she's
also got a gig tonight at Altebar. We'll be back
next Friday with another story for you, but until then,

(14:07):
I've been Gareth Thompson, thanks for your company, my heart,
as he
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