The Gold Coast’s first surf culture festival, Bleach Surfing the Fringe, has been hailed a success by festival organisers.
The first of its kind for the region, Bleach Surfing the Fringe, held on the southern Gold Coast, highlighted creative pursuits inspired by surf culture with a festival program that spanned fifty-five events staged over sixteen consecutive days across ten kilometres of coastline.
The festival incorporated contemporary live music performances, pop-up art galleries housed in shipping containers, a street party, art projections on iconic landmarks, fashion events and more. Bleach was bookended by existing major surf events The Breaka Burleigh Pro and the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro.
Economic statistics complied during Bleach by Destination Research and Development highlight a total of $1.74 million in visitor expenditure across the duration of the festival, a figure festival organisers hope to build upon further in coming years, as the event solidifies its place as a major fixture on the Queensland events calendar according to Festival Director Louise Bezzina.
Close to 30,000 people attended the festival over its sixteen-day tenure.
Louise was overwhelmed by the response to Bleach in its opening year.
“The festival has been hailed as a great success by the local community as well as the visitors who attended the Festival. It was extremely well received and really put the Southern Gold Coast on the cultural map,” she said.
Louise stressed the importance of Bleach to the local community and its impact on creative industries, surfing-related businesses and hospitality venues in the region.
“Bleach strives to provide employment and professional development opportunities for local artists,” she said.
“The Festival showcases the creativity of the Gold Coast and the uniqueness of the area to a national and international audience.”
Festival organisers aim to run Bleach in a similar format in 2013 but, thanks to input from stakeholders and the public, have identified areas of improvement to assist future festival growth.
“We will consolidate the visual arts and gallery program and look at enhancing the successful event components in 2013,” she said.
“We will also review some of the boutique, pop-up style events and look at raising more funding to ensure the festival has a greater impact nationally and internationally. The 2013 Festival will focus on greater artist collaboration between local and interstate artists,” Louise said.
Chairman of Connecting Southern Gold Coast, Murray D’Almeida, said the event had outdone itself.
“The success of the this innovative initiative exceeded all expectations and the confidence of the Gold Coast City Council in supporting this economic driver and cultural Festival, as well as our sponsors and volunteers, was vindicated by the outstanding acclaim the event received locally and nationally,” he said.
Festival organisers wish to thank attendees, sponsors, media partners, volunteers, artists and staff for their commitment to ensuring Bleach* enjoyed outstanding success in its opening year.
