JODIE DEAN
North Stradbroke celebrates ten years of the Island Vibe Festival this weekend, bringing the community together and promoting local artists.
Local artist Clara Durbidge has performed at the festival every year since its conception and said the festival has a strong sense of community.
“Part of Island Vibe’s commitment is to give back to the community. They have opportunities and partnerships, and one is with the school where there’s opportunities for the school to be part of workshops with musicians,” she said.
Ms Durbidge has recently released Southerly, a nine track folk/country CD. She says she is excited to do a sound meditation workshop with the local children.
“I’m involved in a couple of things, in previous years I played in a duo, I’ve performed in a four piece and a three piece. This year it’s Deanna and I,” she said.
Ms Durbidge is performing this year with up-and-coming local musician and TAFE Brisbane student Deanna MacLellan, who said the festival is a great opportunity for artists in the area.
“It’s a massive thing [the festival] and it’s good for local musicians to get that publicity,”
Ms MacLellan said she is eager to see other artists performing at the festival.
“I’m pretty excited,” she said.
“Since we get free entry I’ll probably walk around for the rest of the day checking out other local artists.”
Mr Durbridge said it is difficult for Stradbroke musicians to perform at venues as they have to travel much further to performances on the mainland.
“It [the festival] does open up opportunities to be able to perform when a lot of people would never get the chance to do that at a festival or in front of that many people,” she said.