Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival Organiser Colin Thompson
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Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival Organiser Colin Thompson

Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival is quickly approaching, but it’s not just about the incredible blues performers on offer. This festival also showcases the local venues on offer in Bendigo. We had a chat to Colin Thompson about what to expect.
Hi Colin, thanks for taking the time to chat with us, how are you and what are you up to at the moment? 
Good thanks. Tired. Just trying to keep up with the hundreds of emails per day between our crew, our performing artists, our host venues, sponsors and partners, the different departments at council we deal with, and trying to balance all that with spending time with my two gorgeous kids and relax with my wife – when we get the chance.
This is now the 5th Blues and Roots Festival, how has it evolved over the years? 
The heart and soul of our festival is the same – just the numbers are growing.  More artists involved, more venues hosting music, more punters taking an interest and coming along to see what all the fuss is about. It’s grown organically, which is a conscious choice from myself and our core team. This year we’ve got some notable additions. In addition to the family-friendly concert all day on the Saturday in Rosalind Park and huge variety of pubs, cafes and other venues, this year we’re excited to welcome the new Ulumbarra Theatre for our Saturday night main event and the Capital Theatre for our Friday main event. Both are ticketed shows and are incredibly cheap for the line ups on offer.  If these ticketed shows, along with the Blues Tram rides (of which there are four over the course of the weekend), are as supported as well as they should be, our festival, which is predominantly free and run as a not-for-profit event, will finally start to generate some income and not be so heavily reliant on sponsorships, grants and our own continual fundraising efforts.
There’s also a number of workshops throughout the festival, how important is it to have the educational element as well as the live performances? 
It’s vital to us and to the live music scene in general. So many of the acts who come to play offer their services for workshops so we’d be silly not to join the dots and facilitate that interaction with aspiring musicians attending the festival. Our festival is all about the connection between artist and punter, but if you can get a lesson or workshop with some of Australia’s greatest blues players, why wouldn’t you take advantage?!  Fiona Boyes is playing our festival for the first time and is putting on a workshop at the Goldmines Hotel, as is Geoff Achison. We also have a Gospel Choir sing-along on the Sunday morning at (appropriately) the Old Church on the Hill. And we have a strong focus on youth oriented events again this year; Bill Barber (18-year-old-blues player now based in Bendigo) and his team of friends are staging an acoustic Youth Stage on the Friday evening, an electric (band) Youth Stage on the Saturday afternoon and we’ve got the final of the Lazenby Young Blues Guitarist Award for this year, which will be part of the Rosalind Park concert on the Saturday afternoon.
Over the years, have there been any highlights for you? 
Too many to name here, but I can say that I get the biggest buzz out of witnessing people making discoveries of their own; being blown away by an act they’d never heard of, then getting to meet that act, shake their hand, thank them for sharing their talent, buying their CD and walking away with a huge smile on their dial. There is so much ‘undiscovered’ talent right under our noses and we sometimes forget to switch off from what the TV or radio is telling us to like or what to buy and just go out and experience what is freely available – and these artists are every bit as good as those being flogged to us through the media – and these artists deserve our attention and our support. So my highlight of every event I get to stage is facilitating that connection for both the independent artists we work with and the punters who we connect them with.
The great thing about the festival is it does showcase local venues as well, was that an important aspect for the festival to have?
Definitely. I got so sick of hearing too many people whinge that there was nothing to enjoy about our town, when all they had to do was take a real look at all the great stuff going on around them. Punters are starting get off their bums and get out to local venues and events again and we’re proud to have played a small hand in activating that. The local venues, realising people are keen for bigger and better, are really stepping up and getting more active and involved in hosting music and other events too, so one feeds the other and everyone wins in the end.
What can those who are new to the festival expect from their first performance? 
Punters, or performers? Come to think of it, it’s the same for both: they can expect to feel welcomed. Welcomed into our city, welcomed into our venues and spaces. Welcomed into our event and welcomed into our community; for the weekend of the festival, and anytime they want to come back and visit again.
Thanks again for taking the time to chat with Forte, is there anything you’d like to add?
Can I sleep now?
When & Where: Bendigo Blues & Roots – November 5-8