Sesame Street, Ramsey Street, The Castro… wherever you look, a fantastic community is built around the simple groundwork of having a fantastic street.
It’s this premise which has lead to the emergence of the Beaufort Street Festival, an inaugural event which is set to make Highgate and Mt Lawley’s main artery and cultural hub the place to be this November 27.
‘Beaufort Street has an unusual space to it,’ said Elaine MacLeod, member of the Beaufort Street Festival arts committee and proprietor of Behind The Monkey.
‘It’s a long strip which mixes the contemporary feel of the street with a very old historic foundation, and you don’t see that very often. So the actual strip itself is visually very interesting.
‘And you have a lot of owner operated businesses, not so much bigger corporate chain operators, which makes a huge difference. Maintained over a period of time it makes for interesting hubs of people doing their own thing and not copying that corporate structure.’
This distinct individuality is what is being harnessed at the crux of the Beaufort Street Festival, which will bring together a day long calendar of events crammed full of arts, fashion, music and food.
‘We’ve brought in the individual businesses and asked them to come up with ways that they want to celebrate the street and highlight how they contribute to the street,’ explained Brody MacLeod, daughter to Elaine, burgeoning stylista and arts committee member.
‘We have focussed a lot on local artists and local community groups and targeted them to get on board rather than putting randoms in who don’t have any connection with the strip.
‘You get a real… I guess “connection†is the best word in terms of the effort and the interpretations that have ended up manifesting.
‘So from an arts perspective the program is about letting people explore things and letting stuff unravel throughout the day, like the locked cabinets which you can only open if you have the combination, or the hidden laneway lounge room.’
The day promises to be truly amazing. Yarn bombing will abound. Locked cabinets featuring the works of Creepy, Stormie Mills and Brooke Bobridge will be there to unlock (only a limited number of keys will be distributed).
Ololo will be spray painting cars at the Tattwash. Flexhaus will take Highgate Laundromarket back to the days of being an urban gallery. Constellation codes are there to be unlocked. Sixty photographers will be taking 60 photos in 60 minutes throughout the day.
And there are the giant ping pong tables, the Apoettree poetry tree project, the three live music stages, the fashion parades at Luxe Bar from 2pm on the hour every hour hosted by Haley Thompson, the food… there’s even the beautiful lips competition a certain arts journalist will be judging!
The sheer scale of the day is commendable, with the MacLeod’s pulling off the arts component with the help of their fellow committee members, including Yolanda Stapleton, Melanie Price, Martina Ucnikova and logistics advice from Ivan Borgnino.
But for the MacLeods, the true surprise of the festival has come from the community’s willingness to help, either as volunteers or artists.
‘I’ve been surprised by the artists and how much they’ve embraced it,’ concluded Brody.
Artists don’t get credited nearly enough and because it is the inaugural festival we haven’t had a huge budget to work with. But the way they’ve embraced that and the standard and level of work that has come through is just great.’
The Beaufort Street Festival happens Saturday November 27 along Beaufort Street in Highgate and Mt Lawley. For a full calendar of events stay tuned to www.beaufortstreetfestival.com.au
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
