Tuesday, November 29, 2016

A lovely set of numbers!


The 2017 Festival of Glass Treasure Hunt has attracted a greater number and diversity of local businesses than last year’s ... and there are still two months before the Treasure Hunt starts!

Diane Schofield’s Treasure Hunt team has worked hard and long to sign up twenty eight businesses from Drysdale, Clifton Springs, Curlewis and Portarlington – up from the twenty Drysdale businesses in the 2016 event.

 “Everyone’s a winner in our Treasure Hunt”, said Schofield. “Participating local businesses can increase their custom, local glass artists can increase their public profile and, of course, local Treasure Hunters can win beautiful glass art as prizes.”

Each local businesses in the Treasure Hunt will display a piece of glass art it commissioned from a local glass artist and these pieces will be major prizes in the Treasure Hunt draw.

“Businesses in the 2016 Treasure Hunt spoke very positively about their experience”, said Schofield, “and their comments convinced other business to join the 2017 event.”

Pirates never had it this easy!
From January 2 2017, Treasure Hunters can identify each participating business via the Treasure Hunt poster in its window and can search for that business’s ‘Tiny Treasure’ – a small glass ornament.

Screen grab of the interactive online map
Once a treasure hunter finds a Tiny Treasure, they will receive a stamp on their Treasure Hunt form; and with at least ten stamps, they can enter their form in a draw at the Festival of Glass Expo on Sunday 21 February at Drysdale’s Christian College between 10.00am and 4.00pm.

In a local first, our Treasure Hunters can use an interactive online map to identify businesses in the Treasure Hunt. No more breaking stony ground with a parrot on your shoulder – this is digital digging!
(Once at the site, scroll down to see the map.)



2. Featured Festival sponsor – Rotary Club of Drysdale (i). Making sustainable improvements to local communities
admin@drysdalerotary.org.au                                                www.drysdalerotary.org.au
P.O. Box 123, Drysdale 3222, Victoria
Meets: Mondays at 6:30 PM at Clifton Springs Golf Club, 92-94 Clearwater Drive, Clifton Springs, Victoria 3222.

The Rotary Club of Drysdale has been a supporter of the Festival of Glass and is a major sponsor of the “Welcome to Drysdale” mural – a Festival of Glass project that was erected recently in Drysdale’s town square. The Club’s commitment to promoting artistic excellence in the community has also led it to sponsoring one of the Glass Art Awards at each year’s Festival of Glass. The “Second Life” Award, given each year to the artist submitting the best piece of glass art made by recycling glass .... but more of that later! 

Rotary seeks sustainable improvements in local communities in over 200 countries; and the Rotary Club of Drysdale raises money to support regional organisations including Cystic Fibrosis Geelong, Polio Plus, Portarlington Miniature Railway, Portarlington Food Assistance program, Barwon Health Transport (with Rotary Club of Geelong West and others), and an Art Mentorship Program for year 11 students (with Bendigo Bank). The Club runs the annual Easter Art Show over the Easter weekend at the Christian College Sports Stadium in Collins Street, Drysdale. The 2017 Show will feature around 400 artworks for sale and more than $8,000 in prizes; and a concurrent raffle will raise money for Cystic Fibrosis Geelong. Denis Walter OAM is a patron of Cystic Fibrosis Australia and will speak at the Art Show’s opening at 11am on Easter Saturday.

 
Get the latest Festival news
On Facebook:
On the web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au
On the blog (you’re here!): http://festivalofglass.blogspot.com
 
Volunteering at the Festival
Our “Friends of the Festival” online newsletter gives the latest Festival news specifically for our volunteers. To become a Friend of the Festival, please send an e-mail to festivalofglassdrysdale@gmail.com
Put “Festival Friends” in the subject bar and put your name and address in the body of the e-mail.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Promoting the 2017 Treasure Hunt


1. Festival Committee gets a head ... or five!
Promotion is under way for the 2017 Festival of Glass Treasure Hunt, which is set to be bigger than its predecessor.

Committee members get a heads up!
The 2017 Treasure Hunt starts on January 2 and in a sudden outburst of creativity, members of the Festival Committee have been building glass mosaic heads which they’ll use to promote it.

Professional mosaic artists – such as the ones who’ll be at the Festival Expo – needn’t worry about new competition. The mosaic heads will be the works of inspired amateurs – the same ones who organise each year’s Festival of Glass!

Look out for the mosaic heads, which will appear in and around Drysdale & Clifton Springs in the weeks to come.

The Treasure Hunt draw will take place at the 2017 Festival of Glass Expo, at Drysdale’s Christian College on Sunday 19 February between 10.00am and 4.00pm.


2. Featured Festival sponsor – Clifton Springs & Curlewis Lions (i). Building communities through good practice
Lions Clubs aim to promote understanding, good government and good citizenship among the peoples of the world and to encourage people to serve their community.

The Festival of Glass Committee is very grateful to the Clifton Springs & Curlewis Lions Club for their support. Their work for the Festival over several years is an excellent example of service to community. They’ve been a major element of each Festival Expo, helping to set up and take down the venue and their sausage sizzle has kept visitors to the event fed and watered.

In 2016, the Clifton Springs & Curlewis Lions Club became Glass Art sponsors, launching the Bella Wein Award .... of which more another time!


Get the latest Festival news
On Facebook:
On the web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au
On the blog (you’re here!): http://festivalofglass.blogspot.com


Volunteering at the Festival
Our “Friends of the Festival” online newsletter gives the latest Festival news specifically for our volunteers. To become a Friend of the Festival, please send an e-mail to festivalofglassdrysdale@gmail.com
Put “Festival Friends” in the subject bar and put your name and address in the body of the e-mail.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

88 days to go!


It’s just three months (88 days if you’re digitally minded!) before the 2017 Festival of Glass and there’s a lot happening already.

1. Expo organisers eye a second floor!
The 2017 Festival of Glass Expo is proving to be so popular that the Festival Committee is considering expanding into the venue’s second floor.

Each year’s Festival of Glass Expo features dozens of exhibitors displaying glass art and craft products, together with demonstrations of glass working techniques, the annual Glass Art Awards, short films about glass, prizes and much more.

After the Expo, there are classes in various glass working techniques. So at the Expo, you can look at beautiful glass art and see how its made .... then afterwards you can learn how to make your own.

The Expo is held at Drysdale’s Christian College on the third Sunday in February – in 2017, that’s Sunday 19 February – between 10.00am and 4.00pm.


2. Featured Festival sponsor - Bendigo Bank (i). Investing in communities
The Bendigo Bank prides itself on being community-orientated and its investment in the Festival of Glass is a good example!

The Bendigo Bank offers retail banking products and services to more than 1.4 million retail customers through its 400 plus branches and agencies. It works with communities to contribute to their prosperity, because it believes that successful communities make successful businesses.

The Bank has supported the Festival from its beginning in 2011, and it is now one of our major sponsors. The Festival Committee is grateful for the Bank’s support and is always happy to acknowledge the Bank’s contribution to the Festival’s success. Its investment has given the Festival the stability to keep expanding its scope and broaden its audiences – without the Bank’s involvement, we’d have a very different Festival of Glass.


3. Featured Festival sponsor - City of Greater Geelong (i). Creating a vision

Officers from the City of Greater Geelong Council’s Arts & Culture department have helped the Festival of Glass Committee to raise the local community’s awareness of the area’s rich historical links with glass.

The Festival Committee has launched several initiatives linked with the Festival, including the Welcome to Drysdale mural in the town centre, Glass Reflections – an online archive of local glass history and The Glass Trail of glass artists’ open studios.

The Council is a major sponsor of the Festival of Glass. It provides leadership, governance and services to the Greater Geelong community and its Geelong City Plan presents a vision for the city and describes how it will become a reality. Like the neighbouring Portarlington Mussel Festival and Queenscliffe Music Festival, Drysdale’s Festival of Glass shows how a festival can galvanise a community into action; and the council’s continuing support for the Festival of Glass has ensured that the Bellarine’s past and present links with glass have a strong future.


Get the latest Festival news
On Facebook:
On the web site: www.festivalofglass.net.au
On the blog (you’re here!): http://festivalofglass.blogspot.com


Volunteering at the Festival
Our “Friends of the Festival” online newsletter gives the latest Festival news specifically for our volunteers. To become a Friend of the Festival, please send an e-mail to festivalofglassdrysdale@gmail.com
Put “Festival Friends” in the subject bar and put your name and address in the body of the e-mail.