QHAF Receives Six Awards December 18 2013

As many people may know, Poco People has an intrinsic connection with the emerging Queenstown Heritage & Arts Festival (QHAF), with Travis the founding Director of the biennial event.

The QHAF focuses on high-end arts and heritage activities and aims to engender significant socio-economic change in the Queenstown community. In 2012 the festival was tied to the centenary of the North Lyell Mine Disaster, a tragedy in which 42 miners died. The results from the weekend were exceptional, demonstrating that the festival is a genuine economic asset for western Tasmania:

•  57 individual events held over 3 days;
•  1774 completed festival surveys;
•  93 festival volunteers from the local community;
•  $343 visitor spend per person with a total $608,482 visitor spend; and,
•  100% booked out accommodation resulting in spillover into other west coast towns.

State-wide recognition of this success has been massive, with the festival placing gold in a stunning six local and state awards, including:

•  Tasmanian Tourism Award – Festivals and Events;
•  Creative Partnerships Australia – Toyota Community Award;
•  Cradle Coast Regional Tourism Award – Heritage & Cultural Tourism;
•  Cradle Coast Regional Tourism Award – Tourism Marketing;
•  Tasmanian Community Achievement Award – Prime Super Events and Tourism; and,
•  Australia Day Community event of the year.

To gain such strong recognition for the second only festival is a wonderful achievement, and the entire team is very keen to harness and build on this momentum – with some innovative plans and partnerships underway for the next festival.

The next festival will be held on 10–12 October 2014 and will focus upon the centenary of the historic Lake Margaret Power Station, the oldest operating hydro-electric power station in Australia and a site of high cultural heritage significance for the region. Under Travis’ leadership, the 2014 festival has gained Regional Event Funding through Events Tasmania, Assistance to Organisations funding through Arts Tasmania, and support from the Regional Arts Fund and Festivals Australia.

The ultimate goal is to strategically spread the benefits of the festival throughout the region, and develop sustained year-round cultural activity so that the festival significantly contributes to the livability of the regional west coast community.