STANTHORPE is set to become a magnet for some of the region’s best and most talented buskers when it hosts the Australian National Busking Championships South East Queensland Regional Finals on Saturday 27 February.
And Stanthorpe Rotary Club president Neil O’Connor said they were looking for as many participants as they could have.
Stanthorpe Rotary Club president Neil O’Connor said the club envisaged making the ANBC Stanthorpe an annual event.
“We would like to see this event benefit our local community and businesses in the entire region in much the same way as the club’s Opera in the Vineyard has done over the past 23 years,” he said.
Mr O’Connor said the new venture had received great support from local sponsors, and nominations from buskers were beginning to trickle in.
If you know anyone with talent, encourage them to nominate he said.
The event is being hosted by the Rotary club of Stanthorpe, and will coincide with the first weekend of the Apple and Grape Harvest Festival’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Buskers will play at nominated stations in the main street, moving between stations throughout the day. A panel of judges will select finalists and they will perform at a finals concert in the Weeroona Park Band Shell from 4pm.
There are several categories for buskers including Open, Indigenous, Primary and Secondary Students, Best Band and People Choice.
The people’s choice award will be decided by public voting with Rotary Dollars purchased at the A&G centre and various other sponsors outlets for $1 a ticket. The tickets sold also go into a lucky prize draw during the concert.
During the evening, the Rotary club will be operating a barbecue and chairs will be available for the public as they cheer on the buskers.
Nomination forms and all details are now available on-line or from Stanthorpe Rotary. Entry fees are $20 per person or maximum $50 per group.
Judges for the event are Allan Spencer the founder of the ANBC and his wife Leslie Schindler. Graham French who sang as a Tenor in Opera Australia and has maintained a passion for music will join the judging panel in Stanthorpe. He has been a member of judging panel for ANBC for the past four years. The fourth member of the judging panel is Brisbane’s James Lloyd founder and director of the Brisbane School of Guitar. Lloyd has been a teacher and performer in the music industry for 40 years.
The Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC) is now in its fourth year. During these years, the ANBC has been held exclusively in Cooma, NSW.
The Stanthorpe Regional Finals are part of the next stage, which is to make this event a truly National Championship by holding Regional Finals Championships in various towns around Australia. The winners from these regional events will then be invited to compete in the grand final back in Cooma on the first weekend in November of each year.
For more information and nomination forms, go to either www.appleandgrape.org/calendar/2016/2/27/busking or visit the Stanthorpe Rotary facebook page or the Australian National Busking Championships™ Facebook or web page.
