THE inaugural West Best Bloc Fest made a big splash in the Newcastle arts and culture scene, but promoter Dylan Oakes isn't planning on rapid expansion.
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The October 2 event was sold-out as hundreds of music fans turned out for the roaming festival of all-local music, held across The Family Hotel, Happy Wombat, Jam's Karaoke, Rogue Scholar, Papa's Bagels and the Star Hotel in Newcastle West.
The intimacy of the venues and the scale of the festival were major drawcards for Bloc Fest, so Oakes is planning comfortable growth.
"Having the support from the community was very important and we want to keep on churning these things out," Oakes says.
"We don't necessarily want to get that big and do a massive festival. I think it's good where it is and we're happy with that. It was a massive success and it's a really good feeling."
Two more venues are expected to be added to Bloc Fest in 2023 and greater consultation with the music community and stakeholders.
"Not exactly bigger bigger, but we will go a little bigger and we'll put a lot of our funding from this year into making it a lot better and coming up with unique ideas to showcase production and engineering, as well as the musicians," Oakes says.
"We'll be looking to embrace the whole community, the university as well and see who we can bring in."
One of the new venues for Bloc Fest in 2023 will be Oakes' 50-person small bar he plans to open in March at 537 Hunter Street.
"It'll be a somewhat chic, sexy, feminine rock'n'roll bar," he says. "We'll spin records and heavily curate it for each evening."
One of the primary missions for Bloc Fest keeping its acts 100 per cent Novocastrian was to showcase local talent to record labels, promoters and media based outside the city.
About 20 representatives from record labels and booking agencies were in attendance.
"We had a fair turnout," he says. "We didn't want to go as hard with labels from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane just yet as we wanted to make sure the venues and events ran smoothly, which they did.
"Next year we'll shape up to really reach out. We had a few people in the industry who were there, so that ripple effect will happen into next year so we can start booking our bands down in Sydney."
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
