The Big West Festival board has fended off a community backlash over its decision to wind up the festival by arguing it has done the right thing in a “significantly constrained” funding environment.
Star Weekly last week reported the five-member board’s surprise decision to “retire” the festival by the end of this year.
An emergency “Save Big West” meeting in Footscray last Wednesday night floated the idea of the board stepping down as one way to save the festival. The board had initially accepted an invitation to attend the meeting to explain its decision, but it pulled out when it wasn’t convinced the agenda would allow a “productive session”.
Maribyrnong councillor Grant Miles said Big West had been funded by the council for 20 years and it was likely to have received a guarantee of further funding.
“I think these people are custodians of the festival – they’re not the owners – and I wonder whether they really do have the right to just close the festival without consultation,” he said.
Footscray artist and Save Big West spokesman Hoang Tran Nguyen told last week’s meeting that the board’s assertion the festival’s closure made space for other western suburbs organisations was unsubstantiated.
“We fear that just the opposite will occur – that artistic activity and vibrancy in the area will simply retract as a result of this decision,” he said.
Mr Nguyen said the board had terminated the organisation without adequate community and stakeholder consultation.
In a statement to Star Weekly, the board said its decision was taken in line with its responsibilities and followed more than two years of considering and trialling “numerous strategies” to address the organisation’s sustainability.
“Unfortunately, the challenges faced by the organisation cannot be mitigated by the energy and brilliance of the artists and communities who support the work of Big West,” the board’s statement said.
The board went public with its decision on July 6 after informing Creative Victoria and Maribyrnong council on June 23 and at the same time withdrawing funding applications lodged with those bodies.
The board said it withdrew the applications before being aware of their outcomes.
Members of the Save Big West group met with the festival’s board on Tuesday night to seek a way forward that could keep the festival alive.
