History of the UNITY festival

The UNITY festival is orchestrated by Kerry Turner. At 55 years of age, she is no stranger to event management having been involved with some of the world’s largest green field events.  She simply is wheels in motion… the determined and dedicated brain child behind UNITY festival. Her vision is to create, ‘a sustainable tourist attraction that celebrates the rich diversity in the Tweed and Byron Shires while at the same time being earth friendly and providing youth training and mentoring programs’. As project manager, she works relentlessly to realise it.

According to the now defunct Tweed Economic Development Corporation,  the Tweed Shire needs to create 25,000 new jobs by 2031 if it is to achieve a work participation rate of 50% by 2031. In 2009,  work participation was at 42%.  Another statistic shows that between 2001 and 2006 the arts and creative industries in the Northern Rivers grew 25 percent faster annually than the remaining regional economy. It was a combination of economic data and an intrinsic passion to develop community capacity, that Kerry realised there was an enormous opportunity to promote the burgeoning local  creative industries and create income streams through community events that foster inclusion while at the same time attracting visitors to the area.

The inaugural UNITY festival was held on November 14, 2009 over a period of 7 hours. The event showcased local and regional entertainers, dancers and musicians, local food and market stall vendors and attracted in excess of 400 visitors. It was deemed a success, financially and socially.

The 2010 event on 2 October was extended to a 10 hour event and employed 133 local performers, including 9 culturally and linguistically diverse communities, 10 bands and separate art, craft and music workshops for children. Moreover, 13 food vendors and 9 stall holders created an international market place and the local Historical Society provided a presentation of the cultural heritage of the area.

Despite dismal weather the 2010 UNITY festival broke even with all performers, suppliers and contractors receiving payment. In addition, a community survey conducted during the event revealed that 41% of visitors came from outside the Tweed Shire. This indicates that developing the event from a one day show to a 2-3 day show will produce much broader positive economic impact. The survey also showed that 96% of local visitors agreed or strongly agreed that the UNITY festival helps make the Tweed Shire a more enjoyable place to live and makes them proud to be from the Tweed. A whopping 99% of local Tweed residents agreed they would like to see more events like the UNITY festival in the Tweed Shire.

The 2011 event will be the festival’s 3rd birthday. To survive 3 years is a challenge. Each year sponsorship and grants are submitted. Many hours of work going into each, with no guarantee of success. The waiting game begins, but the planning has to continue.  The uncertainty is a risk. Each successful application enhances the quality of entertainment, infrastructure and  marketing.

It is a full time job and Kerry dedicates her life to it. This year to met her commitment to training youth and passing on her skills, she has in consultation with Kingscliff TAFE, engaged 3enthusiastic event management students. As she so often says, “I ain’t going to be doing this at 70, so I’d better train some youth now to take over”. The students are proving to be a valuable resource and are committed to the vision of the event. They are assisting in the office, watching, learning, participating and helping with all facets of the planning and coordination. What better training that at a grassroots level – hearing the conversations with key stakeholders, assisting with correspondence, preparing templates for participation forms and updating databases, helping plan volunteer packs, calling stall-holders, compiling information for performers, being drawn into meetings with other team members and stakeholders, designing site plans, performance schedules, marketing collateral and distributing posters, flyers, media releases and e-alerts.

Not for profit

The festival is a managed by a not for profit organisation – UNITY festival Inc. It is a community event designed to build bridges between our communities, to celebrate differences, to promote social cohesion and inclusion and to provide a much needed platform for local, culturally diverse entertainers – dancers, musicians, performers and artists – to showcase their talents. The quality of talent must have an equally high quality platform and UNITY aims to continually improve its infrastructure and equipment and marketing activities to push itself into sustainability. “Sponsorship will only come if the event continues to grow, to get a reputation and to deliver on its goals” quips Kerry.

Going green

UNITY aims to be as earth friendly as budget, human resources and infrastructure permits. There is a stronger push this year to reduce festival waste going into landfill . Last year, the waste wise strategy involved an ambitious 4 bin system. Red lidded bins for general waste, yellow lidded bins for recyclable waste, brown lidded bins for commercially compostable waste and black food compost bins. Each station of 4 bins had a ‘bin monitor’ assisting festival goers with making the right bin decision. These volunteers came from a diverse background. Two were 3rd year environmental science students, others were Nortec Volunteers including an 86 year old woman from Banora Point. Unfortunately, due to extremely wet weather on the day, the monitors were seconded to managing wet weather contingency plans and without assistance there appeared to be a bit of ‘bin confusion’. Despite this, the waste audit revealed a 43% diversion of waste from landfill. The first waste benchmark was set.

The 2011 event has a new benchmark – a “50% diversion of landfill waste challenge.” A strategy is currently being devised with key stakeholders.