Of street rods and Schubert
The Age
Saturday March 26, 2011
CASTLEMAINE, that historic gold rush town in central Victoria, has been getting good press over the past decade. Tree changers, economic refugees from Melbourne's overpriced housing market, and fast-train city commuters have joined the many artists who moved here as far back as the 1970s. The steady influx has helped swell the town's population from about 6600 in 2006 to between 7000 and 8000 residents.Cultural and culinary tourism are now buzz words in Castlemaine. The town has been inspired by the example of nearby "spa" town Daylesford, whose boutique approach to antiques, books, streetside cafes, and bespoke this and bespoke that has been attracting tourists to the region from all over the country. While some Castlemaine residents sniffily dismiss Daylesford as "South Yarra on the goldfields", one travel article recently gushily compared Castlemaine's food and accommodation choices to what you mind find jaunting about the Dordogne.Driving into Castlemaine from Melbourne, you sweep along winding tree-lined roads and across gentle hills to soft-land into the town's well-preserved 19th-century layout and handsome public buildings. You could almost believe you're about to morph into one of those models from a tourism ad. There you are pictured under an autumnal tree sipping merlot from an oversized glass and chuckling to a telegenic old-timer who is charming you with the local folklore.But then there's the jolting sign near the town's entrance that declares you are now entering the "Street Rod Capital of Australia". Odd. That wasn't mentioned in The Good Food Guide. Although there are no cars with exposed engine parts driven by extravagantly sideburned rockers on this recent midweek morning, Castlemaine appears to be less a setting for a French rom-com and more a working town.The town centre is busy with shoppers. Weather-beaten elderly women with strings bags clutched tight to their sides are bracing against a chilly wind as they determinedly march down main drag Mostyn Street. Vans and trucks are servicing timber yards, hardware stores, the meatworks and the foundry. There appears to be only one outdoor cafe this morning serving coffee to a group of silver-ponytailed men who look like a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young reunion.Inside the town's famous (and now up for sale) deco Theatre Royal is Martin Paten. In his thick-framed spectacles and bearing a crooked smile, he resembles Peter Sellers in his The Party phase, so it's fitting he is the one-man band giving the town its biennial knees-up, the Castlemaine State Festival. The 10-day event has been tapping into the town's cultural life since 1976. This year's festival Paten's second as artistic director will involve 800 artists working in dance, theatre, film, opera and music to create 70 works ranging from the high arts to the populist.These events will be held across the town's indoor and outdoor spaces (including an abandoned goldmine) with just over a third created by local artists. The rest are made by out-of-towners coming from as far away as Canada, Italy and Belgium. A visual-arts biennale of work by 48 artists has been curated by Heide museum director Jason Smith, Michael Buxton Collection curator Samantha Comte, and printmaker Martin King. Other visual arts shows include works by John Wolseley, William Kentridge and Rose Nolan.The previous director, Caroline Stacey, who ran the festival from 2003 to 2007, had only lived part-time in Castlemaine and this, combined with her "high arts" approach, did create some resentment among locals. Her habit of starting festivals with performances by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has now been dropped.According to Paten, locals put a lot of store in having a "relationship and trust that only comes over time". He had owned a weekender in nearby Vaughan Springs for seven years before he was made redundant from his arts administration role at the City of Melbourne in 2008, which triggered a move from Northcote with his artist wife and their daughter. Soon after settling in town he was approached through Arts Victoria to take on the job of festival artistic director with funding of $100,000 a year, including his salary.The local Mount Alexander Shire chipped in $50,000 more but the bulk of the $700,000 running costs had to come from sponsorship and box office."Bringing grand events" to town had, says Paten, left the festival in the red before 2009."The festival had lost its way and there were a lot of relationships to rebuild."A lot of people felt the festival was not for them. People here love the high arts, the best of European and Australian high arts, but unless it has a context to this festival, you can easily see it in Melbourne," he says.So instead of the MSO, Paten has invited the Victorian Opera's director, Richard Gill, to stage the immensely popular "Sing Your Own Opera" participatory event. Gill will also conduct the newly formed Goldfields Youth Orchestra, which will play Schubert and Dvorak at the Castlemaine Town Hall.Paten's 2009 event was held during the global financial crisis and just after the trauma of the Black Saturday fires, but managed to make $170,000 in box-office sales, against a target of $115,000. "But some weeks after, I went to the Castlemaine Agricultural Show and I realised a large part of the demographic here were not tapping into the festival at all," he says.Enter the idea for an opening-night event in which locals will be invited to dance in Mostyn Street in a procession that includes professional dancers, cyclists, street sweepers and school crossing attendants. The town's petrol heads will also get a look-in when an event called "Car-Cophany", held at a gorge at the entrance to Vaughan Springs, will be given over to 12 car owners whose cars and stereos will be scored into a "wall of sound" by composer Matthew Timmis.As much as he wants to appeal to more locals, Paten says he also needs to attract visitors from beyond Castlemaine and the Bendigo area and to this end he has commissioned a number of world premieres. Among them is a play by Catherine Ryan called Precipice, to be staged at the Wattle Gully Mine at Chewton. Another is the dance/theatre work Sundowner by Kage's Kate Denborough and starring Helen Morse.The Castlemaine State Festival runs from April 1 to 10. castlemainefestival.com.auMARTIN PATEN'S FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTSVisual Arts Biennial The theme "Pressing Issue" puts the focus on printmaking.Artists' Rooms Site-response works from local, national and international artists including Emily Floyd and Jill Orr.Opening Weekend Pageant and Pandemonium Pavilions From dancing in public places to howling the chorus of gothic country songs, inhibitions are given their marching orders.Poetry from the Heart and Greatest Stories Never Told Readings and conversations bring words and stories to life.Disagreeable Object A "bizarre and beautiful" dance work from Michelle Heaven.The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik Mime, puppetry, music and animation combine in an exploration of love at the end of the world.Simone! The intriguing thoughts of French philosopher Simone Weil are brought to life.Beyond the Pale An award-winning band of Eurofolk fusionists cross musical borders.Ashley McIsaac Canadian fiddling virtuoso teams up with 15-year-old Celtic guitar prodigy Quinn Bachand.Sing Your Own Opera A chance to unleash the inner diva.Car-Cophony Doof doof as you've never heard it before.
Β© 2011 The Age
