
Ecofest

We bought light to the darkness of winter, and produced a fully sustainable, off grid, conscious and eco-friendly event. The event bought together many pockets of the community (children, artists, environmentalists, farmers and festival goers), and demonstrated how a festival can be a social and environmentally conscious event.
The program consisted of:
– Intergenerational lantern parade
– Pedal Powered outdoor cinema, screening films Chasing Coral and Accelerate
– Off grid music stage featuring live performances by Leah Senior, Mon Coeur, Michaela Alexander, Rory Walker & Domenico de Clario
– Participatory workshops & discussions on regenerative farming, wicking beds and more
– Live (pedal powered) projection wall, with audience-generated visuals
We demonstrated true sustainability – in people power – throughout. And the fact that the whole event was single use free, carbon offset, and sustainable.
This was demonstrated in so many ways:
- pedal power for the cinema
- reused crockery from the bar
- LED lighting not incandescent lighting (much more eco!)
- to the small amount of power we used for the LED lighting being the excess power generated by the solar panels
- Eco paper and dyes for the posters (plus a very minimal print quantity – around 1/3 of what we usually print)
- Wood fired heating for the cob over cooking
- Encouraging everyone to car pool / pedal / walk
- Carbon offset/tree-planting donation to balance out the omissions that artists/crew incurred travelling to the festival
We surveyed the audience community on the night, and some really inspiring outcomes were measured, namely that:
- 88% of attendees reporting an increased sense of belonging
- 90% of attendees thought that the event increased the cultural contribution to Mildura
- 92% of attendees felt that this was an inclusive event
- 83% of attendees mentioned that they met new people at the event
- 81% of attendees felt that the ECOfest was a distinctive event on the Mildura Arts calendar
The festival was delivered in partnership with:
Mulberry Tree Playgroup / Sunraysia Sustainability Network / 350 Mallee /
Food Next Door / Christie Centre / With One Voice Choir