An arts and wellness festival awarded $450,000 in state government funding has been cancelled.
Eyebrows were raised when the government announced the significant funding allocation earlier this year for the new Live.Love.Life Festival, which aimed to showcase Daylesford and Macedon Ranges, while established festivals including the Woodend Winter Arts Festival had their funding reduced.
Daylesford Macedon Tourism chair Noel Harvey said the decision to cancel the event was made primarily for financial reasons.
“It’s been a challenging event to fund right from the word go,” Mr Harvey said.
“Our cash flow is always tight as an organisation so we were facing a very limited cash flow and we struggled to attract sponsors.
“We’ve had to think long and hard about the cancellation because we knew it would have a significant impact on our operators who had come on board to support the festival, and that’s the reason why we continued to run a series of events over the weekend to support our operators.”
In the festival’s place will be a weekend of community events on November 16-18 under the banner of the Live.Love.Life. Weekend.
None of these events are being held in the Macedon Ranges, despite the festival’s website referencing the long-established and independently run Macedon Ranges Wine and Food Budburst Festival and Malmsbury Village Fayre.
Liberal candidate for Macedon Amanda Millar savaged the new festival, saying it had negatively impacted on other popular local festivals run by volunteers in Hepburn Shire and the Macedon Ranges at the same time.
“Many in the community have been angered by the $450,000 ploughed into Live.Love.Life relative to other events; the blatant timing a week before the election; and the negative impact on other organic local events occurring every year at this time,” she said.
A Victorian Government spokesperson told the Express the funding provided for the festival was dependent on the event being delivered.
“Visit Victoria is now working with the organisers to understand the costs related to the cancellation of the event,” the spokesperson said.
