Community Arts Inc.

2009 Zig Zag Festival

The 2009 Kalamunda Zig Zag Festival was held on Sunday 25 October.  It was our 25th festival on the 25th so it was pretty special.  2009 Festival Poster

The Festival in Stirk Park ran from 11:00am till 8:00pm, and the street parade in Haynes Street from 6 pm to 6:30
2009 Festival Programme

Zig Zag Community Arts held a number of pre-festival workshops and activities in the run-up to the festival day, these included:

• The Float Building Workshops with the Kalamunda Venture Scouts was an amazing mixture of puppet making and construction. Ken Allen and the Funk Factory teamed up with the Venture Scouts and the community to build what may be our lonest parade puppet (although research suggests the dragon built in the late 90s might actually have been longer if you added up all the segments built by different schools). This collaboration brought artists to the community for workshops to join in the festival parade.  The Float was amazing, not just big, each of the 25 segments had a picture or a poster from a past festival on each side.  Once it arrived in the park you could hardly see all of it at once! 
  

at the end of the parade, the Caterplosion float arrives in front of the Sound Shell Stage

• Kalamunda Youth Band Nights ran during the April, July and October school holidays.  Local young musicians take over the Kalamunda Town Square Community Hall (in Barber Street opposite the Post Office) from 6pm.  Acts from these band nights performed  at the Festival on the Youth Stage in Stirk Park.  What's more, several of the bands from Youth Band Night have gone on to feature in mainstream gigs around Perth in recent weeks.  Well done to all!
  

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  The Madjitil Moorna Choir were the opening act at the festival.  Their harmonies and messages were stong this year, with all three directors on hand to lead and support what is now a large choir.
  

• Zig Zag Music nights Folk sessions have continued to get the closet musicians among us back into actually playing the music.  Weekly workshops that teach and nurture music making skills.  The workshops started on Wednesday evenings in 2008, and have attracted between 10 and 16 musicians every week.  A mix of folk, klezmer and traditional acoustic music brought out skills long dormant.  Members of the group performed on Festival day on the CheckerBoard Stage and got great applause.  Catch a short video of them on the  Black Chook Chutney page.  

• The Artz in the Park metalwork and mural looked great around the Checkerboard Stage on Festival Day.  People asked "who did this?" and we said - "just a few kids from Kalamunda and around".  Check out the details and pictures on the Artz in the Park page.  (Looking at how many kids queued up to play the giant chess set in the Children's area on Festival day, maybe we need to tell people how they can borrow the big chess set from the Library?)
  

The Zig Zag Festival is still known as one of the few remaining locally-based community arts festivals.  Local crafts, local entertainment, community workshops, and schools projects all contribute to the day of celebration.  As well as the schools involved in the Parade, the Kalamunda Senior High School GATE program students paraded their wearable art costumes again this year. 

The Hills Area around the Shire of Kalamunda has always had a real village culture, and a sense of community you can sense even as a visitor.  Stimulating the creativity of a community like this to do exciting and new things can produce amazing results, this year we had what was arguably the largest crowd ever for the festival, hopefully it has the power to open up new collaborations that will foster lasting creativity.

FREE activities on festival day

The kids activity areas and the youth activities were even better this year.   More people came and children and young people joined in to more activities than ever and all the activities were still FREE. 

Arts and Craft stalls

Arts and Craft Stalls whose producers sold and displayed their wares have always been a popular feature of the festival. This was your chance to buy something really special - maybe a hand-made Chrismas present for someone special.  The variety and the quality this year was outstanding. 

Food Stalls

Every year the food stalls provide great variety of foods, and of course fresh coffee and ice cream prepared by experts. 

The Festival Parade

The Parade came to the main sound shell stage in the park to herald the start of the Festival Finale Concert.  This year we were thrilled to have the Kalamunda Youth Swing Band.  The temperature was warm the night air was still, and the singers were great too.

Zig Zag Community Arts Inc.

Zig Zag Community Arts Inc.

2009 Projects

Madjitil Moorna Choir singers of indigenous music
Madjitil Moorna Halls Creek Project News here

Youth Band Night Music performance for young bands 

Zig Zag Music Sessions Wednesday nights

Artz in the Park youth project Blacksmithing & Murals project during 2009 July school holidays

Bush Dance in Stirk Park Featured Numguts Bush Band & Black Chook Chutney

PHOTOS of 2009 bush dance here

60's Night Dance September 2009 at the Kalamunda Club

We are a not for profit group run by volunteers to promote the arts and community action in the hills and foothills communities roughly within the Shire of Kalamunda. We are an incorporated group, (registered as deductable gift recipient for GST).

The Kalamunda Zig Zag Community Arts Festival began in the early 1980's as a local Shire initiative. During the first 10 years of its existence, responsibility gradually shifted to the community, until 1993 when the Festival Committee became a separate entity as a community-based non-profit incorporated group.

The committee consists entirely of volunteers.  They are community members with a broad range of skills including community development, project management, music, teaching and youth work.  Throughout the year project teams coordinate art and music workshops that involve both professionals and gifted amateurs. 

The Aim of Zig Zag Community Arts is to involve the community in the appreciation of, and participation in community arts.

Many Thanks to our 2009 Festival Sponsors