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FOOTY IDOLS ROAR IN TO TOWN AFLW Richmond players Grace Egan (back left), Monique Conti and Isabel Bacon made the day of some young Wangaratta Tigers fans (from front left) Tommy Smith, Quinn O’Keefe, Lilly Webb and Lola Flynn. About 22 Richmond players visited Wangaratta on Monday, including local schools, with a clinic to cap off the day at WJ Findlay Oval. Story page 2. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling
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Sport
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THIRTEEN venues have been secured, along with more than $40,000 in crowd-funded donations, to bolster plans for this year’s revival of the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues. The festival is preparing for its 34th year with a fresh look, after a series of public interest meetings
BY SIMONE KERWIN skerwin@ nemedia.com.au
which began in late 2023 breathed new life into the annual Wangaratta event. This followed what was billed as the ‘Last Hurrah’ in November last year, staged after the event’s
outgoing board announced it would bow out in the wake of the 2023 festival. A new board, comprising local businessman and musician Andrew Nunn as chair, was elected in February; it has recently added a new member, urban economist and planner John Henshall, who has worked with organisa-
tions in industry, government and consulting both in Australia and abroad. Mr Henshall has a keen interest in small town development and the factors that drive their economic revitalisation, and has written a book about the revitalisation of Mississippi town Clarksdale through its connection to blues music.
The Wangaratta festival has also appointed its new artistic director - Serge Carnovale, founder of Melbourne’s Paris Cat Jazz Club, as preparations continue for the November 1 to 4 event. Mr Carnovale programs more than 600 gigs a year at his inner-city venue, which showcases the best
of Australia’s emerging and established jazz artists. Stepping into the artistic director role, he said he was excited to bring the deserving calibre of artists back to Wangaratta, and spent time in the rural city yesterday touring venues with Mr Nunn. ■ Continued page 3