news, latest-news, news, ballarat, arts, white night

The worldwide phenomenon of the arts festival that is White Night will be hosted in Ballarat next year. State Tourism Minister John Eren made the announcement at the Mining Exchange in front of a packed audience, including the mayor of Ballarat Des Hudson, councillors and the new CEO of Ballarat City Council Justine Linley. The festival was originally a celebration of the summer solstice and is held in cities around the world, including Melbourne, where the event attracted over 500,000 people this year. The event has been running in Melbourne since 2013. The first White Night was held in St Petersburg, Russia in 1993. It has since spread to other cities including Paris, Montreal, Birmingham, Chicago and Lima. Light shows are usually a feature of the event, as well as musical performances, spoken word and street theatre. Minister Eren said the events held in Melbourne have contributed about $17 million to the Victorian economy. “The Premier and I announced that we would have a pilot project in regional Victoria. We had lots of submissions, can I say, and obviously the most successful submission was put through by Ballarat City Council,” he said. The theatre director, producer, dancer and choreographer David Atkins has been named as the director of White Night Melbourne and White Night Ballarat in a contract that is believed to be for one year, with the option of a further three years after that. John Eren thanked the previous artistic director Andrew Walsh for his contribution to the success of White Night in Melbourne. “He’s done a tremendous job obviously in conducting all of those White Nights in Melbourne successfully. Some 1.3 million people attended those White Nights.” The Andrews government had been reluctant to commit to the future of the event after taking it over from the Baillieu-Napthine government, which awarded Andrew Walsh a three-year contract ahead of the first event in 2013. The Andrews government extended Walsh's contract by a year to deliver this year's White Night Melbourne. Ballarat mayor Des Hudson thanked the minister for believing in Ballarat’s capability to host White Night. “It will catapult this city onto the international stage… our landscape and our heritage buildings lend themselves to it so well.” White Night is held in February.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/caleb.cluff/446878f6-2df9-4a41-8ded-2e7a47ea482b.jpg/r0_256_5028_3097_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg