The Illawarra Folk Festival started in 1985[1] in Jamberoo, New South Wales. It has grown to become one of the largest festivals in Australia run entirely by volunteers from the Illawarra Folk Club Inc.
In 2007 it moved to Bulli. The festival now presents approximately 170 performers over four days on 13 stages in mid-January. It is one of the largest festivals in Australia run entirely by volunteers.[1][2]
Performers, volunteers and audiences alike continue to return to the festival to experience and participate in the diversity of music and performances, and enjoy the intimate, vibrant, community atmosphere the festival has become renowned for.
As well as performances by some of the best national and international traditional acts, the program features a two-day intensive folk school, workshops, sessions, dancing, the Youth Folk Traditions Awards, instrument makers, poets’ breakfasts, the famous Mediterranean Lunch, the infamous Tripe Dinner and beautiful international cuisine and craft stalls. The Music Train brings visitors from Sydney who are serenaded on the journey to Bulli.
The folk festival celebrates the Illawarra's rich mining history, trade union traditions, coastal environment and multicultural communities.
The festival is run by the Illawarra Folk Club[3] which formed in 1980[4] and has had various locations around Wollongong for its concerts, including:
The Folk Club draws its membership generally from the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It has presented the Illawarra Folk Festival at Jamberoo from 1985/86-2006 and at Bulli from 2007 to 2020, resuming in 2022. One folk festival was organised in 1985 at Wilton in association with the NSW Folk Federation and Bankstown Folk Club.
Club presidents have included:
The club has also organised special folk music related tours over the years:
As of 2015, it spawned a fringe festival of activist street brass bands known as HONK! Oz,[5] taking place in the nearby city of Wollongong. A number of bands from this fringe festival were also billed at Illawarra Folk Festival the following week.[6]
