Coffs Harbour’s SWIFF is thrilled to announce $700,700 in grant funding, across four successful grants, to boost the East Coast film festival’s new permanent foray into live music and multi-arts with its 1-day event STORYLAND.  

STORYLAND is an eclectic mix of 14 live music artists over two stages, an immersive outdoor installation arts program, and a unique storytelling narrative new-media and performance experience designed by STORYLAND’s inaugural Creative Directors, prolific First Nations arts powerhouse Zakpage. STORYLAND’s Main Stage artists are curated by industry veteran Danni Colgan (Womadelaide, Sydney Festival) with boiler room second stage The Yurt Locker curated by British electronic music pioneer Coco Varma. 

The Australian Federal Government’s Restart Investment to Sustain & Expand (RISE) grant providing initial funding ($379,500), which was supported by the NSW State Government’s Regional Event Acceleration Fund ($211,200), Create NSW’s Arts & Culture Projects Fund ($77,000), and the Regional Arts NSW’s Regional Arts Fund ($33,000). 

SWIFF’s STORYLAND event will create over 500 festival jobs for professional artists, arts workers, and the event industry workers over the next three years, and continue Coffs Harbour’s stellar track record for major events and festivals in NSW. 

“It’s been our vision for SWIFF to evolve into a broader creative arts festival, in addition to our full film festival program. This is a once-in-a-decade boost that will change the face of SWIFF, hopefully forever into the future, creating incredible cultural and economic benefits well beyond the life of the grants,” said SWIFF Festival Co-Director Dave Horsley.