Fanny Lumsden to lead 50-day Arbour Festival concert event

Fanny Lumsden is one of the bushfire-affected artists who will perform at the sold-out finale concert event as part of the one-off 50-day multi-artform Arbour Festival in the Snowy Valleys region in New South Wales.

This is not the first time that the multi-award winning artist has given her time in aid of bushfire relief. She helped raise funds for BlazeAid on a small three-hall tour starting back in 2012. Lumsden and her band have since toured the nation seven times, targeting around 70 halls in rural, remote and some urban communities, and raising money for those communities in the process.

More recently, she launched her ARIA Award winning album Fallow at a fundraiser show in her home town of Tooma, where 600 people travelled up to 12 hours to the tiny, bushfire-ravaged valley. Lumsden, the band and crew all donated their time, production and works with all $12,250 of the proceeds raised going to the Tooma Maragle Community Bushfire Recovery fund.

She further wrote and produced a 10-minute documentary, Mountain Mama Take Me Home telling the story of Fallow through the summer of bushfires and recording her album in a stone hut.

Designed to gather a community in celebration, memory and growth, Arbour Festival boasts installation artworks, curated workshops, concerts and performances, and the return of the Woodland Film Festival following its four-year hiatus. The shortlisted films include the short film, Sweet Tooth, narrated by Cate Blanchett.

Lumsden and her band, The Pack will be joined by William Crighton, bluegrass band Montgomery Church, Rory Phillips, and the Flying Fruit Fly Circus on February 13 at the Pilot Hill Arboretum.

The Festival began on December 28 – exactly one year after the Dunns Road Fire wrought havoc in the region for 50 days – and runs until February 15, 2021.

For more information, go to https://www.arbourfestival.com

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