What to see at the inaugural Flinders Fringe Festival

The charming coastal village of Flinders is set to come to life with an array of colourful exhibitions, inspiring workshops and engaging performances highlighting local artists and creatives in the inaugural Flinders Fringe Festival.

Following a tough two years for the arts, the new three-day event from February 17-19, has been created to showcase and support local artisans and performers and entice visitors to the area on the Mornington Peninsula.

Renowned milliner Melissa Jackson brings 30 years of creative experience to the event as its inaugural artistic director.

“The festival is set to entertain, captivate and inspire with an array of immersive, interactive and educational performances and workshops – including cabaret, experimental jazz, choirs, giant puppets, First Nations workshops, sculpture, nature walks, ocean dancing and more,” she says.

Flinders Festival’s top five must-see events

Fringe Festival Singers Workshop

A series of relaxed, inspirational and fun sessions will bring everyone’s voices together in an inclusive setting, designed for beginners through to seasoned choir performers, led by world-renowned music leader Dr Kathleen McGuire.

“We welcome every singer regardless of an individual’s prior experience,” McGuire says. “Our goal is to have fun, learn some new skills, make new friends, find a collective voice together, and share the fruits of our efforts with an audience.

“As regional areas become more commercialised, we need ‘fringe’ visibility more than ever. It’s a great way to sustain the grassroots heart and soul of a community.”

Ocean Dance Ritual

Part embodied dance, part moving meditation, part sound healing, this Ocean Dance Ritual led by Jess MacLeish is a chance to connect, reflect, move, heal and feel.

“This is a particularly special event because it combines my love of facilitating meaningful experiences for people through movement and in the ocean,” MacLeish says. “I know personally when I ‘dance with the ocean’, I always feel clear, connected to myself and that exquisite communion of being both grounded and expanded.”

Sergio Ecole

The classical guitarist will be performing on guitars made by Carey Pedicini and Richard Howell, both luthiers who live on the peninsula.

“My music is unique in that it incorporates 30 years of my experiences in music,” Ecole says. “I draw heavily from Latin genres like Brazilian and flamenco, but being Italian-born there is also a Mediterranean influence.”

Literary Brunch with Lisa Gorton

International award-winning poet and author Lisa Gorton will reveal the curious life of a poet over a delicious brunch at the Flinders Hotel.

“As a child, I spent holidays and weekends on the peninsula,” she says. “I am going to write poems about the landscapes that I remember.

“The landscapes of childhood are always partly dream landscapes, so these will be quite intimate poems. But they’ll be transformed by John and Bonnie Thorn – playful, prodigiously talented performers.

“For me, that transformation will be special, seeing something local, specific, almost private, made public and free of its beginnings.”

Changing Seas by Engla

Changing Seas is an original music performance by chamber jazz trio Engla, with stunning drone-captured sea and landscape video projections of the Flinders coastline and surrounding areas by Tasma Pittock.

“Changing Seas invites the audience to contemplate the musical and visual kaleidoscope of the Mornington Peninsula coastline presented and dramatised by the performers: Michael Currie (five-string double bass), Poul Grage (percussion), Anthony Schulz (accordion) and with Tasma Pittock (video),” Grage says.

“We offer a story told in music with a bird’s-eye view that may help us reflect on our community’s place, shape, and identity.”