PERMANENT rehearsal rooms housed in shipping containers are expected to save Mount Gambier’s Generations in Jazz organising committee tens of thousands of dollars from 2021.
The process of transforming 10 large containers into structured soundproof spaces is expected to save the prestigious event around $20,000 a year in freight, hire, storage and infrastructure fees.
Currently being overhauled by dedicated volunteers at the OB Flat site, GIJ board chairman Peter Roberts said the unique studios would provide an ongoing benefit for the nationally-acclaimed gathering once established.
“When looking at last year’s event, the board evaluated there was a huge amount of money being spent on shipping and hiring fees of items sourced from Melbourne,” Mr Roberts said.
“By having these permanent buildings on-site, it will minimise the equipment and storage hire fees we will have to spend.
“The real value will be the ongoing savings of them being permanently based here each year.”
Grateful for the donation of shipping containers from K&S Freighters and Linfox, Mr Roberts said the new rooms should be available for use for the 2021 event.
“These rooms will be available for participants to warm-up before performing, for musicians to store their equipment and also for general storage before and after the event,” he said.
“We will be lining them with sound-proofing material and installing lights and ventilation.”
Only a few weeks after this year’s event was anticipated to be held before its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers have already been busy on site every Tuesday to complete general maintenance and preparation works of the Glenelg River Road site.
“Infrastructure coordinator Greg Muller has helped organise a team of regular helpers for quite some time which clearly have things ready to go well before the event happens,” Mr Roberts said.
“A lot of times, people think events just happen, but there is a lot of preparation involved.
“The board is also already working on budgeting, artist preparation with artistic director James Morrison and a lot of other work behind-the-scenes.”
Expecting next year’s event to be bigger and better than ever, Mr Roberts said there was the possibility to look at additional venues due to a larger intake of participants.
“We had around 6200 registrations for this year, which was around 800 more than the year before,” he said.
“All schools which registered for this year’s event have indicated intention they will be back next year.
“We do think it might be a bigger and better event than what was planned for 2020.”
Mr Roberts said there would be a few planned adjustments made for next year’s event which should not impact the jazz music extravaganza.
“There will be a few extra opportunities for Year 12 students to return and schools have been informed about that already,” he said.
“The board is regularly meeting to make sure all schools and participants know exactly what is happening.
“We thank everybody for their support and look forward to next year’s event.”
