By John Longhurst

Up-and-coming local young musicians will have the opportunity to appear alongside headline performances by ‘Merci, Mercy’, ‘Thunder Fox’, ‘Creature Fear’, and ‘ARCHIE’ at an all day youth music festival at Smokey Dan’s at Tomakin on the 27th September.

The event is called ‘YOUNITE’ and is a collaboration between The Family Place, Kindred Kollective, Good Vibes, Mushroom Booking Agency, River of Art, and Smokey Dan’s and funded by the NSW Government under the Our Region, Our Voice Regional Youth Investment Project.

YOUNITE aims to empower young musicians to kickstart their music careers with a live performance showcase. They will also be offered assistance to develop essential tools and skills, which will help them to access careers in the music industry.

‘Good Vibes Entertainment’ working out of Moruya is a go-to entertainment agency, dedicated to bringing performers and venues together to create cohesive and vibrant live music experiences on the far south coast and beyond and is coordinating YOUNITE.

Joel Spooner, a Director of ‘Good Vibes Entertainment’ has a long history in the music industry on the south coast.

Joel said “There is a real need to provide a platform for our talented young artists.

6 young bands with members under the age of 24 will be selected to participate in this program. As well as performing at the festival, the chosen acts will receive industry advice, professional promo photos, a press kit, and membership to the Good Vibes artist Roster.”

Although not a requirement, any bands that wish to be part of YOUNITE are encouraged to create an audition video of a performance (2 or 3 songs)

Bands with original music will be prioritised over bands playing covers only. To apply to be part of the YOUNITE band lineup, please use this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/younite

Good Vibes is also reaching out to young visual artists. Up to 4 visual artists under the age of 24 will be selected to have their works exhibited at the festival. If you are interested, please contact Good Vibes.

Music lovers and supporters of local youth wanting to attend the festival can register for a

free ticket via Humanitix.

https://events.humanitix.com/younite-music-festival

Joel said “There is already a considerable amount of interest from young artists, and 20% of tickets have already been registered by the public within days of announcing the festival.”