Umbrella Festival Is Set To Revive The South Australian Live Music Industry.

Music SA has announced that their state-wide open-access music initiative Umbrella Festival will be returning in 2022. This year's festival is set to ignite Adelaide CBD, metropolitan suburbs and regional areas across South Australia from 1-31 July 2022.

Venue and event registrations are now open via the Umbrella Festival website and close on 19 June 2022, with Moshtix jumping on board for the first time ever as the event's official ticketing partner, as the South Australian music industry looks towards rebuilding post-COVID-19.

Umbrella Festival is back in 2022 with the support of the South Australian Government through the Music Development Office and Events South Australia. The 2022 festival focuses on providing tangible opportunities for South Australian live music professionals and helping the recovery of the State's live music industry after COVID-19 restrictions caused many live music event cancellations - each with a significant knock-on effect.

There will also be a shift to an environmentally sustainable, mostly-digital programme in 2022 as well as free venue registrations to assist with the recovery of local live music venues.

Despite the many challenges with ever-changing restrictions on singing, dancing and venue capacities last year, Umbrella Festival 2021 proved there is excitement for live music during the colder months with $1.81 million generated (GSP) and 55.6K attendances in 85 venues across Adelaide's CBD, suburbs and regional South Australia.This Winter will see Adelaide's CBD will transform into a loud, playful and colourful city, in line with our Festival State status. With support from the City of Adelaide council, Umbrella Festival will present a program supporting local venues that have struggled over the lengthy pandemic. Venues and performing artists are encouraged to register now to take part in this celebration of our local talent and hospitality.

"Music SA is very excited to be delivering another Umbrella Festival at a time when the live music industry in South Australia is recovering from a period of significant trauma and uncertainty. We are delighted to be welcoming Moshtix onboard the Umbrella journey. We are grateful to the SA Government through the Music Development Office and our many corporate, Council and venue partners for keeping the faith in our Festival and our vibrant live music industry."

Gareth Lewis, booker of live music venue UniBar is relieved that Umbrella's focus in 2022 is getting audiences back into Adelaide's live music venues, stating:

"UniBar, like all other live music venues, has been running on fumes for the past 2 years with less than half capacity in a seated format most of that time - not ideal conditions for rock and roll gigs! We're excited to see Umbrella focus on getting punters back into those venues which are the lifeblood of the live music ecosystem and will be producing some great live shows with the expectation that restrictions on public activity will be a thing of the past. We can't wait to burn those 'no dancing' signs!"

Owner of live music venue Jive, Tam Boakes states:

"As our industry continues to be devastated by the effects of COVID and restrictions, Umbrella is an important festival to encourage crowds to get out and support artists and venues through the cooler winter months to assist our industry to recover and rediscover the importance of live music."

Since 2016, Umbrella Festival has been building year on year, thanks to major sponsors, the Government of South Australia, through the Music Development Office and Events South Australia.

As a UNESCO City of Music, Umbrella Festival champions the return of South Australia's thriving music scene in 2022. Venue and event registrations for Umbrella Festival 2022 are now open here.

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