Kiama Council fully supports Fillmores, and all our other local venues, which are hosting live music for the Kiama Jazz and Blues Festival.
In fact, Kiama Council can't wait for this exciting festival to go ahead and fill the streets with the sound of music!
Local planning regulations allow live music at cafes, bars, clubs and other businesses for special events such as the Festival, and we couldn't be happier about that.
Council is a proud and longstanding supporter of the Jazz and Blues Festival.
For the 2023 Jazz and Blues Festival, we have provided $14,000 in funding (as our annual contribution) and an additional $6000 under the banner of Destination Kiama.
That's a total of $20,000 in support from Council.
This year, we're also investing $18000 via a Reconnecting NSW grant to hold a Kiama Street Festival in conjunction with the Jazz and Blues Festival on Sunday 12 March 2023.
This represents a significant investment of rate payers' funds into the Festival., and a record investment of $40,000 for this iconic event.
There are two separate issues currently happening here.
One is about the Jazz and Blue Festival Festival proceeding or somehow being at risk, and we say – on with the show!
Kiama Council absolutely can't wait to see the whole community enjoy the wide range of events and activities planned for the festival.
After many of months of hard work and planning, be assured the festival has our full and continued support.
The second matter is about one local venue known as Fillmores, which is experiencing some challenges with compliance orders that were issued due to noise complaints and the very restrictive conditions of their current complying development certificate (CDC), which was issued by private certifier.
For many months Council staff have been working hard with the owner and stakeholders to try and find solutions and overcomes any hurdles in their way.
It's not been an easy process, and as always, our advice has been to prepare and lodge a development application (DA).
CEO Jane Stroud and Director Jessica Rippon will be meeting with Fillmores on Friday to keep collaborating and try and find a solution.
Fillmores is a valued and different space in our community, and we know many in our community love it.
However, Council does have legislative compliance obligations that is does have to meet, and sometimes this makes us the unfortunate meat in the sandwich.
This doesn't mean we don't support the arts or our community to get out and enjoy the festival!
Quite the opposite.
In truth, we can't wait for the festival and will continue to work on finding a solution for Fillmores.
