Woodend Winter Arts Festival: world class arts events in an intimate village atmosphere

“The Woodend Winter Arts Festival is inspired by the French village festival model, namely Aix-en-Provence, in which we [Festival co-Founder and Artistic Director, Dr Jacqueline Ogeil and her husband John O’Donnell] had both participated. At the time, we were both performing with the MSO [Melbourne Symphony Orchestra], but we felt a pull to create something different – something more intimate and alive. We wanted to break away from the traditional arts centre model and bring audiences right into the heart of the performance. Imagine stepping out of a concert and straight into a café, chatting with the artists over coffee. That’s the kind of experience we were after and have been delivering ever since,” Ogeil tells ArtsHub.