Castlemaine State Festival enters voluntary administration

After suffering heavy losses in 2023, the future of the long-running regional arts festival is currently unknown.
A padlocked gate. Castlemaine State Festival

One of Victoria’s longest-running and most respected multi-arts festivals, the biennial Castlemaine State Festival, has entered into voluntary administration.

The news was announced in an email from the Festival Board, sent just before 5pm last Thursday 28 March, at a time when many people were already switching off their computers and leaving work in preparation for the Easter break.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts