Rusco the dog & his owners cycled to SWELL
SWELL Sculpture Festival has been a popular community driven festival that runs over 10 days where visitors can experience the sculptures, enjoy twilight walks, informative artist talks and discover new perspectives from artists from around the world.
I approached the organisers of SWELL Sculpture Festival to gauge their interest in providing sustainable event management (SEM) practices to their popular event in its 10th year of operation.
I was impressed immediately when Natasha Edwards, Director of the festival conveyed the existing applications of SEM that had already been incorporated which included solar lighting & a free bus.
We then discussed options that CWE could provide and decided on another alternative transport method to help reduce traffic flows in providing secure bicycle parking. This practice is high profile and is popular with locals within a certain radius and encouraging active travel.
A location was selected at the northern end of beautiful Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia using the existing bicycle racks so as not to add any unnecessary infrastructure.
So for 3 hours each day of both weekends cyclists were encouraged to take advantage of the service which not only reduced traffic flows on the road it also had the same effect on the walking paths. During the whole event we saw over 100 cyclists including whole families enjoy the service. The participants were rewarded for their participation with complimentary reusable drinks bottles & puncture repair kits donated by Gold Coast City Council Active Travel program.
While in conversation with visitors to the event I filled them in on SWELL’s SEM program and also about the potential for greener events on the Gold Coast and it was great to hear their thoughts and enthusiasm towards these practises.
Col Henry’s sculpture
My favourite sculpture was Col Henry’s Sun, Wind and Rain “The work uses both line and form to describe conceptuality some important sustainability principles. These works are minimal in substance, and use negative space, reflection and kineticism to add to their story telling quality. The three elements have individual names Detector (wind), Reflector (sun) and Collector (water).” This piece just made a lot of sense to me and it looked spectacular in the beach setting.
I’d like to thank Natasha and her amazing crew which are mostly volunteers that come from all over the Gold Coast and many have been involved since the conception. I enjoyed being a part of this group and working with such an enthusiastic team. I’m looking forward to next year.
Did you ride your bike to SWELL this year ? Would love to hear from you.
kind regards
Greg Howell
working with the planet