Music, workshops and giant koala tipped at 12th Black Gully Festival

The free annual festival will be held in Black Gully Reserve, behind NERAM on the south side of the creek.

Activities, workshops and a maker's market will complement the music acts, which is the heart of the festival.

Local bands, soloists and small groups will take to one of three stages to perform live from 10am to 8pm while a giant, five metre koala will roam the grounds.

An acoustic stage will be hosted in the NERAM café courtyard and Six Counties will be open to provide coffee and lunch during this, the 12^th festival.

Food stalls will be available throughout the day and night.

There will be displays from organisations such as Southern New England Landcare, and Sustainable Living Armidale, as well as slow-living workshops covering topics such as permaculture, composting, fermentation and the Fix It tent.

This year, festival partners Armidale Tree Group and New England Regional Art Museum are celebrating their 40th anniversaries.

Patrons can visit NERAM to explore their current exhibitions including Inspirations and Iterations features 40 works selected from NERAM's collections, along with 40 original contemporary responses by invited artists.

In its 40 years of operation the Armidale Tree Group has grown and planted millions of native trees and shrubs to create and sustain biodiversity in the local environment.

This will be marked at the festival with a campaign to raise funds for a new bridge in Black Gully to complete the Mike O'Keeffe Woodland and for continuing tree planting projects.

Festival goers are encouraged to bring a folding chair, a water bottle, a coffee cup and sun protection.

The event is supported by Arts North West, Armidale Regional Council and local sponsors.

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