KVFF Performer Guidelines 2026                         

​

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival is presented and organised by Shoalhaven Folk Club Inc.

The 19th Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival will be held on 16-18 October 2026 at the Kangaroo Valley Showground. Look around our website for more details.

 

The Headlines

• Free tickets are provided for 1 person per act member (capped at 5 per act) and their dependent children. 

• Large choirs or dance groups generally are not paid a fee, and receive free day or weekend tickets for their members only.

• For any extra tickets required, discounted ticket codes will be provided upon selection. 

• Please quote your price for the whole festival weekend (not per performance).  If selected, you will normally be programmed for 3-4 performances/workshops.  

• If you are registered for GST, include it in your fee. 

• You will require insurance for all members of your act, so if you don't already have insurance, consider this before deciding on your fee.

• Payment is normally made to your bank account, though overseas acts can request cash.

​

How To Apply

Applications to perform at this year's Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival close 31 March.

Performer  Enquiries:    

Rob Cleary: 0417 449 059

Email: perform@kangaroovalleyfolkfestival.com.au 

 

Note: If you find filling out forms daunting, perhaps get together with another performer and help each other out? 

If you do not have this option and would like support, please email us and we will endeavour to help you.

 

Special Note for International Performers

The Festival may book international artists who are touring Australia at the time. We are not in a position to sponsor acts or arrange tours. We do not provide airfares. International acts need to arrange their own visas.

 

If you have organised a tour in Australia around the date of our festival, we welcome your, or your agent’s, enquiry or application.

​

Selection Process

Applications close 31 March and we anticipate that performer selection will be mostly completed by the end of May. We will aim to notify your success or otherwise of your application by mid June.

 

The initial application is essentially an expression of interest, with sufficient information to assess the application. If your act is selected to perform at the festival, we will be in contact to provide additional information (eg confirmation of personnel and accommodation requirements, festival tickets required etc.)   

Please assist us by not leaving it to the last minute to submit your application. It helps us by spreading the workload involved in assessing applications and we may be able to give you a decision earlier as well.

 

Availability

The festival commences 3pm Friday and finishes 6pm Sunday. Preference is given to performers who can stay for the whole festival and are happy to do 3 or 4 x 50min performances or workshops.  We always have a big waiting list of performers, so if you change your availability after you have been selected, we will need to replace you with another act.

​

Personnel and Availability Changes

If you are selected, it is on the basis of the line-up and availability listed in your application.  If the personnel changes significantly or you change your availability we reserve the right to cancel the acceptance or to negotiate a lower fee.

 

Authority and obligations

In an effort to minimize the legal jargon and to make the application process as friendly as possible we have avoided the use of strict “terms and conditions”.

 

However, we will take it as granted that in filling out and submitting the application, the person doing so (and the contact listed on the application form if a different person) has the permission to represent the artist/act and all members of the act in all dealings with Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival.

 

It is the responsibility of the representative for the artist/act to pass on all the information provided by the festival to all members of the act. Similarly, it is also the responsibility of the representative of the act to inform the Festival of any changes to the information provided in the application. Such changes may have implications with regard to the outcome of the application. It is also the best way to ensure that problems later on with regard to performers' ticketing, admission, accommodation, and performance scheduling are avoided.

​

SELECTION CRITERIA

​

Type of Material 

“Folk” covers a broad spectrum of music styles, both traditional and contemporary. The Festival includes elements of blues, bluegrass, country, Anglo-Celtic, world-music, jazz, singer-songwriters, folkloric dancing, indigenous, bush poetry and yarn telling, comedy, etc. It is very difficult to be prescriptive as to styles and many performers are at home in different music ‘scenes’ (eg country and folk). However, performers who are exclusively ‘pop’ or ‘rock’ for example are unlikely to be successful. The festival grounds have several performance stages in fairly close proximity, so if you have the kind of act that is likely to drown out other performers then this may not be the festival for you.

 

Support Material​

It is important that we can see who you are and watch a sample of your performance.

 

Please provide at least one direct link to video(s) of your act. We do not have time to dig through your social media pages.

 

Also links to any music eg Soundcloud, YouTube, Bandcamp etc

 

We are aiming to move away from the use of Spotify so if you're able to provide alternatives, please do. 

​

Type of Performances

If you are able to offer workshops and/or themed presentations it may increase your chances of selection. Performers who can also play for children and dances are also highly valued. We also prefer performers who can stay for the whole festival and participate in sessions and the general festival atmosphere.

​​

Dance groups, poets, magicians, street performers, buskers, clowning and circus acts...  

All kinds of performers are welcome to apply as we love the colour and diversity they provide. Such acts who have performances suitable for young children (eg, clowns, magic acts, puppeteers, kids crafts, etc) are highly sought after for our children’s program.

​

Returning Performers

Generally speaking we try not to book acts for more than two years in a row. In an effort to support our local performers we make an exception to this rule and many of our local performers are regulars. However, quality is the important determining factor and just because you live locally this will not necessarily guarantee you a spot.

 

For performers coming from further afield we may also make an exception where an established act fits a hard-to-fill niche or comes up with something new and innovative (such as interesting themed concerts and presentations). Consequently, do not be too surprised or disappointed if your application is not successful if you have performed at the previous couple of festivals, even if you were a “hit” at those festivals. We have probably just chosen to give you a break this time around and may have you back in future years.

​​

Fees 

The Festival is a small, not-for-profit event with a limited budget, run by volunteers so please take this into consideration when quoting a fee. Be realistic if you wish your application to be considered. All fees quoted are to be totally inclusive of all costs, such as Public Liability Insurance (which you are required to provide) and GST (if this is applicable to you). We rarely negotiate fees so please offer your best price. Applications submitted by agents asking several thousand dollars are generally not considered for this festival.

​

You are welcome to sell your CDs and other ‘merch’ in the Festival Shop and also outside the performance venue following your show. For many performers this is the main source of revenue at the festival, rather than asking large fees.

 

Performers also accept all responsibility for their tax obligations (including GST), Superannuation and WorkCover requirements.

 

Public Liability Insurance Requirements

Public Liability Insurance (PLI) - if you are selected to perform at KVFF you will be required to provide a certificate of currency (proof of insurance) for the act in this application. We will require this a month before the festival. If you are performing as a group please ensure that your policy is in your group’s name so that it covers all performers, even if the group members change . 

 

Your PLI only needs to be valid for the dates of the festival and short-term policies can be obtained very cheaply. By providing this information, you are helping our Volunteer Organisers ensure the festival can continue to run in the future, if you are not willing to obtain PLI you can apply to perform as a volunteer (ie receive no payment). Please let us know if you need support in figuring out how to obtain insurance.

 

When performing, you are a Festival service provider and as such, are not covered by the Festival's public liability insurance. For example, Marsh, Folk Alliance Australia (you would need to be or become a member of Folk Alliance Australia), see folkalliance.org.au or duckforcover.com.au.  

 

Policies expiring?

Sometimes the policies expire just before the festival. Most insurers allow you to renew them a few months out. 

 

Please provide your current policy expiry date, if you have one. If it's just before the festival, we will require you to send through the renewed policy by 16th September, 2026. We will not be chasing performers for this as this is very time consuming for our Volunteer Organisers. 

 

Only acts with valid insurance will remain on the lineup.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION​

Programming

In general, the festival will program up to four performances per act, usually a combination of concerts, workshops and themed concerts over the three days of the festival.

​

Concert performances and workshops are normally 50 minutes. We try to schedule 20 minutes set up time before the performance. If your act has special requirements that will necessitate a longer set up time, you need to let us know so that we can schedule your performances at times that will allow this and minimise the effect on the rest of the schedule. Performers who deliberately play past their allotted finish time will not be asked back.

​

Performer Benefits

Selected festival performers get a free weekend ticket and free onsite camping or billeted accommodation, or you provide your own accommodation. 

 

Billets

A limited number of billets are available and are usually prioritised for interstate or international artists. 

 

Free Camping On Site

We offer free camping for performers within the festival site (KV Showground). Toilets and basic showers are provided. Many performers take a break to swim in the Kangaroo River. Once selected, performers will be asked to book festival campsites in advance (for no cost).

​

Volunteering

The festival welcomes and encourages performers who contribute to the successful running of the festival. We are always looking for MC/Venue Managers in particular.  

​

There is no obligation for performers to volunteer their services and not doing so will not have a bearing on the success or failure of the application. There is also no obligation for the festival to accept an offer to volunteer by a performer.

 

​

Good luck with your application!