The southern hemisphere’s biggest annual music conference, BIGSOUND, will not go ahead as scheduled in September 2021 due to ongoing Covid restrictions across Australia.
In a statement today, organisers confirmed that increasing uncertainty around border closures and capacity restrictions across multiple states have rendered it impossible for them to stage BIGSOUND responsibly in September this year.
“We think it’s unfair to expect people to come and artists to showcase when there is still uncertainty about who else will be able to be here – and whether they’ll be able to cross the border again to get back home,” reads the statement.
According to the statement, all planned BIGSOUND activity will be moved to September 2022.
This year was set to be a big return to form for the beloved music conference which, due to Covid, hasn’t taken place in its physical form since 2019. For its comeback, organisers had managed to lock in some major keynote speakers including #MeToo founder Tarana Burke and punk legend Henry Rollins.
This year’s conference was also set to feature a First Nations-led edition of BIGSOUND’s biennial youth conference, dubbed Little BLAKSOUND. According to a statement today, this will proceed as planned n September 6 so as to shine a light on Blak excellence and provide a much-needed space for the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and arts leaders.
A full refund for all BIGSOUND 2021 delegate pass holders and artist applications will be issued in the coming weeks.
