Sydney Eisteddfod came to a sudden halt in late June, just over a month into the 2021 Festival. Like many other events and productions in the performing arts sector, what was initially hoped to be a ‘pause’ on events for only a few weeks, extended for months longer with no end in sight and the likelihood of ‘live’ performances resuming grew thin.
Sydney Eisteddfod was faced with two choices: to cancel the remainder of the 2021 Festival or adapt to the current times and move this year’s Festival to an online competition.
After cancelling the Festival in 2020, the very first time since World War 2, the former choice was just not an option for Sydney Eisteddfod. Understanding the importance of performance opportunities for young artists albeit live or digital, the latter option was the only clear route and best outcome for Sydney Eisteddfod’s young performing artists.
When Sydney Eisteddfod posed the question to move to an online competition for 2021 there was such a positive uptake from the nearly 5000 entrants eagerly waiting for the chance to perform.
Sydney Eisteddfod are absolutely delighted to draw the curtain back up on the remainder of the 2021 Sydney Eisteddfod Festival, with the majority of events going ahead, on screen. The 2021 Festival will continue via video submissions across all performance genres and the wonderful adjudicators will have the pleasure of judging and providing their feedback digitally.
Sydney Eisteddfod’s mission has always been to encourage Australia’s next generation of performing artists and provide them with opportunities to perform and improve. During these difficult times, it is extremely important to continue to provide young artists with the opportunity to perform, practice their art form and receive valuable feedback.
This year Sydney Eisteddfod was already running ‘video submissions’ for choral and instrumental groups to still compete, which has proven to be a success and has broadended the competition to regional areas.
Students from The Armidale School, an independent Anglican primary and secondary school located in Armidale,were able to compete in the choral competition for the first time.
‘Thank you for providing such a wonderful experience for our students. This is the first time TAS Singers have competed at the Sydney Eisteddfod and we have been very impressed by the organisation of the event, especially in such difficult times. The feedback from our adjudicator, Simon Kenway, was fantastic and very constructive for our choir. There are so many positive things we can take away from this whole experience and we look forward to entering again next year.’
Sydney Eisteddfod has reopened most of the remaining performance events for 2021.Video submissions are welcome. Entries close October 15, 2021.
To search through all Sydney Eisteddfod events and to enter, visit
https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/
https://sydneyeisteddfod.com.au/our-story/organisation/