Lessons learned after some first-year teething problems at Odyssea as eyes turn to the 2024 festival

The inaugural event is done and now eyes are on the next Odyssea — Hedland Music and Arts Journey as the festival organiser says they are keen to improve after some first-year “difficulties”. The first year of the Town of Port Hedland’s new festival hosted a diverse array of musicians, comedians and artists who took to the seaside stage to entertain the North West town. Events management company Experience Rova organised and ran the festival after being awarded the tender by the Town in May. The company’s artistic director Alexander Butt said he was satisfied with the turn-out but, given it was the inaugural festival, the team had encountered some difficulties. “I’ve been happy with the turn-out,” he said. “A new event, with a new name, a new theme, and all that sort of stuff the first year is always difficult because you’re building brand recognition as well as trying to sell the individual tickets. “But I think it has gone really well and I think everyone in town knows it’s on.” Australian cultural fusion rock band King Stingray headlined the festival and was supported by South Summit, Spici Water, and Adele Oliver. The second weekend featured several comedians, the band 27 Club, and Afrotropik Beats. Mr Butt said he was happy with sales but admitted there had been a lot of competition given it was event season in town. “It’s gone well but I think there has been some learning,” he said “Obviously we were coming off the back of a lot of big events in town so there has been a lot of competition in the marketplace.” Mr Butt said a lot of sales were made late and at the door of the festival. He said one of the problems they had encountered when organising the event was limited planning time. “I think the brand piece was executed well,” he said. “The timeline for this event was very tight for two full weekends of entertainment. “But you always want more time when organising an event.” Mr Butt said the intention was for the festival to be a yearly event and he hoped Experience Rova was awarded the contract again. “It’s our and the Town’s hope it will become an annual event and run for many years,” he said. “I think it will go out to tender again and hopefully we can redeliver it. “But we’ve only got the contract for one year so it’ll be up to the council to re-tender and go with whatever direction they want to take it.” Mayor Peter Carter said the Town was proud to have delivered the first Odyssea event and that the inaugural festival had drawn a large crowd from all over. “Overall, more than 5,000 attended an Odyssea event over the six days of entertainment, this compares to the typical 3,500 attendance for North West Fest,” he said. “A key objective of this event was to provide a range of different arts and entertainment shows to appeal to different audiences – there is no question that this objective was achieved. “Let me be clear – this is just the start of the Odyssea journey. I look forward to the event evolving in future years as we continue to enrich life in Hedland.”