Civic Theatre announced on Thursday it plans to fill the hole left by musicians unable to tour the region, with local talent now set to take centre stage.
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A performance is scheduled for August 14, which will see local band The Groove Factorie, along with a host of other local talent from a variety of age groups, take Wagga audiences back into the live music scene.
The Groove Factorie's Dale Allison said it is an outstanding way of having live music back in the region, with the industry heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Well it is a fantastic initiative, it was Carissa [Campbell's] idea from the Civic Theatre and we were talking about how all the gigs were closing down, so lets do something that is going to be positive and will go ahead," he said.
"And best of all lets involve a lot of singers and bandmembers from within the community. We also have a young guy coming over from Tumut, so it involves the region.
"It is positive to have a show that is going to go ahead and involve as many people as we can."
Civic Theatre's manager Carissa Campbell said she was beyond excited to be bringing live music back, after recent cancellations.
"I cant tell you what it feels like to actually sit down, hear music, talk to artists about 'oh we can now do this and we can do that'," she said.
"After spending weeks and weeks having sad conversations, postponing shows, cancelling shows and ringing audiences and saying that show you were looking forward to is not going to happen now.
"To be on the opposite end of that now, is really exciting."
Ms Campbell added 2021 has brought even tougher challengers to the industry, even more so than 2020.
She called for more support from the government to help the area, and not just by financial means.
"This year is far worse than last year, that is the reality of it. It is a very scary place right now to be honest. Talking to a lot of company's, major company's and individual artists, there's a lot of people leaving the industry," she said.
"There's a lot of people going into other professions, a lot of university courses including Wagga taking the opportunity to close down their art courses.
"It makes me worried about what the future looks like... It is going to be a decade long approach to get this industry back.
"And it is not all about dollar support, it is about value, saying that this is a very important part of Australia's culture."
Tickets for the event go on sale Thursday, with the theatre operating at 50 per cent capacity.
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