Splendour in the Grass announces The Forum

Are modern-day pirates heroes or villains? When it comes to Stalkbook and MyFace, does anyone really give a tweet about privacy? Which songs do Paul Kelly and Clare Bowditch wish they’d written themselves? And what would each of them say if they were to pen an open letter to that song? Do you care enough about live music in your home town to take to the streets like 20,000 Victorian protesters did recently? Were yesterday’s punks and hippies cooler than today’s goths, emos and ravers? Got any questions you’d like to put personally to Splendour’s promoters?

These are some of the thought-provoking questions and hot issues that will be explored, pondered and debated by an eclectic array of outspoken and entertaining musicians, comedians, film directors, media celebs, tech geeks, artists and audience members in Splendour’s innovative, new dedicated discussion space Splendour Forum.

Believed to be a first for a rock music festival, the Forum’s exciting three-day program will feature a lively debate on modern-day piracy, panel discussions on topics of interest to the music-loving community, a Q&A session, interviews by comedian Wil Anderson, rockumentaries, a Splendour edition of Music Trivia hosted by Myf Warhurst and Sam Pang and a special edition of the popular new literary event Women of Letters.

The Forum is aimed at creating dialogue and stimulating debate among both performers and punters – and encouraging everyone to take home a personally enriching festival experience of another sort, along with their muddy boots and hangover.

To be held in its own tent with seating for about 400, the Forum’s program will run from 10am-4pm each day, with three sessions a day running for 45-90 minutes each.

SPLENDOUR FORUM SESSIONS:

DEBATE: MODERN-DAY PIRATES: Heroes or Villains?
Triple J’s Lindsay McDougall (aka The Doctor) will chair a lively debate between two teams of celebs, musicians, seafaring activists and music industry types about the merits and evils of piracy – for consumers, artists, whales and the wider community. Hungry Beasts Monique Schafter and Nick Hayden (ABC TV), DJ, producer and label owner Katalyst and Australian Independent Record Association CEO Nick O’Byrne will go head-to-head with a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and “Australia’s second-most popular music blogger” Dave Ruby Howe, whose blog was recently deleted by Google for alleged copyright infringement, as our pirates and artistic swashbucklers duke it out for supremacy of the waves – be they radio, electromagnetic or ocean.

PANEL DISCUSSION: STALKBOOK, MyFACE AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: Does Anyone Really Give A Tweet About Privacy?
Ever regretted posting something online? Wonder whether those drunken photos will come back to haunt you? Can you ever really “delete” something? Avid Twitterer Wil Anderson (The Gruen Transfer, ABC TV) will poke a tech-savvy panel including Amandah Wilkinson (Operator Please), Stav Yiannoukas (Bluejuice), social media geek Marc Fennell (Triple J), Facebook exile Elmo Keep (Hungry Beast), digital advertising guru Julian Cole (Adspace-Pioneers), cyber security commentator Patrick Gray and media lawyer Julian Hewitt as they explore recent social media controversies and scandals and try to answer the burning  uestions about privacy – does anyone really care? And should they?

FILM AND PANEL: APRA PRESENTS FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY: Deadly Serious Threats to Australia’s Live Music Scene
APRA presents a preview screening of the as-yet unseen Tote Documentary that charts the rise, fall and rise again of the landmark Melbourne pub that has served as a rite of passage for hundreds of Australian and overseas bands. Host Chit Chat (Max TV/MGF) will moderate a panel of musicians and activists from around Australia including rocker Dan Sultan, the organisers of Melbourne’s SLAM rally, Queensland music industry stalwart Craig Spann (AMIN, Soundslikebrisbane), NSW’s award-winning musician/lobbyist John Wardle and Tote doco director Natalie van den Dungen as they explore the legal, political and social  attles faced by live music venues across the country.

FILM AND PANEL: SUBCULTURES IN THE 21st CENTURY:  Have We Seen The Last Of The Mohawks?
Melbourne’s pulsating punk scene in the early ‘80s featuring Nick Cave, Ollie Olsen, Rowland S Howard, Michael Hutchence and Alannah Hill comes alive in a new, specially-edited Splendour edition of the 2009 Richard Lowenstein documentary "We're Livin' On Dog Food". Triple J film critic Marc Fennell will lead a panel of culture vultures including v-logger Kirk Docker (ViveCoolCity.com) Elmo Keep (Hungry Beast), director Richard Lowenstein (Dogs In Space), music entrepreneur Bruce Milne (Infidelity Recordings, Au-Go-Go Records, The Tote) and 2010 Splendid artist Carl Scrase, whose 14-metre inflatable artwork at this year’s festival was inspired by the Flaming Lips’ 2009 headlining performance, as they analyse subcultures spawned by musical genres and discuss whether yesterday’s punks and hippies were any more assionate,
subversive and cooler than today’s goths, emos and ravers.

WOMEN OF LETTERS: Splendour Edition
A lovely literary event hosted by writers Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire that celebrates the beautiful lost art of letter-writing. This special festival co-ed edition features artists including Paul Kelly, Clare Bowditch, Jake Stone (Bluejuice) and Alex Gow (Oh Mercy), each narrating a “letter to the song they wish they’d written". The artists might tell a story about the first time they heard the song, pick apart the lyrics, curse the talented songwriter who beat them to the punch - and maybe even perform a cover of it. At the end, the audience will be given the opportunity to write and post letters of their own.

WIL ANDERSON DOES PARKY
Wil Anderson (The Gruen Transfer, ABC TV) channels legendary UK TV showbiz interviewer Michael Parkinson as he sits down for an entertaining chat with a bunch of artists including Sam Cutler, the legendary  former tour manager for the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd; Archibald Prize-nominated artist David Bromley, who will be at Splendour painting nude rockstars; interior-designer-to-the-stars Edward Coutts Davidson, who counts Madonna, Kate Moss, Russell Brand and royalty among his clients; and a special surprise guest from the Splendour line-up.

MUSIC TRIVIA WITH MYF AND SAM
Think you know your music? BYO pencil and brainy team-mates to compete against celebrity band teams and reminisce about line-ups from Splendours past in this special Splendour edition of Music Trivia hosted by Myf Warhurst (Spicks and Specks) and Sam Pang (3RRR, Eurovision Song Contest and Sam, Santo and Ed’s Cup Fever).

SPLENDOUR Q&A: Meet The Promoters
Why did Splendour move to Woodford? Got a question for Splendour promoters Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco? Come and ask them in person.