By TERRI LEE FATOUROS
Perpetua McInnes, or Petti, is the Festival Events Coordinator for Kingston City. She manages everything from the site layout, build, programming and even contractor management. Her insightfulness has provided up-and-coming musicians with the opportunity to showcase their talent at the many festivals she organises on behalf of the City. So, just who is Petti McInnes?
Prior to her full time engagement with The City of Kingston, she was employed part time as programmer and selector of the entertainment for the four major festivals (mostly music, but also food-and-beverage themed) each year – a huge undertaking given the limits of part-time labour – but the City wisened up eventually, recognising the need to bring her on full-time.
For ten years she operated Linx, her own events management company in Western Australia, catering for festivals, regattas, sporting and music events. In fact, McInnes was and still is considered a major force in the entertainment community.
To this long list of credits, add the Culture Tour for the Queen when she visited back in 2001. This alone is an honour and an impressive to add to her many talents.
She was invited to work at the Sydney Olympics on contract with the company to manage all the international performers on the community stage, and has won state awards for innovation in tourism. Impressive to say the least – how very fortunate for Bayside and Mornington Peninsula residents and musicians alike! Everyone can now experience Petti’s diverse portfolio of skills as seen at these awesome events.
Says McInnes, “I try and get diversity in the mix with the performers… I love to blend emerging and up-and-coming performers with long- standing and experienced performers.
“I have developed The Jam Café at all the festivals for that reason. It’s basically a smaller acoustic stage designed to give emerging artists an opportunity to perform to a big audience. This also allows the audience to see a good mix of artists performing through the many different types of music on offer.
“I love working with creative people because I have a creative background… recently, I changed the layout and mix of the Mordialloc Food and Wine Festival and invited different performers, street theatre shows and entertainers. I’m catering for a broader range of ages because I do believe music can be appreciated from all ages.”
Petti would love to hear from any performers who want to perform at any of the City of Kingston festivals. She is calling on all musicians to lodge an application by visiting the City of Kingston website: www.kingston.vic.gov.au. Applications open on Friday, 1st July and close Tuesday, 30th August – apply online.
First published in Mint Magazine – April 2016
