Category: News

The Committee has been hard at work planning the 97th Annual Eisteddfod to commence in May. It has been decided that the official launch of this year’s Eisteddfod will be held at the commencement of the first morning session. Everyone is, of course, welcome to attend.

The schedule is on the competitions website for you to view and will be updated accordingly. It is with great pleasure that we can announce we will be utilising the Capital Theatre even more this year including brass bands and contemporary vocal. The Bendigo Bank Theatre will be used for other music disciplines. We thank the Bendigo Council for their support in enabling us to use these venues to increase the performance value for each competitor and we hope to continue this relationship into the future.

Dance will again be held at Bendigo South East Secondary College in the winter school holidays. We hope to see an increase in entries across all genres as students and teachers have had a far less impacted year with COVID guidelines easing.

This said, Bendigo Competitions Society will be continuing some of the implemented strategies into the future as we feel these make for a smoother Eisteddfod for everyone involved. Any additional suggestions to make our Eisteddfod a safer and more accessible competition are always welcomed. Entries will again be through the Stardom platform and music is to be uploaded for contemporary vocal and dance.

As always, our Eisteddfod cannot run without the dedicated support of volunteers both new and old along with our valued sponsors. We were grateful to have some new sponsors on board last year and we hope to have more with us this year. We would personally like to acknowledge two new sponsors last year, GYG Kennington and Mino Dance.

If you or someone you know can support our competition, please contact us via Facebook or email prior to the launch of the Eisteddfod in May.

We are proud to say that last year’s 95th Eisteddfod was a COVID-safe success for the selected events we were able to run. Many thanks to our volunteers – both old and new – for their enthusiasm, dedication, and time offered. You are all integral to making our aim a reality and we are optimistic those who assisted last year will be back with us this year! The committee received wonderful feedback and many of our COVID implementations and new operating systems will continue to be used, making this year’s eisteddfod another safe and successful one.

The schedule has been updated with what’s on offer to competitors for our 96th Annual Eisteddfod. The committee are pleased to announce we will be using both Bendigo South East College and The Capital Theatre Bendigo again.  We again thank them for their continued support of our Eisteddfod and hope to work with them for many years to come.

If you or someone you know would like to sponsor the eisteddfod, a discipline, or a section, we would be so glad to hear from you. Anyone wishing to volunteer in 2022 can also contact our committee members – you will be greatly appreciated!

Do keep a keen eye on our social media for any communications in the lead up and during our 2022 season. 

The 2022 Bendigo Competitions Committee members look forward to seeing you at the Launch of our 96^th Annual Eisteddfod.  

The schedule for the 96th Annual Eisteddfod of the Bendigo Competitions Society has been posted to the Schedules page.

The first event on this calendar is our launch on 25th March at 11am at the Bendigo Bank Theatre. Please join us at this event as we look forward to an incredible year of community music and dance.

Like everyone, the committee are returning to a COVID-normal and we hope you are as keen as we are to enjoy live performance again. You may have noticed some updates on our Facebook page, and now we can confirm 2021 will be going ahead!

Although it may not seem like, or be exactly like other years, we believe giving our competitors stage time is what we are here for and dedicated to doing.  The committee have been working with local venues and have been able to secure some dates for some genres to run in a COVID safe manor. Obviously in this ever-changing environment, things can change but we look forward to bringing you as much as possible in our 2021, 95th Annual Eisteddfod. 

We are delighted to say that the response to our call for volunteers and committee members has resulted in four new members and a few volunteers. We recognise that volunteering for some is still a risk for them and call for anyone able to contact us. The competition requires additional volunteers every session to meet COVID requirements this year, and we will have to cancel days if we do not comply. Even donating your time for one session can make a huge difference. 

Thank you for your support and understanding throughout these challenging times and we look forward to seeing you at the Eisteddfod.