THE TOTAL CARE FOUNDATION’S
ROLE IN THE EARLY FESTIVALS
Adapted from 1969 writing. Latest Update Oct. 2014
This is a copy of a letter from Dr Neville Yeomans’ Collected Papers
Archives in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, NSW. It provides a glimpse of the
processes used in setting up some of the Festivals that led up to ConFest.
The Total Care Foundation Inc
Dr N. Yeomans
Coordinator, Community
Mental Health Services
Chief Secretary and Minister for
Labour and Industry
121 Macquarie Street Sydney, NSW
2000
13th March 1969
Dear Sir
Paddington Festival and Market
Bazaar 21st – 22nd June 1969
The Total Care Foundation, a
registered charity, is acting with a number of other bodies as a co-sponsor for
a midyear festival and market bazaar to be held at the Paddington Town Hall
beginning on Friday night 20th June through till Sunday night the 22nd
June 1969. These activities will include Australian, Continental and Asian
music, dance, and drama as well as artistic exhibitions. Admissions will be
charged to those functions held in the first floor space of the Paddington Town Hall though not to
those held elsewhere. It is anticipated that in the main hall a market bazaar will be held with various
voluntary, community, and commercial groups having stalls. It is anticipated
that religious and voluntary bodies will pay minimal or cost for use of an area
while commercial ventures will be charged more. A proportion of the profits
will also be probably allocated as a commission.
Proceeds of the festival are to
go to a fund to maintain these activities on an annual basis. And also towards
the establishment of a cultural and artistic centre in the area.
A similar festival, the Watsons Bay International Festival,
was conducted in October of last year at Watsons Bay, as a preparation for the
Captain Cook Celebrations on April 29th 1970. However, this was so
successful that the present Paddington
Festival and a planned Centennial
Park Festival for October 12th 1969 have evolved as the next
steps. All of these activities are on a non profit community basis.
It is requested that permission
be granted for the Market Bazaar to be open Sunday morning the 22nd
June at 9:30AM so that its activities over the weekend will be continuous. I
would also be grateful to be informed if any further procedures are required in
relation to your department for the festival and also for the one to be
conducted in Centennial Park in October and at Watsons Bay next year.
I look forward to your advice and
information.
Dr Neville Yeomans
President
Notice how Neville
engages in weaving together many social events for community wellness:
o Linking
the proposed Paddington Festival to the successful Watson’s Bay Festival that
he energised the previous year and a further proposal for a Festival in
Centennial Park
o Introducing
the idea of a Market Bazaar at Paddington knowing he already had NSW and
Australia’s first Community Mental Health Centre at the back of the church
where the proposed Market would be
o Linking
these Festivals to the wider action of the Captain Cook Celebrations.
o The
Watson’s Bay Festival was linked to the Sydney Waratah Festival.
o The
Total Care Foundation linking with many other bodies
o Linking
in music and the arts to the Festivals and the Market Bazaar
o Linking
various voluntary, community, religious, and commercial groups
o Seeding
the idea that the Watson’s Bay Festival would be held again
Neville replicated this process in Darwin in energising the Rapid Creek Project.
ConFest and the Next
250 Years
Community Ways for Healing
the World