By honorary publicity officer Nick Hartgerink on behalf of the Illawarra Folk Festival
The Illawarra Folk Festival’s newly appointed Festival Director Shane Moon knows the annual event inside-out, having been everything from a performer to a key volunteer for the past 15 years.
The 39th Illawarra Folk Festival will be held at Bulli Showground on January 15-18 next year, and Shane’s appointment as the first woman festival director ushers in a new era.
Shane comes extremely well-credentialled for the role, having been deeply involved in the region’s entertainment and live performance industries for decades, as a dance, music and comedy performer and with her own events company, LadyMoon Productions.
Shane helped establish the long-running Wollongong Comedy at the Master Builders Club, and also previously held two entertainment-based roles at the University of Wollongong – first as Entertainment Manager at the UniBar and then organising O-Week celebrations as Student Engagement Officer in 2019 and 2020.
Last year LadyMoon Productions ran a show called Generation Woman, showcasing six accomplished women from the region, and Shane also helped found the Great Gong Clothes Swap, which has seen more than 10,000 items of clothing swapped and re-used instead of going to landfill since it was established in 2014.
In her “day job”, Shane is a Technical Support Officer for environmental assessment company BIOSIS.
Her involvement with the folk festival started 15 years ago, when she performed in a bellydance troupe and in Flamenco band Ruido.
“I fell in love with the folk festival from the start,” Shane says. “I really wanted to get involved so the following year I was back as a volunteer.”
Since then, Shane has had a long-standing “gig” managing the festival’s Merch Desk, where performing artists leave their merchandise – CDs, T-shirts and other items – for sale to festival patrons. The shop also sells folk festival-branded merchandise, such as t-shirts, hats and drink bottles.
In recent years Shane has also been part of the festival marketing team and has managed the festival website.
“I love the festival family – the wonderful army of volunteers who make it happen every year – and the Illawarra Folk Festival has been so much part of my family’s life for the past 15 years,” Shane says. “My daughter Harriette came to the 2014 festival when she was two days old, and now she’s helping out on the Merch Desk.”
“I’m really excited to have this expanded role for the 2026 festival and am determined that we will put on a magnificent festival in January.”
Artists applications close in May, and Shane expects that as in past years there will be strong interest from international, national and Illawarra-based performers to come to the Illawarra in January.
“We definitely want to continue to encourage younger audiences, particularly young families, to come along and see what the folk festival has to offer,” Shane says. “I also want to build on the strong Indigenous focus that we have been fostering in recent years.”
Shane takes over the Festival Director’s role from Cody Munro-Moore, the Illawarra-based recording engineer and musician who guided the festival for the past three years.
“Cody did a great job as director, running three successful festivals to budget as we got going again after the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to cancel the 2021 and 2022 festivals,” Shane said. “Cody had a real focus on attracting new and younger audiences and re-vitalising the festival to help with our post-Covid recovery.
“Now I have the chance to get my fingers in the festival pie, and I am really excited about what we can bring to the Illawarra next January.”