A recent engagement report by Council has shed light on community sentiment regarding the St Kilda Festival, highlighting both its perceived benefits and areas of concern. The report, based on feedback collected from 107 participants through surveys and document uploads between January 22 and February 22, 2026, aims to inform future decisions about the festival’s budget, format, programming, and accessibility.
The Positives: Music, Economy, and Community Pride
The festival is widely recognized for its positive contributions, with a significant majority of respondents (74.5%) identifying the promotion of live music as a key benefit. Supporting artists also ranked high, selected by 63.2% of participants. Beyond the arts, the festival is seen as an economic driver, with 51.9% believing it improves the local economy and 49% stating it boosts tourism in St Kilda and the City of Port Phillip. Many residents also feel a sense of community (48.1%) and pride in their local area (46.2%) due to the event.
Areas for Improvement: Scale, Noise, and Resident Impact
Despite the positive feedback, the report also reveals several concerns. A notable 30.9% of respondents expressed a desire for the festival to be “smaller and more compact,” while 5.9% even suggested its cessation. Concerns about the festival’s impact on residents were also prominent among those who provided “other” comments. Eight respondents (7.5%) perceived no benefit from the festival, and five (4.7%) raised concerns about ratepayer value. Crowding, noise, and access issues were also highlighted by five respondents (4.7%), with some discussing negative effects on local community cohesion, daily life, and sense of safety.
Demographics of Participants
The 107 participants in the engagement process primarily consisted of St Kilda residents (91.4% of those who specified their living location). The gender distribution was fairly even, with 47.7% identifying as female and 44.9% as male. The largest age group represented was 35-49 (30.8%), followed by 50-59 and 60-69. A significant portion of respondents (34.6%) had attended the festival eight or more times, indicating a strong base of experienced attendees.
The findings from this report, along with other ongoing engagement activities, will be presented to the Council on 3June 2026, to guide changes for the 2027 St Kilda Festival.
What does the photo say about the attendance figures
We used AI to generate a crowd estimate from the arial photograph of the main stage at the festival on Sunday afternoon.
Using a density method, including main area, fringe areas and beach it estimated a crowd up to 20,000 in this image. Given the festival has many stages and a coming-and-going crowd, lets generously say this is one tenth of the attendance – giving the overall numbers at about 200,000.
The official attendance is estimated at 330,000.
TWiSK would be happy to publish the data behind the official figures.
