Spotlight on Michael Birk
Yaegl man Michael Birk grew up in the Clarence River region of Northern NSW, and now lives and performs on the Northern Beaches. As a musician he performs with his band The Recognisers, and as an event producer he founded Singing Up Country in 2014 as part of the Gai-mariagal Festival.
Celebrating its 10th festival in 2024 with the theme 'Keep the flame alive', Singing Up Country is a festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island music and Culture. Alongside Birk's The Recognisers, will be folk band The Stiff Gins, reggae group Green Hand Band, as well as Magpie, GiiMusic, and Spilt Coffee.
Our creative community
The Northern Beaches is home to a higher than average percentage of artists, creatives and cultural workers.
Our local creative community generated $1,16m in economic output and $790 million in value added for the Northern Beaches Council area in 2018/19 (4.2% of Greater Sydney's total Cultural and Creative Sector value). Our artists and creatives are the drivers of a vibrant local economy.
The Northern Beaches creative sector has the 2nd highest number of jobs in NSW for specialised design and photographic services, book and magazine publishing and arts education and the 3rd highest number of jobs in NSW for architects, artists, musicians, writers and performers. Our creative economy supported 7,050 local jobs (6.5% of total jobs in the LGA) and provided employment for 13,207 residents (8.5% of all employed residents) in 2018/19.
Find out more about our local Northern Beaches cultural and creative sector.
Our Local Creatives
Each month we showcase some of the talented people who live and work in our community, exploring the diversity of artistic and creative practices on the Northern Beaches.
Find more of our creative community on Instagram through the hashtag #creativenorthernbeaches. With 5000+ posts, join in and use the hashtag to share your own local creative practice.
If you would like to apply to be or nominate a Local Creative, please email us at creative@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Are we friends yet?
Keep in touch with arts and creativity on the Northern Beaches with Creative News.
