Newcastle’s Howlin’ Country festival gets $177k Revive Live grant to fund 2026 waterfront return

newy.com.au – Newcastle’s homegrown Howlin’ Country music festival will receive $177,357 in federal Revive Live funding, announced on 21 November 2025, to support next year’s all-ages event at Foreshore Park.

The grant is part of the Albanese Government’s latest Revive Live round, which will support 105 organisations around the country, 59 music festivals and 46 live music venues to stay open, pay artists and improve accessibility for audiences, including people with disability.

Revive Live is a national grants program created in the 2024–25 Budget to back original Australian live music at established venues and festivals, aiming to limit closures and cancellations while strengthening the long-term sustainability of the sector. The Office for the Arts says the program has so far provided $18.4 million to 217 live music businesses and will distribute a further $11.6 million in 2025–26, as part of a $25 million commitment over two years.

Under this latest round, Howlin’ Country Festival, NSW which is based on Newcastle’s waterfront will use its $177,357 grant to cover original Australian artist fees, production costs and measures to assist disability access and viewing, according to the local media release from Minister for the Arts Tony Burke and Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon.

Burke said Revive Live was designed to give targeted help at a difficult time for the live music industry. “Gigs have always been a huge part of my life,” he said, adding that venues and festivals give local artists crucial chances to perform, develop and grow audiences.

The funding comes off the back of a blockbuster debut year for Howlin’ Country. The festival launched at Newcastle Foreshore on Saturday 15 February 2025 as a one-day, all-ages event, running into the evening across a main stage and a second stage in the old Frog Pond.

Its inaugural line-up mixed international names with local favourites: US singer-songwriter Tyler Childers headlined alongside Australian acts Brad Cox, Sons of the East, Taylor Moss and Newcastle’s own Austin Mackay, with S.G. Goodman, Willi Carlisle, Sara Berki and others rounding out the bill.

Newcastle Live reported that Sons of the East performed to more than 12,500 fans at the festival, while production company Forefront Productions described ticket sales as “well over ten thousand”, calling the show a sell-out success.

City of Newcastle backed the debut with a $20,000 marketing grant and estimated the event would inject about $1.1 million into the local economy. Council figures indicated around 65% of tickets were sold to people travelling from outside Newcastle, from Sydney, Brisbane, Victoria, New Zealand and regional NSW, highlighting the tourism draw of a major waterfront country festival.

The spectacle also meant work for hundreds of locals. Forefront said about 600 staff and crew helped deliver the 2025 show, with a large-scale audio, lighting and LED set-up built to cover Foreshore Park’s expansive crowd area.

After that sold-out debut, organisers confirmed Howlin’ Country would return on Saturday 14 February 2026, again at Newcastle Foreshore. The first line-up announcement features US star Lainey Wilson in what has been billed as her only Australian festival appearance, alongside Newcastle-born Morgan Evans, Texas outfit Flatland Cavalry, US singer Kaitlin Butts and local artists Adam Newling, Tyla Rodrigues and Cheap Whiskey DJs, with more acts still to be announced.

Festival principal Moe Matthew said the event was designed from the outset to feed back into the city’s own creative ecosystem. “From day one, the festival was built to support our local music scene, artists and businesses,” he told Rolling Stone Australia.

Newcastle has already benefited from earlier rounds of Revive Live, with funding previously delivered to events such as West Best Bloc Fest and support for venues including King Street Hotel to host more original Australian acts.