Aussie pop star Lenka Kripac, 45, is preparing to put on ‘the show’ of her life in her rural New South Wales hometown this month.
Speaking to 9Honey Celebrity, Kripac says she will help transform the beautiful heritage town of Berry into a vibrant artistic hub for the new multidisciplinary OpenField festival from June 22-25.
Kripac is responsible for the catchy 2008 smash hit The Show, which featured in the rom-com Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and in Old Navy ads in the US.
Her hit song was also covered by actress Kerris Dorsey in the 2011 movie Moneyball and was featured on the mega-popular medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.
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Kripac is also an actress, appearing in the Aussie sitcom Home and Away, and in series such as Wildside, Head Start and Spellbinder.
These days, Kripac owns her own label, Skipalong Records, and can be found in the quaint town of Berry where she has been living for the last six years with her husband James and their two children.
However, during the pandemic, global restrictions meant that the Heart Skips a Beat singer could no longer tour her music and was isolated to the South Coast.
“I was feeling quite frustrated, and I had a lot of creative restless energy,” Kripac tells 9Honey Celebrity.
The Blue Skies songstress directed her pent-up creativity towards the local community as she got to thinking about the lack of art and galleries in her hometown.
This frustration Kripac reveals was shared by another local, Amelia Ramsden, who has worked in the arts for over 15 years for companies such as Biennale of Sydney.
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The star has long been a champion for the arts, going back to when she studied Fine Arts at COFA in Sydney in the late ’90s.
“We got chatting about maybe we should do something about this, we know so many artists, so many musicians, but there’s no gallery, there’s no music venue in this town,” Kripac says.
“What we do have is a lot of beautiful heritage, colonial halls and things like that,” she explains.
“So we thought, ‘let’s go for a festival model and get some grants and get some funding and get all our artist mates and get more artists that we haven’t met yet, and put something on’.”
Kripac thought, “How can we make this town come to life with art and be a really cool experience for people?”
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After two years, the singer’s passion project is finally coming to fruition.
The largely free festival will be held across four days from June 22-25 and then every two years after to showcase the best of NSW regional and Sydney talent.
The Sweet Time singer says the entire process of putting together the festival has been a “massive learning curve”.
“I’ve always been more focused on my own creative output and I’ve always had people to run my life,” Kripac reveals.
“Instead of having a manager, a lawyer, a business manager, and an agent telling me what to do and where I needed to be, I’m now that person and I’m trying to organise other people’s lives.”
After starting as just a dream between Kripac and Ramsden, the festival now has a committee of nine locals from all walks of life including a human rights lawyer, a yoga star and a television producer.
“I was feeling quite frustrated, and I had a lot of creative restless energy.”
“As we worked more and more…[we] were able to look to everybody’s strengths and divvy up the work,” Kripac shares.
OpenField festival has become a combined community effort from businesses and patrons across the South Coast with sponsorship including Australia Council for the Arts and Regional Arts NSW.
Over 20 incredible regional, visiting and Indigenous artists will head to the South Coast to perform in eleven unique venues in community spaces and natural reserves around Berry.
The festival program promises a weekend of fun with live music, a pop-up cinema, food from Bumpy Road Catering, refreshments from SocialLife Bar, and arts and crafts workshops for the whole family to partake in.
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Of course, festival-goers will get the chance to hear the ever-sweet indie melodies of Kripac herself.
Kripac will be performing a short set at the festival Acoustic Music Night hosted by ABC radio’s Josh Szeps on Friday, June 23.
She will be joined by five other musicians, including friend and ARIA award-winning artist Josh Pyke.
“There’s a lot of great singer songwriter talent in this area so we’re hopefully showcasing a little bit of that,” Kripac shares.
On Saturday the festival will run OpenField Electric, which will be filled with electro music from Electric Ginger and Wollongong-based drag artist Roxee Horror.
Also performing at the Electric night is WE ARE HERE, which Kripac admits to 9Honey is the act she is most looking forward to seeing over the four-day festival extravaganza.
“I’m really excited about this dance group that we’ve managed to get to come down,” she gushes.
The group is comprised of a few south coast and Sydney members who will be performing their experimental routine ‘Encounter’, choreographed by Kripac’s longtime friend Emma Saunders.
“I’ve seen it on the Opera House steps and now we’re putting it in Berry on the street,” Kripac shares.
“I just can’t wait to blow people’s minds because I don’t think a lot of people have seen anything like that, especially down here on the south coast.”
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OpenField festival-goers are also in for a treat with the mesmerising ‘LUMINESCENCE’ installation from the Nic Nac Theatre Company that will immerse visitors into a glowing forest and sea world made from recycled items, luminescent paint and black lighting.
The festival program also includes an event showcasing experimental local Aussie films, including Soda Jerk’s 2018 film TERROR NULLIUS and the short film HEALING TRUTH.
For Kripac, OpenField has not just achieved bringing the arts to Berry but has also made the singer feel more connected to her hometown.
The mum of two had previously facilitated the ‘Dancing in the Dark’ event and volunteered to teach ethics at the Berry Primary School but says she has never really been a community person… until now.
“It feels really good to give back to the community and get involved,” Kripac says.
“I feel like I know so many more people in this town and have really seen how this town works.”
Most of the attractions at OpenField are free entry but tickets are still on sale for exclusive events.
Kripac will return to touring later this year in shows across the US in October, which comes after the release of her single One Moment back in April.
Just last week, Kripac shared to her Instagram a snap with the caption: “Mirror mirror on the wall… I see a new album and touring in the future.”
It looks like we’re in for more show-stopping music from the Aussie pop star soon.
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