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Free Entertainment in the Parks

An initiative of the City of Melbourne's Parks, Gardens and Recreation Department, Free Entertainment in the Parks (FEIP) was introduced in 1972. Beginning with fewer than 100 performers, by the late 1970s it claimed to be the world's largest free entertainment program, boasting over 35 000 participants in 1981. After a name change to Free Entertainment in Public Places, then a lapse of some years, the program was reintroduced in the 1990s as Summer Fun in the Parks. With State Government financial support, professional and amateur artists have participated in jazz concerts, poetry readings and plays, many fully choreographed productions, performed in Melbourne's parks and gardens and other public spaces.

Sandra Burt