Winners of Maas Marquee function at Rabbitohs game revealed

Dubbo Region musicians Katie Thorne and Isaac Compton will be performing alongside each other, when the Rabbitohs take on the Panthers at Apex Oval next month. Dubbo Regional Council ran a competition to select a local musician, to play at the hospitality space at the NRL game. The competition required musicians to post a video of them playing on the Dubbo Region Events Facebook page, and the person with the most likes won.

In return, the winner would receive two grandstand tickets to the NRL game, and a $500 artist fee. Isaac Compton was leading the competition right up until the final hours, when he was pipped-at-the-post by Katie Thorne, by just 19 votes. However, Katie thought it would be a good idea to share her win with Isaac, asking if he could play alongside her at the MAAS Marquee Function.

“I’m super excited, this is such an amazing opportunity obviously. I love collaborating with Isaac, we’ve played together a couple of times and so I just thought it would be a really good opportunity to play together and share the stage. He has helped me out a lot in the past and always been a big supporter of my music,” said Katie.

The pair are now preparing to take to the stage – each performing their own set before rounding off the afternoon doing a live performance together. Isaac and Katie will be playing for an hour in one of the function areas, where full catering is supplied before and during the Rabbitohs game. When they complete their time on stage, the artists will be able to sit back and relax and watch the Rabbitohs take on the Panthers.

The prizemoney for the competition is funded by DRC’s SPARC Cultural Plan, which aims to give local musicians more opportunities to perform live gigs, and be properly paid for their time. The artists both say they would love to see Council develop more competitions like this to give young, budding artists the opportunity to be paid for their work.

“It’s great for the local artists because not a lot of these opportunities come around, and it’s also really good for the Dubbo community to get stuff like this out here, so I’m pretty excited this has happened,” said Isaac.

If the community wants to see Isaac and Katie perform at the game, tickets to the MAAS Marquee Function are limited, but still available for purchase via 123Tix. Wes Maas is a former NRL player himself, and understands the value of supporting games like this in the Dubbo Region.

“Our investment in helping to bring South Sydney to Dubbo will return benefits not only for our company but for a multitude of businesses across our Region. The Dubbo community as a whole will reap the rewards and Maas Group is very proud to have partnered with Dubbo Regional Council to secure the Rabbitohs in 2021,” said Wes Maas.

Image caption: Katie Thorne and Isaac Compton were the winners of Dubbo Regional Council’s competition to support local artists.

Katie and Isaac

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