Festival addicts! We come bearing news. From the makers of Splendor In The Grass and the Falls Festival comes a brand new feature film… uh, I mean music festival, slated for a 2021 launch.

The team behind the festivals, known as the Secret Sounds Group, just bagged a grant of over $1.5 million to kickstart a new festival in the new year, according to a report from the Sydney Morning Herald. The grant was awarded by the federal government's Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund, forming part of its strategy to get the struggling arts sector back on its feet.

The grant is the largest awarded to any arts and entertainment project in NSW. The organisers of the Byron-based Bluesfest were also awarded $1 million in assistance to help them run the festival over the Easter weekend in April next year.

So what's all that dosh for, exactly? "Implementing COVID-19 safe strategies is estimated to have added $400,000 to the festival's costs in the form of extra security, temperature checks, and crowd management", reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

So far, Secret Sounds are a bit vague about the nature of the mysterious new festival, though co-chief executive Jessica Ducrou reckons she's excited about the "innovative project we look forward to launching in 2021". Colour me intrigued, Jessica! What a tease.

Splendour In The Grass and both Falls Festivals have of course been cancelled this year due to the continuing threat of COVID-19. Unfortunately, The Falls Festival in Lorne was also cancelled in 2019 thanks to extreme weather conditions (and you know, a bushfire crisis). What a year it's been.

Fingers crossed for a safe, festival-rich 2021.

Written by Reena Gupta, a Melbourne-based writer at MTV Australia. Follow her at @purpletank