Opinions PLease!

[ilovethiscity]

Hey guys!
By watching the Commonwealth Games I get a little envious of Melbourne. Do you think that we should bid for a major sporting event such as The Commonwealth Games or even the Olympic Games. Not only would it give our wonderful city some worldwide exposure, coming with it would be INfrastructure and development flourish all around and may even improve our current shotty transport system. Especially the trains. Opinions!

[Tyler_Durden]

I'd prefer events more arts based than sporting.

That's the way Adelaide should go, I believe. Build on what we've got with our Arts Festival and Fringe and so on. The last few weeks have been brilliant. And they aren't one off like a Commonwealth Games.

We had the Grand Prix. I'd love it if we still had that but we don't.

One of Adelaide's sister cities, Austin in Texas, which like Adelaide is not a large city at all, has some great festivals at this time of the year too. We could look to them for inspiration. They have the SXSW Festival which incorporates all kinds of things like Music and Cinema among other things.

We are the Festival State, and if we're going to promote ourselves as that then we should be looking to have major Festivals more than just once every two years. I know the Fringe is now going to be annual but something to balance it out at a different time of the year is something we need to really cement ourselves as one of the world leading Festival cities.

[Algernon]

I think our weather is a limiting factor in how far we can expand our arts festivals. We don't have the luxury of staging these events over a long period, rather only a 1-2 month period where we're reasonably assured of little rain. And because we're limited to such a short period to work with, we're then stuck with other bottlenecks such as the availability of hotels. Unfortunately, the 2 months where hotels are jammed full isn't enough to make up for lull periods, which means expanding our hotel capacities isn't an easy exercise. This could possibly be overcome with subsidies to the local hotel industry, but we know how sensitive the SA general public is to government spending when it isn't schools and hospitals!

On the flip side however, The Ring showed that niche arts programmes can be quite good money spinners for the state. Unfortunately we can't just put in a bulk order on creativity!

In regards to the Commonwealth Games, I can see why people are supportive of such an idea. For me however, I feel that one country 'hogging' the event takes away from its international appeal. For the sake of the competition itself, i'd rather see it hosted in India for instance.

[Tyler_Durden]

I was thinking we could stage something around October/November (contrasting our March Festival period). Weather is important but it isn't crucial with something like I'm suggesting because the actual events will primarily be indoor. And our weather in Oct/Nov is pretty good anyway.

[ilovethiscity]

I noticed that in yesterdays paoer we could be a candidate city for the 2014 or 2018 games!

[Howie]

I'm all for international events, they're often the catalyst for improvement. KL used the commonwealth games as a springboard for promoting their city. Before that, often KL was overlooked by other asian cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Their timing was right too, development in their cbd was at an all time high, their public transport system was brought up to a somewhat modern standard, it was high time they showcased some of their delights to the larger community.

[Will]

I seriously think Adelaide should bid for the 2014 or 2018 Commonwelath Games. We should also bid for the world Expo and if we want to be adventurous the 2016 or 2020 Olympics. Not only would such an event improove the citiy's public transport and sporting infraestructure, it would lead to an increase in housing and construction. Workers would be required, reducing the states unemployment rate. Such international exposure would also promote Adelaide n the world leading to increased tourist numbers but also increased migrant levels. It is a win, win situation all round.

However because such events are one-ofs, we should also capitalise on the Festival State image we have to create more festivals throughout the year. On this note whatever happened to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and the Adelaide Film Festival? Are they still happening?

[Tyler_Durden]

On this note whatever happened to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and the Adelaide Film Festival? Are they still happening?

I think the Cabaret Festival still exists. And I know the Film Festival does. The Film Festival is held every second year, on alternative years to the Festival of Arts.

http://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/

[Will]

On this note whatever happened to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and the Adelaide Film Festival? Are they still happening?

I think the Cabaret Festival still exists. And I know the Film Festival does. The Film Festival is held every second year, on alternative years to the Festival of Arts.

http://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/

Thanks for that. I think the Adelaide Film Festival should get more publicity. Its lack of publicity is the reason why I thought it had been cancelled.