Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar.

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peachy
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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#16 Post by peachy » Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:15 pm

crawf wrote: November is fine, all those events draw thousands of people and are big on the national stage.

Main problem is mid year, the weather doesn't help at all.
True, those events are all pretty big crowd getters. I was just thinking along the lines that a longer lasting festival could be run throughout the month. Kind of like how the fringe runs throughout WOMAD, Adelaide Cup, Clipsal 500. It sort of links the events to combine into Mad March and Nov would be a logical 2nd mad month (ad Nauseam November perhaps) as weather wise it's quite ideal. But you might be right in saying that it’s fine as it is and that we should focus more on the winter months.
fasterthanlids wrote: July would be good - held at Adelaide University, during a semester break, there should be open space and lecture theatres available to play with. I'm also thinking a sideline design festival - covering architecture and engineering, industrial design and environmental developments.
I hadn’t thought of that, your right uni could be fully taken over whilst uni is out and also there will be a lot of school holiday kids and parents looking for things to do. Or it could run half in the holidays half during term to make use of and hold events for the many uni students around campus as well. I think the British Science festival always has a host uni and AU being right in the heart of town would be ideal as a hub for the fest.

Another festival idea i had is perhaps a few weeks long Aboriginal cultural celebration festival, perhaps in Nov or another time. As there's no clear winner on which capital is the one to go to for Aboriginal culture and there’s definitely no stand out Aboriginal festival, why not make Adelaide it. If we had the biggest and best Aboriginal festival it would be pretty popular with international visitor who generally are after an indigenous cultural experience. Also i think as a society we would benefit from experiencing more Aboriginal culture and learning more about what Australia was like before European settlement. Too often we think of Aboriginal culture as being just one culture when really it’s hundreds of little nations. I know i’d be interested to learn how many groups used particular tools (ie woomeras, didgeridoos) or the differences in dreamtime stories.
I’d imagine a festival would include lots of traditional dances, music performances and art displays. Dreamtime theatre, native food lectures, school visits. But it could also feature contemporary Aboriginal art based around Tandanyana as well as celebrate Aboriginal writers, poets, musicians (sportpeople/scietistst/politians/etc?). It cold also feature a conference focusing on Aboriginal issues.

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#17 Post by crawf » Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:35 am

peachy wrote:
crawf wrote: November is fine, all those events draw thousands of people and are big on the national stage.

Main problem is mid year, the weather doesn't help at all.
True, those events are all pretty big crowd getters. I was just thinking along the lines that a longer lasting festival could be run throughout the month. Kind of like how the fringe runs throughout WOMAD, Adelaide Cup, Clipsal 500. It sort of links the events to combine into Mad March and Nov would be a logical 2nd mad month (ad Nauseam November perhaps) as weather wise it's quite ideal. But you might be right in saying that it’s fine as it is and that we should focus more on the winter months.
Feast Festival already goes for 3 weeks and continues to get larger every year, it's already the 2nd or 3rd largest GBLT festival in the country (after Sydney and Melbourne) and was announced not long ago that there will be a 'events hub' at Light Square during the festival (13-28 November). Which is apparently an Australian first for a queer festival and the concept sounds like a good idea.

More info here
http://www.feast.org.au

While the Christmas Pageant is the largest event of it's kind in the world, Adelaide International Horse Trials is a prestigious equestrian event and Adelaide International Guitar Festival has potential, though it seems the Classic Adelaide will be a no-goer this year

I've just discovered that Feast, Christmas Pageant and the Horse Trails will clash on Saturday 13 November 2010, and that is usually the day the Adelaide Pride March + Opening Party takes place in the city... could be an interesting day to be in the city :lol: or does this always happen?

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#18 Post by Mants » Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:31 pm

pride march...am i allowed to march to express my straight pride? :P

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#19 Post by peachy » Fri Jul 09, 2010 11:12 pm

crawf wrote: Feast Festival already goes for 3 weeks and continues to get larger every year, it's already the 2nd or 3rd largest GBLT festival in the country (after Sydney and Melbourne) and was announced not long ago that there will be a 'events hub' at Light Square during the festival (13-28 November). Which is apparently an Australian first for a queer festival and the concept sounds like a good idea.

More info here
http://www.feast.org.au

While the Christmas Pageant is the largest event of it's kind in the world, Adelaide International Horse Trials is a prestigious equestrian event and Adelaide International Guitar Festival has potential, though it seems the Classic Adelaide will be a no-goer this year

I've just discovered that Feast, Christmas Pageant and the Horse Trails will clash on Saturday 13 November 2010, and that is usually the day the Adelaide Pride March + Opening Party takes place in the city... could be an interesting day to be in the city :lol: or does this always happen?
It's because its third to Syd & Melb that i initially dismissed Feast as Nov defining festival (similarly why i was reluctant to include the Adelaide Show and probably shouldn't have). As when you think of Australia's GLBT captital it's hands down Sydney and the number 1 GLBT event is Syd Mardi Gras. From wiki it says that Syd Mardi Gras festival and Melb Midsumma are both in the top 5 world gay events (with NY San Fran and Vancouver). So Feast fails miserably at my first criteria of being #1 in Oz and high up in the world. That's not to say Feast is a bad festival just that its against tough competition in Oz. The reason i included this criteria is from the point of view of attracting tourists from interstate and overseas. ie people are more likely to go to Syd or Melb from around oz or the world to experience this type of festival. And half the reason to have a full year of festivals is to make this our main/identifiable tourist attraction instead of a bridge or house.

However, there is no denying Feast's presence. I didn't realise it went for three weeks i thought it was only one. Thus Feast certainly does take over Nov. I must admit i've never really noticed when Feast is on, although this may be because Nov has been exam time for me for the last 4 years and i was overseas last year, maybe ill notice this year now ive finishd uni and i get to reclaim nov. That event hub in light square you mention definitely sounds like a city invasion to me! As for accessibility i dare say Feast has turned(is turning) a niche into mainstream much to the same beat as the Cabaret Festival.

So then only my first criteria is really not satisfied. But ive let other festivals through that don't satisfy 100% all points, and like you say its only getting bigger so maybe one day it will be the sixth festival mentioned on wikipedia :wink: (i guess we could change wiki right now if we wanted to :wink: :wink: ) A bit like how Adelaide's film festival topped Melb a few years ago to be mentioned as oz's only entry in the top 100 unmissable filmfests in Variety (the film's industry top mag).

Thus I amend my initial summary with:

November's Defining Festival: Feast Festival
-Feast is in Australia's top 4 queer festivals (alongside Sydney's Mardi Gras, Melbourne's Midsumma, Perth's Pride Festival).
-In 2010 Feast runs for 15 days (Nov13-28)
-2010's Light Square Festival Hub sounds like it could emulate the impact on the city the garden of unearthly delights does for the fringe or the Spiegel tent does for the adelaide festival as
-The festival aims to be far reaching into the community

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#20 Post by peachy » Fri Jul 09, 2010 11:42 pm

Ok then running score card:

JAN: TDU - SPORTING FEST
FEB: FRINGE - VARIETY FEST
MAR: ARTS - PERFORMING ARTS FEST
APR: ? EASTER/ANZAC/CAMPING ?
MAY: TASTING - FOOD FEST
JUN: CABARET - ENTERTAINMENT FEST
JUL: *SCIENCE* - SCIENCE FEST
AUG: SALA - VISUAL ART FEST
SEP: ? SHOW ?
OCT: OZASIA - CULTURAL FEST
NOV: FEAST - LGBT FEST
DEC: ? CHRISTMAS/NY ?

So if July got a Science festival we'd be looking pretty sweet and would just need our current assortment to get bigger and better with time.

As for the weaker months April, Sept, Dec;
An April fest must deal with many people going away over Easter/School holidays (which fluctuates in dates) more so than other school holidays as we have two long weekends with ANZAC day.
In Sept the Show is still going to compete for families spending dolar, so Sept's fest needs to cope with this. Although i didn't want to get into looking at changing months of our currents fests, as that opens a whole other can of worms, SALA being all free to see could foreseeable slip into Sept without competing with the show, freeing up Aug (wintery weather though).
Lastly Dec has Christmas and end of year stuff so i wouldn't even bother putting a fest in as it couldn't compete for time, money or attention. Christmas is Dec's fest in Adel just like it is in many places in the world. It lasts from the pageant up until boxing day, decorations take over the city and 99%(probably) of people do something for it.

i'd still like to see an aboriginal festival still. So with weather considerations maybe April would be good.

Then we still need to fill Sept (or Aug).

thoughts?

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#21 Post by Will » Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:00 am

I think it's great to include more activities into the events calendar, however I would like people to think about the following: Why is it OK for cities like Brisbane and Perth to have big gaps in their events calendar, and for no-one to give a s^#$, yet if we do not have world class events for 24 hours per day and for 365 days per year we are a backwater?

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#22 Post by Wayno » Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:23 am

I'd like an 'annual grape harvest' celebration in April

Grapes get picked across the feb-apr, and this should be celebrated given our wine industry produces 45+% of australian wine and is quite obviously the best in the country, if not the world!

The wineries from each region (Barossa, Fleurieu, Mount Lofty Ranges, Far north, Limestone coast, Lower Murray) could run a convoy of vehicles, each bringing several bunches of grapes - all converging at Victoria Square to be crushed in a few vats by the feet of many fair maidens. Imagine the media coverage! This would occur Saturday lunchtime and be followed by an evening of wine, food and song. Simple but effective.

Other ideas:
* Run a grape variant of "The Tomatina" in our parklands
* The fountain in VSQ could be converted to run on wine for a weekend
* Run a series of wine making classes across the weekend
* We could get drunk - ok, that was probably going to happen anyway :-)
* Olives get picked at the same time as grapes (autumn) so include them into the festival as well
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#23 Post by fkj » Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:01 pm

Nathan wrote:
Prince George wrote:
fabricator wrote:You forgot April fools day :!:
We should announce a bogus festival for April 1, and see who shows up.
These guys would ;)

Image

From: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/friends-s ... 5861039395
i just realised, the guy 3 from the right works with me
biggest idiot ever he is ;)

peachy
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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#24 Post by peachy » Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:57 pm

Will wrote:I think it's great to include more activities into the events calendar, however I would like people to think about the following: Why is it OK for cities like Brisbane and Perth to have big gaps in their events calendar, and for no-one to give a s^#$, yet if we do not have world class events for 24 hours per day and for 365 days per year we are a backwater?
I don't think anyone on this thread is suggesting Adelaide is/will be a back water if we don't come up with more festivals quick, but i think i know that part of the media/community that you're referring to. The best way to overcome this problem is just to ignore it (especially as i don't think its present here) and look at this thread as an exercise of trying to aim ever higher for our city rather than trying to fix something that is lacking.

In the wider sense though as to why Bris and Perth get off the hook, they probably don't in there own city. I've heard of plenty of WAers complain that their shops aren't open on sunday and they don't have day light saving and that this is backwater thinking etc. I'm guessing Bris has a similar relationship with Syd as Adel has with Melb, always being unfairly compared. Otherwise, perhaps it's because we are better than Bris & Perth :wink: and have greater aspirations for our city?

If there does exist a higher emphasise that Adel has events year round, it's because we are the Festival State and we're backing the festival horse as being our main tourist attraction rather than a bridge or a house. So it would be awesome for our tourism credentials if there is a big festival on or just around the corner all weeks of the year. But we're certainly not a back water if we stay the way we are at the moment. There is also the argument that rather than put more festivals in we should nurture and build up the ones we already have, but again that's not the purpose of this thread.
Wayno wrote:I'd like an 'annual grape harvest' celebration in April
Perhaps if held in late April this could be the precursor of Tasting Australia making it a 'wine, food and wine festival' :D

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Re: Filling the empty months in Adelaide’s Festival calendar

#25 Post by peas_and_corn » Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:18 pm

peachy wrote:
Will wrote:I think it's great to include more activities into the events calendar, however I would like people to think about the following: Why is it OK for cities like Brisbane and Perth to have big gaps in their events calendar, and for no-one to give a s^#$, yet if we do not have world class events for 24 hours per day and for 365 days per year we are a backwater?
I don't think anyone on this thread is suggesting Adelaide is/will be a back water if we don't come up with more festivals quick, but i think i know that part of the media/community that you're referring to. The best way to overcome this problem is just to ignore it (especially as i don't think its present here) and look at this thread as an exercise of trying to aim ever higher for our city rather than trying to fix something that is lacking.

In the wider sense though as to why Bris and Perth get off the hook, they probably don't in there own city. I've heard of plenty of WAers complain that their shops aren't open on sunday and they don't have day light saving and that this is backwater thinking etc. I'm guessing Bris has a similar relationship with Syd as Adel has with Melb, always being unfairly compared. Otherwise, perhaps it's because we are better than Bris & Perth :wink: and have greater aspirations for our city?

If there does exist a higher emphasise that Adel has events year round, it's because we are the Festival State and we're backing the festival horse as being our main tourist attraction rather than a bridge or a house. So it would be awesome for our tourism credentials if there is a big festival on or just around the corner all weeks of the year. But we're certainly not a back water if we stay the way we are at the moment. There is also the argument that rather than put more festivals in we should nurture and build up the ones we already have, but again that's not the purpose of this thread.
Wayno wrote:I'd like an 'annual grape harvest' celebration in April
Perhaps if held in late April this could be the precursor of Tasting Australia making it a 'wine, food and wine festival' :D

April nowadays is too late to pick grapes. This year the harvest was early March- talking to wine makers they say that it has been getting earlier every year. These things are hard to schedule because it's so weather dependent, though.

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