Leo Schofield’s 10 qualities that make a successful festival

Directing a dozen arts festivals has given Leo Schofield a clear view on the secrets to ensuring a festival works.
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Image: Goldschmied & Chiari: Where shall we go dancing tonight?

The very word festival is freighted with interest and promise. Of course it’s applied promiscuously to all kinds of events from used tyre sales to produce. I am intrigued by the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, and the Coal Shovelling Festival in Tasmania’s Fingal Valley –  but despite ubiquitous usage the word ‘festival’ has not lost its pulling power over centuries and is generally taken to imply stimulation of one sort or another, physical and mental. However most people associate it with performance.

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Leo Schofield
About the Author
Leo Schofield AM has been artistic director of the Melbourne Festival, the Sydney Festival and  2000 Summer Olympics arts program,among others as well as a journalist, restaurant critic and . trustee of arts and cultural organisations.