South Australia: So much more than the Festival State

Australia's love of Adelaide Festival and the Adelaide Fringe means we sometimes overlook the local sector's dynamic, year round activity. But no more!
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Adelaide at night; photo by Adam Bruzzone. Copyright SATC.

South Australia has the reputation of being the Festival State, but like every Australian state and territory, there’s a vibrant array of cultural activity bubbling away all year round.

Organisations such as Samstag and Guildhouse respond to the festival season by growing capacity around the opportunities they create, while others work in partnership to program innovative new work. ArtsHub speaks with a range of South Australian organisations to find out how they work alongside festivals to expand their programming and strengthen the state’s cultural sector.

New investments are changing the narrative

‘There’s a huge groundswell of creative work being done by independent artists in this state. You can see the intervention we’ve made into groups like Vitalstatistix, Slingsby and Brink Productions, all of which are burgeoning performing arts companies. There’s a disproportionate representation of year-round activity really generated by those companies at a local level but also nationally and internationally where they’re now being more and more acclaimed,’ said Peter Louca, Executive Director, Arts South Australia.

The intervention Louca refers to is the support Arts SA offered to companies defunded by OzCo in May 2016, one of many ways the state government supports the local sector.

Another, more recent example of the way Arts SA invests in growing the state’s cultural capacity is the refurbishment of Odeon Theatre to create a new home for Australian Dance Theatre (ADT).

‘ADT is one of our major performing arts companies; we’ve also got State Theatre Company, with its largest ever attended program last year … We supported State Theatre’s recent touring work into the regions, and we’ve also supported ADT moving to a more urban centre in Norwood, the Odeon Theatre, which will be a new international dance hub,’ said Louca. 

Read: Adelaide: On the cusp of a cultural renaissance

Festivals support and grow the arts year round

Gillian Brown, Curator at the Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, said in a smaller city like Adelaide, festivals are ‘terrific lenses through which to focus on specific aspects of the work being produced by artists and organisations.’ 

‘But of course artists and organisations create, exhibit and produce year-round, and there is the concern that the demand on audience attention that a festival produces can divert attention from the fantastic exhibitions, concerts and theatre that occur outside of their remit. In a time in which audience numbers are a key measure of success, this undoubtedly has a flow on effect on funding and the types of projects that receive public attention,’ she said.

While it is important to keep these concerns in mind, Brown believes that the championing of arts festivals in South Australia is a positive thing and creates opportunities for new work to develop.

‘The swells of interest that internationally recognised festivals create are welcome opportunities to witness and create some brilliantly ambitious works that might not be possible without that focus of support,’ she explained.

‘South Australia’s embedded festival-mindset also gives rise to smaller, grass-roots events (like the current FRAN Fest focusing on feminist artistic practice and history) that highlight the power of experimentation and cooperation to push culture forward. I’d like to think that festivals are a window of opportunity to increase access to the arts, an opportunity to spark ideas and experience, and perhaps fire-up an ongoing interest in new audience members.’

Read: International opportunities for local artists

Partnership is key

‘Our home companies are here 52 weeks of the year, presenting a great diversity of content for audiences that is of an extremely high standard … The ASO together with the other home companies, play a vital role in the cultural vibrancy of the place,’ said ASO Managing Director Vincent Ciccarello, who stressed the importance of working in partnership with festivals.

‘We are really chuffed that over the years we have had a really close relationship with Adelaide Festival and played a central role in some of the milestone events here. Of course it has been announced here now that the ASO is a presenting partner in Hamlet and the ASO also played for Barrie Kosky’s production of Saul. We feel we have a close and important relationship with the Adelaide Festival.’ 

Read: Growing capacity with disco

There’s room to grow capacity through festivals

To foster connections between artists and audiences throughout the year, Guildhouse started the initiative Well Made.

‘The artists and makers and designers that are working away in their practice aren’t necessarily as visible or accessible to the general public as a big festival may be,’ said Guildhouse Executive Director Emma Fey.

‘I think it’s fair to say that most audiences, most members of the general public – including those who are well informed about what they like in terms of art and design are just not actually aware of the diversity and the richness of artists and practitioners that are actually possibly even in their own neighbourhood. There are sensational artists’ studios tucked away in all different pockets of the city and regionally, and I think that there’s a great opportunity to actually make those connections more prevalent. 

‘I’ve got a bit of a vision that when we do have a major festival or an event on like the Adelaide Festival or Womad, that in addition to that there’ll also be a series of arts events or tours – either self-guided or led by an operator – that allows a visitor to South Australia to go and make those studio connections, to go and visit some artists’ studios and discover work that really interests them. We want them to have those conversations, understand that artist’s work, potentially even buy an artist’s work or begin a dialogue that could mean that they are a collector of that artist’s work longer term.’

Read: The art of a Well Made practice

Everything is connected

Jane Macfarlane, CEO, the Helpmann Academy said it’s not about having one or the other. ‘Everything is connected here and that is one of the unique things about being in South Australia … the size and the connectivity within the state [means] that it’s a lot easier for those us here to develop partnerships and collaborations across institutions as well as the Festivals. There is just no equivalent in any other state,’ she said. 

‘To be able to umbrella the higher education institutions to create those connections across a whole range of mediums as well as through the festivals … I think it’s actually a unique value that South Australia has.’    

Read: The future of arts education

It’s not just the home companies

In the example of OzAsia Festival this year, programming isn’t limited to a small window but extends after the festival finishes up. ‘Most arts festivals run over just two or three weeks and so consequently they don’t really align with exhibition running dates, which can go on for months,’ said OzAsia Festival’s Artistic Director, Joseph Mitchell.

Departing from the timeframe of a traditional festival, the exhibition After Utopia – which showcases some of the best contemporary visual arts work from across South East Asia – runs for three months.

‘We’ll open it at the start of the festival and let it keep going through to the end of December because this is the first time there’s ever been a major showcase of Singapore Art Museum’s work in Australia and we’re just really pleased to give audiences that opportunity,’ Mitchell said.

Read: Celebrating the art of connection

Brooke Boland
About the Author
Brooke Boland is a freelance writer based on the South Coast of NSW. She has a PhD in literature from the University of NSW. You can find her on Instagram @southcoastwriter.