2009 OzAsia Festival shows announced!
The 2009 OzAsia Festival presents bahok with Akram Kahn Company and the National Ballet of China and Into the Fire a presentation by Paul Grabowsky, Australian Art Orchestra and the Sruthi Laya Percussion Ensemble, with special guest and Bharatanatyam dancer Rajeskwari Sainat. Check the news page for more information and to book tickets! The full 2009 OzAsia Festival program will be launched July 2009.
Adelaide Festival Centre's 2nd annual OzAsia Festival a great success!
The 2nd annual OzAsia Festival was embraced by Adelaide and highlighted how South Australia is celebrating and strengthening the cultural and artistic links that exist between our nation and Asia. The Festival was not only was a great cultural success but it also achieved 122% of its box office target, posting more than 20,000 total attendances across the two weeks a 33% increase from 2007. This is an exceptional result for a festival in its infancy, with 16 performances and workshops completely sold/booked out.
The 15 day Festival featured 48 cross-cultural performances, music, visual arts, film, cuisine, workshops and a full-day symposium.
Most importantly the OzAsia Festival reinforced its position as a festival for the whole community Lieutenant Governor of SA Hieu Van Le said "the Festival provides opportunities for engagement for people at all levels. Cultural engagement and the arts can help build bridges, understanding and tolerance like nothing else can. This is a notion that Asian cultures have understood for thousands of years. The community was able to participate in the Festival through many free events, performances, exhibitions and workshops. Evidence of its success was through the opening event, the Moon Lantern Festival on 14 September, which saw over 10,000 people converge on Elder Park to enjoy the free performances, eat moon cakes and watch the parade of 1500 school children and community group members with home-made lanterns. Overall the festival was an opportunity for everyone to engage with and learn about Asian culture".
Undoubtedly one of the festival highlights was the keynote speech by the Hon Kevin Rudd MP Prime Minister of Australia who spoke about the challenges and opportunities for closer cultural engagement with Asia in the 21st Century. The PM keynote speech was attended by more than 900 interested members of the public including arts, Asia and political enthusiasts and opened a day of debate and discussion on a wide range of topics, from arts and storytelling to politics, philosophy and education, with a variety of guest speakers.
Sold out performances included the runaway "hit", anime rock musical Once Upon a Midnight, the bilingual production which completely sold out every performance before opening night; culinary delight Two Chefs & 100 Cultures with renowned chefs Cheong Liew and Simon Bryant; the OzAsia on Screen film Sringaram - Dance of Love and workshops for secondary school students with Indonesian poet Sitok Srengenge, writer singer Jan Cornall and storytelling sessions and grass sculpture demonstrations with visual artist Jumaadi.
The Festival ended on a high with the final spectacular dance drama Shaolin in Wind, an Australian exclusive providing a memorable ending to the 2008 event, with over seventy martial arts, acrobatics and classical ballet performers taking to the Festival Theatre stage
OzAsia Festival Executive Producer Jacinta Thompson said "I would like to thank the public for embracing and continuing to build this unique international festival and I look forward to developing the program further for next year. The dates for the 2009 OzAsia Festival will be 3 - 17 October, 2009.
This celebration of our continuing cultural engagement with Asia is on its way to becoming a beacon event in our country and on a regional basis. It is attracting the attention of artists across Australia as well as their collaborators in the region. We look forward to further engagement with general audiences, students, families, educators, politicians, Australian/Asian communities, academics and the corporate sector to further realise the importance of this festival and our connection with our neighbours."
"OzAsia is an event whose time has come. Even the PM thinks so." - The Australian
