Festivals and Major Events

Adelaide Fringe The year kicks off with the biggest festival in the state, the second-biggest fringe festival in the world. I don’t always love the bigger is better, biggest is best nature of the fringe, but it has changed my life, so I kind of take the good with the bad. It makes a lot of noise with circus and burlesque and comedy, but dig into the program for some wonderful theatre and lots of storytelling. The comedy is still lots of big names from television and radio, but there are also many experimental formats which are often real gems.

Adelaide Festival Lots of theatre, and of course the literary event of the year with Writers’ Week

History Festival It’s often overlooked by artists, but this is a great opportunity to present new work. You’ll have to have a show or program that fits in with the theme, which can make it tricky, but it’s worth keeping in the back of your mind. I had a show, ‘Weird Adelaide’ inspired by Barbara Hanrahan and the gallery owner suggested History Week. It opened my work up to a whole new audience.

Dream Big Children’s Festival Maybe the only festival in the state that everyone under the age of fifty would have at least one memory of.

Cabaret Festival A subset of theatre, but I’m including it because it’s got lots of scripted storytelling. And if I’m including the festival, I can’t not include the Cabaret Fringe Festival.

Nature This festival includes a stack of writing workshops, poetry open mics, and readings in beautiful places.

OzAsia For my money, this is one of the most interesting programs of the year with a really great range of events, including a literary program.

Tarnanthi Primarily a visual arts festival centred around the Art Gallery of South Australia, but in 2023 it also included some paid writing commissions for First Nations writers in partnership with Writers SA.

Feast Like other festivals there’s always some good theatre and literature in the program. Another good opportunity for artists looking for an alternative to fringe’s enormous program.

There’s a bunch of great regional festivals:

The Salt Festival on the Southern Eyre Peninsula is not long after the Adelaide Fringe.

The Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival in May.