Countdown to the Cairns Festival

With a vision to deliver a vibrant, progressive and highly collaborative arts festival, the 49th Cairns Festival is set to run from 20th August to 5th September.

The Cairns Festival is the Far North region's annual celebration of culture, tropical lifestyle, landscapes and its creative community, fusing the regionâs Indigenous, Asian, European and South Pacific cultures.

Held over seventeen days, the season comprises music, dance, theatre, film, literary arts, and new collaborations built on a foundation of local identity. The Festival is funded and managed by Cairns Regional Council, and is situated within its Cultural Services and Facilities branch. Externally, the Festival is also resourced by several dozen generous corporate citizens and community leaders who have joined to advance a bold, creative mission. Guided by a Festivals Advisory Committee chaired by Mayor Val Schier, and run by a small professional team, Cairns Festival works closely with other parts of the

Council and the greater community to identify new forms of cultural representation. Partners include Tanks Arts Centre, the Esplanade, Civic Theatre, Arts Nexus, Umi Arts, Cairns Regional Gallery and Arts Queensland.

As the organisers state "most importantly, (the) Cairns Festival is made possible by thousands of creative peopleâfrom the parade participants and locally produced events to the international musicians and visiting artists in residence.

"Without them, we would have no events, no program, no creative spark. Each and every person involved in Cairns Festival brings something special to our stages, to our streets, and to our lives. They contribute their human spirit and unlimited creativity and ensure that our annual celebration is bold, meaningful, and relevant. Their presence, quite simply, is what gives Cairns Festival its soul. And that too is what sets our community's gathering apart from all the other festivals around the world."

Cairns Festival organisers point out that there are hundreds of annual festivals all over Australia, and many of them depend on the same formula: present a range of performers, invite audiences to experience them, applaud at the end, maybe dance a little in the middle, ponder what it all means.

However, Cairns Festival organisers state "there's nothing wrong with this tried and true event-based approach, but Cairns Festival wants to do more for our creative identity. We have set out to build a different kind of arts festival."

Starting this year, the Cairns Festival is introducing new ways to engage local creative people, support the unbridled creative process, and advance bold untested collaborations.

Organisers conclude "our team is now working to develop creative connections and ideas that go beneath the surface to reveal a unique cultural identity and sense of place. If we do it right, Cairns Festival will provide a bit of innovation to the standard event/audience-based model. And if we do it really right, we'll give added meaning to people's lives and a sense of wonder to what goes on around us."

www.cairnsfest.com.au