ADELAIDE
CABARET FESTIVAL TO BECOME AN ANNUAL EVENT
Minister for the Arts,
Diana Laidlaw, announced that the inaugural Adelaide Cabaret Festival
will become an annual event. Following the unprecedented success of
the first Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the State Government will provide
the Adelaide Festival Centre with $500,000 to enable the festival
to be held annually Æ at least until the financial year 2003/2004.
Ms. Laidlaw says the annual
funding will have a strong sponsorship incentive component Æ
- The Adelaide Festival
Centre will be encouraged to use the State Government support to
gain sponsorship for the Cabaret Festival.
- The Adelaide Festival
Centre will be able to retain all the Government funding offset
by Cabaret sponsorship, for creative programming of arts projects
and events at the Centre at other times of the year.
"I am also pleased to advise
that Frank Ford has accepted my invitation to continue his inspirational
role as Chair of the Cabaret Festival Advisory Committee," Ms. Laidlaw
says.
"The inaugural festival
has generated a fantastic response both from audiences and performing
artists alike. Once again South Australia has proved itself a leader
and innovator in the arts by staging the first ever large-scale cabaret
festival in the nation.
"Festivals such as Cabaret
demonstrate in real terms the high level of interest and patronage
of the arts in South Australia - and showcase Adelaide's unique ability
to stage an event that is both innovative and accessible to audiences.
"The Adelaide Cabaret Festival
is an initiative by the State Government as part of its Arts+ 2000
Æ 2005, five year investment strategy for the arts and artists in
South Australia.
"The festival has created
more performance opportunities for South Australian artists and attracted
new audiences to the Adelaide Festival Centre."
Recent figures reveal that
40,000 attendances at the festival and an estimated 10,000 attendances
to Cabaret West. Sold out shows included Tom Burlinson, Robyn Archer,
James Morrison, Joe Longthorne, Lano & Woodley, Paul Capsis, "Lucifer's
Lounge," Liana Vargas, "Sing-a-long Sound of Music"
and Judith Lucy.
Ms. Laidlaw applauded the
Artistic Director of the Festival, Julia Holt, and her production
team at the Festival Centre, for a mighty job undertaken with lots
of goodwill within a very short time frame Æ plus everyone associated
with the Cabaret West initiative.
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