The Malinauskas Labor Government is delighted to celebrate the return of South Australia’s premier arts festival, which opens with the world premiere of Baleen Moondjan, a contemporary celebration of First Nations’ culture from creative visionary Stephen Page at Glenelg tonight.

The 2024 Adelaide Festival program features 1238 Australian artists and 251 international artists from 15 countries.

It is the first of three programs curated by new Artistic Director Ruth Mackenzie and Chief Executive Kath Mainland and includes an incredible 64 events across theatre, music, opera, dance and visual arts.

The Malinauskas Government has committed an extra $2.3 million to Adelaide Festival to ensure that it can continue to bring the best local, national, and international artists to South Australia to entertain and inspire us.

We’ll also have ‘the festivals within a festival’ with the popular Adelaide Writers Week, Chamber Landscapes at UKARIA and WOMADelaide along with new initiatives Create4Adelaide – displaying works of art by South Australia’s young people on climate change – and Floods of Fire – created by the ASO and curated by international artist Airan Berg – included in the program.

For opera lovers, the Adelaide Festival will be the only place in Australia where you will be able see a main stage international opera production with Stravinsky’s The Nightingale and Other Fables, directed by Robert Lepage.

The Malinauskas Government recognises the tremendous power of the arts in our state - both culturally and economically – with South Australia renowned globally for its extraordinary festivals.

Festivals capture imagination, expose people to new ideas and bring people together to share new experiences. But they also have a significant economic impact and draw people from around the world to our state with this year’s Adelaide Festival contributing an incredible estimated gross expenditure of $57.6 million to the state’s economy.

Tickets are now on sale via www.adelaidefestival.com.au

Quotes

Attributable to Andrea Michaels

The Adelaide Festival is our state’s premier arts festival and I’m so happy to see it return for 2024 with an incredible program featuring world-class artists and performances.

This year's festival has been centred around South Australian young people, communities and artists with initiatives like Create4Adelaide and Floods of Fire.

It will be a convergence of international artists, First Nations talent, and acclaimed South Australian companies and artists on our stages and in our galleries for a truly special festival.

Attributable to Artistic Director Ruth Mackenzie CBE

We launched Adelaide Festival 2024 in Bordertown with our first free event, Harbinger: Care or Catastrophe, at Walkway Gallery in collaboration with Country Arts, showcasing new work by a remarkable group of women artists.

Meanwhile, near Glenelg, Stephen Page and his team are preparing the opening performance from February 28 to March 2, a perfect family show on the beach with the sunset setting the stage.

Our world-class artists are presenting indoor and outdoor performances, both free and ticketed, providing everyone with an opportunity to embark on an adventure with our extraordinary artists.

Attributable to Chief Executive Kath Mainland CBE

This is the first festival that Ruth and I have programmed, and we sincerely hope that the line-up of world-class artists from around the globe, including South Australia, will offer everyone fun, joy and an opportunity for reflection.

This is the moment when Adelaide speaks with the world, and the world comes to Adelaide.