Highlights of the AAPPAC Adelaide Conference 2016

Delegates who were present at Adelaide Festival Centre (AFC) in September would know that the unpredictability of nature posed more than a few challenges to this year’s Annual Conference of the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres (AAPPAC).

As AFC and Adelaide Riverbank enter into an exciting period of renewal and redevelopment, the conference theme “Arts Centres – Connecting and Inspiring Communities” was a timely reminder of the power of art precincts to motivate and bring people together.

The Conference’s timing aligned with AFC’s OzAsia Festival, Australia’s premier international arts festival focusing on Asia. Celebrating its tenth year, the annual programme under Festival Director Joseph Mitchell featured the finest theatre, dance, music, circus, film, talks, multimedia and visual arts that Asia has to offer. Along with world class performances, the Festival held a number of free community events. These included Australia’s largest lantern parade for the celebrated Moon Lantern Festival and homage to the street markets of Asia with Good Fortune Market.With AAPPAC Chairman Douglas Gautier AM at the helm of AFC, the Centre was a flurry of anticipation and excitement as we prepared to welcome delegates from across the region. The carefully organised programme would stretch over five days, presenting a range of panels, networking and entertainment events. Although the schedule did not include extreme weather, Mother Nature had other plans.

On Wednesday, after a lovely welcoming reception at Government House on Tuesday night, the conference opened with a special Welcome to Country by Jack Bucksin from Taouondi Aboriginal College. Douglas Gautier welcomed delegates and key industry leaders, and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill delivered the welcome address followed by His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC with a moving keynote address outlining the personal impact of arts and culture on communities and individuals.

Douglas Gautier proudly presented Sue Nattrass AO with an AAPPAC Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sue Nattrass accepting award from Douglas Gautier

Bernd M Scherer, Director of House of World Cultures in Berlin, kicked off the conference discussions as the opening speaker, outlining the conference theme and discussing the ways in which House of World Cultures engage with and serves their community. Through various art and cultural practices they work with four communities: older people, migrants, students and precariously living intellectuals and artists. His address reminded us of the power we have as arts centres to make a difference in the lives of our communities.

Jay Weatherill

Session One was a memorable opening session examining the vital relationship between arts centres and communities. The session was moderated by Carillo Ganter AO with guest panellists.

Due to inclement weather, delegates were unable to attend the scheduled performance of Phare Circus in OzAsia Festival’s Good Fortune Market after lunch. The company instead came indoors to perform on the Banquet Room stage with OzAsia Festival Director Joseph Mitchell introducing the performance and discussing the origin and history of the company with Phare Circus’ Artistic Director.

Phare Circus

Session Two on Education and Participation Through the Arts explored the current practices and perspective of engaging children, young audiences and families through art with moderator Liz Hawkins. Unfortunately, the storm outside meant that power was lost three quarters of the way through the session.

Session Three was also affected by the power outage. A back-up generator allowed power for the amplifier and microphone so that the panellists and moderator Nigel Ralph could discuss universities and training. Their session focused on alliances, partnerships and opportunities between arts centres and the tertiary education sector.

Wednesday night’s roof top reception at Finlaysons and evening OzAsia performances were cancelled with the storm and power outage so an impromptu reception was hosted with candle lit drinks in the Piano Bar after Session Three.

Hieu Van Le

After a difficult night with many guests evacuated from the InterContinental in the late evening/early morning, Session Four started later on Thursday morning. It proved to be an interesting session with moderator Fiona Poletti and panellists discussing creative connections, collaborations and exchange in an international context. This was followed by a lively round table networking session connecting delegates and art centres with their regional colleagues.

The first showcase, Adelaide’s Zephyr Quartet performed with a fantastic response followed by Session Five: Performing Arts Centres and the Creative Community. Moderated by Rachel Healy, the panellists provided great insight on their experiences engaging and working with artists and how independent choreographers and artists such as Daniel Kok work with arts centres and organisations.

After presentations by new AAPPAC members Singapore Symphonia Company Limited and The Star Performing Arts Centre, delegates received a theatre pitch from The Wider Earth. With severe weather warnings reported, the rest of the day’s programming including the Mayor’s function at Adelaide Town Hall and an OzAsia Festival performance was cancelled and guests returned safely to their hotels.

Vertigo 20

On Friday, the final day of the conference went ahead as scheduled. Liz Hawkins, AFC’s Director of Programming hosted a breakfast for programmers in the morning and Session Eight, Current Programming Trends and Priorities in Venues and Festivals in Asia, was moderated by Joseph Mitchell. Session Nine, Touring in China, was a simultaneous translation session offering Mandarin/English translation for delegates.

Guitar virtuosos Slava and Leonard Grigoryan presented a thirty minute classical music showcase followed by the AAPPAC Annual General Meeting and Business Circle Meeting. The AAPPAC Dialogue was chaired by Douglas Gautier and Patrick Xu Tao from Xinghai Concert Hall presented on the AAPPAC 2017 Conference.

Acknowledged as one of Australia’s finest didgeridoo players, Mark Atkins stunned the delegates with a funny, moving performance, bringing the day’s sessions to a close. After a VIP closing reception in Lyrics, delegates were treated to a stunning performance by Israeli Dance Company Vertigo 20 in the Dunstan Playhouse.

Despite the great challenges posed by the unpredictability of nature, it was a pleasure hosting AAPPAC delegates for the 2016 Annual Conference. We greatly appreciate the support and understanding of members and speakers and feel grateful to have made so many new friends. We hope you will all return to Adelaide for sunnier skies and to see the completion of AFC’s redevelopment. We look forward to visiting Guangzhou, China for the 2017 Conference at beautiful Xinghai Concert Hall!