Adelaide Festival Centre

The full family programme for Adelaide Festival Centre’s DreamBIG Children’s Festival promises days of thoughtful and awe-inspiring entertainment. The fun and thought-provoking lineup features 350 artists and is jam packed with live performances involving song and dance, a boisterous puppy, a giant robot, fireflies, the Gruffalo, drag queens reading stories, silent discos and more.DreamBIG Children’s Festival is South Australia’s biennial children’s festival

The family component of the festival runs from late May to early June and features 12 shows, including three world premieres and seven Adelaide premieres. There will be 12 exhibitions held at Adelaide Festival Centre and venues across the city and surrounding suburbs.

There will also be more than 25 free events and activities on offer over the popular Big Family Weekend, on 25 and 26 May. 

DreamBIG Children’s Festival Creative Producer Susannah Sweeney is looking forward to children and families experiencing the festival: “We put a lot of time and effort into creating a programme that not only entertains but enriches lives.  From a world premiere show for babies, to shows tackling complex issues such as bullying and loneliness, we are proud to present this thoughtful, empathetic and entertaining festival.”

Adelaide Festival Centre’s family festival encourages children to DreamBIG

The Big Family Weekend is a spectacular free event, engaging children and families across Adelaide

Established in 1974, each festival reaches an audience of over 100,000 people with an average of 180 or more schools participating across South Australia.

The DreamBIG Opening Event, at Adelaide Oval on 22 May, will feature up to 2000 children singing the High School Musical hit “We’re All in this Together” after a reading of children’s book “Alpacas with Maracas,” held in unison with school students across Australia. Part of the National Simultaneous Storytime initiative, the event aims to get one million children reading at once. This will be followed by SA icons Electric Fields who recently came second in Australia’s Eurovision entry competition.

A week after DreamBIG Children’s Festival wraps up, Adelaide Cabaret Festival takes its place in Adelaide’s riverbank precinct. The world’s biggest and best cabaret festival gets underway from 7 to 22 Jun. The full programme will launch in April.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artistic Director Douglas Gautier AM: “This year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival line-up may be our most diverse and exciting yet, with many Australian exclusives and premieres. Securing German cabaret star Ute Lemper’s only Australian performance is a great coup for Adelaide Cabaret Festival and it’s just the beginning of what’s to come this year. Julia Zemiro’s captivating vision brings new life to the festival in its nineteenth year.”

Click here to visit Adelaide Festival Centre’s website.