OzAsia Festival 2021 celebrates Asian Australian talent on new level

OzAsia Festival 2021 is set to present the world’s most significant showcases of Asian Australian talent, with tickets on sale for an exciting range of contemporary works.

Held from 21 October 2021 to 7 November 2021, OzAsia Festival has everything from theatre, music, dance and comedy to film, literature and visual art.

The festival returns to Adelaide Festival Centre following last year’s online offering, and will mark the first full-scale OzAsia Festival to be delivered under the leadership of its new Artistic Director, Annette Shun Wah:

“OzAsia Festival 2021 takes place at a critical moment for Australia’s engagement with Asia, and there’s no better time to ensure the people who best embody that connection – Australians of Asian background – lead the conversation. This year’s distinctive and forward-looking programme presents a wealth of exceptional talent and exciting new voices. I invite audiences to enjoy exploring the many treats we have in store, and I can’t wait to see you all in October.”

Foodies favourite Lucky Dumpling Market will return to Elder Park, and the ever-popular Moon Lantern Parade is evolving from a one-night event to span four days of free family experiences across the festival’s opening weekend.

Starting at Adelaide Festival Centre and taking audiences over the Oval footbridge to Pinky Flat, the newly named Moon Lantern Trail will boast roving performances, interactive workshops and live music – along with plenty of giant lanterns on display.

Adelaide Festival Centre Artistic Director & CEO Douglas Gautier AM: “As Australia’s leading contemporary arts festival fostering cultural engagement between Australia and Asia, OzAsia Festival is an important celebration of diversity within Australia and artistic excellence. Artistic Director Annette Shun Wah is our country’s most prominent and respected advocate for Asian Australian artists and their work, and this certainly shines through in the exciting program she has prepared for us. I look forward to welcoming you all to Adelaide Festival Centre for this spectacular showcase of contemporary Asian Australian programming.”

New writing and ideas programme In Other Words (5 – 7 November 2021) will bring together some of Asia and Australia’s most inspiring contemporary writers as they engage in vital conversations about our past, present and future.

Programme Curator Laura Kroetsch, a long-time curator and producer of literary and ideas events, will be joined by writer/broadcaster Benjamin Law and award-winning Indian Australian author Roanna Gonsalves as guest curators.

In Other Words Programme Curator Laura Kroetsch

In Other Words Programme Curator Laura Kroetsch: “The thing I have most enjoyed about reading and thinking about this event is that it has given me a chance to experience a sensibility not my own. I have so thoroughly enjoyed travelling around Australia and the Asia-Pacific through stories. The experience has been utterly enlightening.”

Guest Curator Benjamin Law: “OzAsia Festival is a brilliant celebration of Asian Australian culture and a community whose presence here pre-dates white arrival. It’s also a brilliant opportunity to take stock of Australia’s place in the Asia-Pacific and have some of the most urgent conversations about our shared futures.”

Guest Curator Roanna Gonsalves: “Everybody needs good neighbours. But what if the neighbours are also family, united and divided by two continents, two oceans and one big virus? In Other Words brings together the world’s most exciting contemporary writers who live and love in Asia and Australia as they engage in vital conversations about the churn of our histories, our present longings and our interdependent futures.”

The full OzAsia Festival program can be viewed online at www.ozasiafestival.com.au.