Adelaide Festival Centre dives into Summer 2022 with Festival Theatre reopening and more

Adelaide Festival Centre is eagerly anticipating the return of its largest venue Festival Theatre as part of a Summer 2022 season packed with unique experiences for audiences to enjoy. 

The Festival Theatre’s opening weekend is set to include Rolling Stones tribute concert The Stones’ Sticky Fingers featuring Aussie rock royalty – Magic Dirt’s Adalita, Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson, The Cruel Sea’s Tex Perkins and You Am I’s Tim Rogers – for one night only on 13 February 2022. 

In the Festival Theatre foyer, the star-studded Walk of Fame portrait exhibition will reappear with the addition of the yet-to-be-revealed six new stars from 2020 and 2021, while the QBE Galleries will host Bravo Festival Theatre! – a unique selection of artworks and objects sharing untold stories about the renowned venue – from 12 February 2022.  

Festival Theatre across the Torrens by Jacqueline Hick

Other Adelaide Festival Centre venues will get in on the act with a Lunar New Year Concert in the Space Theatre and Students Got Talent in the Dunstan Playhouse on 12 February 2022.  

Another unveiling the following week will see Adelaide Festival Centre’s wondrous new interactive Children’s Artspace gallery open its doors with artworks by and for South Australian children on display from 19 February 2022. 

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artistic Director Douglas Gautier AM: “We’ll have an action-packed Summer 2022 season here at Adelaide Festival Centre with an extensive programme of shows and events for audiences of all ages and interests. It’s going to be fantastic to welcome everyone back to our magnificent Festival Theatre and to reveal the new direction we’re taking to enhance the experience for families attending events at our venues.  

“South Australian artists will continue to shine here at Adelaide Festival Centre with events like Students Got Talent and the Lunar New Year Concert, while our inSPACE Development Programme will celebrate its 20th anniversary with an engaging line-up of emerging local talent. As the heart of the arts in SA, we’re sure to have something for everyone to enjoy this summer at Adelaide Festival Centre.” 

A Lunar New Year Concert will return following the success of last year’s event.

With 2022 marking 20 years of Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE Development Programme, two exciting new works will see the anniversary celebrations kick off in style. 

Lina Limosani’s interdisciplinary dance work Bárbaros (4 February 2022) will question humanity’s relationship with civilisation and live exhibition Unheard (24 February 2022) will tell the stories of Black Indigenous People of Colour in a work which breaks the fourth wall between the audience and artist. 

The inSPACE Development program provides a unique opportunity to support, encourage and provide invaluable feedback to South Australian independent artists, with works-in-progress shown to an invited audience of arts critics, industry experts and members of the public at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Drama Centre Rehearsal Room.  

Live exhibition Unheard will be presented as part of Adelaide Festival Centre’s inSPACE Development Programme.

Summer at Adelaide Festival Centre also features Rock ‘n’ Roll City, a vibrant exhibition about SA’s pub rock scene – captured through the live concert photographs of Eric Algra – on display in the Ian & Pamela Wall Gallery at Her Majesty’s Theatre until 20 May 2022. 

For more information about upcoming performances and events, visit www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au.