Melbourne International Arts Festival

Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia, from 1986 to 2019. It was to be superseded by a new festival called Rising from 2020 (which was subsequently derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia).

Not to be confused with Festival Melbourne, Festivals and events in Melbourne, or Melbourne's festivals.
Melbourne International Arts Festival
GenreMajor arts, theatre, music and cultural festival
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s)Melbourne, Australia
Years active37
Inaugurated1986
Participants1,000 artists (2013)[1]
Attendance416,547 (2013)[1]

History

Names

Spoleto Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, under the direction of composer Gian Carlo Menotti, was established in 1986 by the Cain government, as a sister festival of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto and the Spoleto Festival USA held in Charleston, South Carolina. The festival changed its name to the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts in 1990. It then became known as Melbourne International Arts Festival from 2003, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival.[2][3]

The Festival was later renamed Melbourne International Arts Festival, which it retained until 2019.[4]

Directors

It has had a number of high-profile artistic directors, including Clifford Hocking, Leo Schofield, Robyn Archer, Richard Wherrett, Jonathan Mills and Kristy Edmunds.[5]

The artistic director for the 2009–2012 festivals was Brett Sheehy. Previously, Sheehy was artistic director of the Adelaide Festival of Arts (2006–2008), and Festival Director and Chief executive of Sydney Festival (2002–2005).[6]

In January 2012, Melbourne Festival announced the appointment of Josephine Ridge as creative director for the 2013 festival and beyond. Prior to her appointment Josephine was general manager, then executive director and co-CEO with four artistic directors at Sydney Festival. Josephine appointed several high-profile arts workers to her creative team, including Louise Neri (Creative Associate – Visual Arts) and Richard Tognetti (Creative Associate – Music).[7]

Selected productions

The 2006 Melbourne Festival hosted a production of Ngapartji Ngapartji, with much of the dialogue in the Pitjantjatjara language.[8]

It premiered the universally critically acclaimed productions from The Black Arm Band, murundak in 2006, Hidden Republic in 2008 and dirtsong in 2009.[9][10]

In 2015 the Australian Art Orchestra debuted Water Pushes Sand at the Festival. The piece merged Australian and Sichuanese folk musical styles and featured Zheng Sheng Li, a Sichuan Cheng Du "face changing" dancer.[11]

In 2019 it was announced that in 2020, the festival would be transformed into Rising, to be held in the winter over several weeks. The new festival would combine the Melbourne International Arts Festival with White Night Melbourne Reimagined.[12]

Description

Melbourne Festival was one of the most significant festivals in Australia, together with the Sydney Festival and the Adelaide Festival of Arts. It hosted performances by established artistic companies as well as independent acts. It was an important event on the Australian cultural calendar. Each festival invited a range of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia and outdoor events from renowned and upcoming Australian and international companies and artists to Melbourne. It offered a wide variety of free family-friendly events.[13]

It took place over 17 days each October.[4]

Artistic directors
Years Artistic Director
1986–88 Gian Carlo Menotti
1989–91 John Truscott AO
1992–93 Richard Wherrett AM
1994–96 Leo Schofield AM
1997 Clifford Hocking AM
1998–99 Sue Nattrass
2000–01 Jonathan Mills AO
2002–04 Robyn Archer AO
2005–08 Kristy Edmunds
2009–12 Brett Sheehy AO
2013–15 Josephine Ridge
2016–19[14] Jonathan Holloway

See also

References
  1. "2013 Report to the Community". Melbourne International Festival of the Arts. 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  2. "Festival History". Melbourne Festival. 26 February 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  3. "History – Melbourne Writers Festival". Melbourne Writers Festival. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  4. "Melbourne International Arts Festival". Melbourne International Arts Festival. 20 September 2021. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  5. "Subscribe to The Australian Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps". myaccount.news.com.au. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  6. "Brett Sheehy AO – Melbourne Theatre Company". Melbourne Theatre Company. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  7. "New creative director for festival". Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  8. "ParlInfo – Search Results". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  9. "The Upstagers". theMusic. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  10. "REVIEW: Black Arm Band Present DIRTSONG". Theatre Press. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  11. Pithie, Kristian (19 October 2015). "Water Pushes Sand". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  12. "Melbourne to deliver bold global festival". Premier of Victoria. 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  13. "Melbourne Festival, 04—22 October 2017". Melbourne Festival. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  14. "Melbourne Festival artistic director Jonathan Holloway to bow out in 2019". 16 May 2018.
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