The AWESOME ARTS FESTIVAL — A Peer Review
By Søren Kristoffer Kløft (text, photos & videos)— sk@teatercentrum.dk
1. INTRODUCTION — providing the external perspective
The following peer review is based on my stay at the AWESOME International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things in Perth (WA) — from the 4th — 12th of October 2019. It is based on what I have seen, heard and observed myself during my stay at the festival.
From the 5th — 11th of October I participated in as many activities as possible at the Perth Cultural Centre. On the 12th of October I also went to see shows and attend festival activities at the campus of University of Western Australia. I did not, however, attend any of the school excursions in the Perth Cultural Centre that took place from 15th — 18th of October. I had left Perth again by then.
I did not know about the festival before I was invited by AWESOME CEO Jenny Simpson to conduct a review which was to be a good example of honest and constructive criticism as well as, if possible, a display of some good ideas that might come to mind during my stay in Perth.
It is my hope that this peer review will provide the festival board and team — and other people closely related to the festival organization — with an external perspective on the festival in general as well as giving an account of the choice of festival sites, venues, shows, staff — and also taking the degree of audience engagement into consideration.
In offering me this year’s position as Peer Reviewer of the AWESOME ARTS festival Jenny Simpson emphasized that she was not asking me to tell her how good I thought her festival was, or how well things were running. No, she wanted me to pinpoint some of the things that might need to be improved.
I have tried to do just that, but along the way I have also tried to give an honest account of how I felt about being at the festival, taking part in the events (including workshops and exhibitions), watching the shows, talking to the audience and artists, breathing in the festival air and taking in the festival atmosphere.
Because that is exactly what a festival is in my opinion — a full and whole experience, not just a lot of independent events that happen to be programmed in the same week. However, I am a theatre person and that is why I will mainly focus my energy on evaluating the theatre shows and performances below.
2. SOME WORDS ABOUT ME — background and professional experience
Festivals never cease to fascinate me, and I have been working in the field of theatre and performing arts for young audiences (TYA) since 2002. Through my work as head of communications at the Aprilfestival in Denmark (the biggest and oldest festival of its kind the world) and a hard working member of the organizing team of the same festival I have gained a lot of hands on experience with regard to how a festival is run and how it can be improved.
Over the years I have visited a great number of festivals, theatre events and show cases (both as a delegate and as part of a touring theatre company) — both in Denmark and around the world; mainly in Europe but also in North America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia — and now in Australia as well.
I hold a university degree in International Development Studies and English as well as a diploma in Journalism & Communication. So, I am quite trained in languages and communication — but my first language is still Danish, and that might show in my choice of words in the following text.
3. THE FESTIVAL IN GENERAL — first impressions and general remarks
The AWESOME ARTS festival’s focus on pre-teen audience and the fact that it takes place in the October school holiday makes it look as a success even before you begin to look at this event in more detail. And I understand why AWESOME has established itself as an important annual event for families and schools in Perth and surrounding area.
Focusing most of the AWESOME ARTS festival activities within the Perth Cultural Centre and surrounding cultural institutions is a good idea and a privilege to be able to do. Many other festivals can only dream of being able to concentrate their activities in one area like this, having most venues within walking distance, but they often meet physical and organizational challenges when they try to do so.
Therefore I was so happy to enter the festival site on the first day, learning that all the venues were situated close by, feeling that the surrounding park area offered a welcoming atmosphere, and seeing that the access to and from the area in general — and to and from the venues in particular — was good.
At first sight the park area looked a little like an inflatable theme park to me but taking a closer look at everything I soon found out that most of the inflatable elements had a well-defined function in relation to certain activities at the festival. As did all the activity tents with pop-up events.
4. WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA
I really like the festival website — www.awesomearts.com — it only contains the information you will need to know in order to navigate around the festival. But the era of elaborate www-sites might be over for festivals, I reckon. The obvious next step will definitely be to develop an APP. Most people do not spend much time on their computers anymore — they are on their (smart)phones. Which brings me to the next topic: SoMe.
Designing an up to date SOcial MEdia strategy is close to impossible — partly because this field of communication in general is evolving so fast that what was the new black a minute ago is obsolete the following moment. The AWSOME ARTS festival’s presence on Facebook and Instagram is an obvious choice.
These platforms are the most popular, and they are perfect vehicles for both text, pictures and video. And everything has to be video nowadays. People do not read anymore. But I am not sure whether Twitter is the right place to be for the AWESOME ARTS festival?
While in Perth attending the festival I frequently consulted the festival’s Facebook profile. Not so much the Instagram profile — and never the Twitter profile. But that is just my media habit. You need to know more about your users’ habits in order to design a proper SoMe strategy. It is not easy but necessary in order to move further along this path. Maybe you have already done that and decided that ‘FB’ and ‘Insta’ were your preferred SoMe-channels.
Working with SoMe takes time. Much more time than employers are normally prepared to pay for. Because it takes time and skill to produce the good posts (containing both text, photos and sometimes edited video) on either FB or Insta, for example. Getting the good and original ideas takes time, too.
Scanning through the many FB-posts on the AWESOME profile in preparing this review I was surprised to see a large quantity of posts which have been uploaded after the event ended. I have not seen that before — normally a profile goes into hibernation a few days after the festival closes down and stays there until next year’s festival comes up.
But posting pictures and additional video and press clippings is a good idea because it serves at least two purposes: 1) The festival staff can use the posts as an archive, and 2) People who have attended the festival get small reminders of what was on during the festival.
Normally it is the responsibility of the festival staff to keep the SoMe world alive, and I noticed that the AWESOME ARTS festival had its own full time SoMe-person on this task — and she did a very good job — but sometimes it might be interesting to practice ‘take overs’. To my knowledge it is mostly done on Instagram profiles.
A ‘take over’ consists in giving other people (in a festival setting it could be a visiting theatre, a performer or perhaps a peer reviewer?) access to your account and letting them operate on your behalf for 24 hours, for example. You will lose control for a while — but you might also get new posts of another nature on your profile that you would never have thought of yourself.
5. THE SHOWS — some words on quality and curating
My first official encounter with the festival was the Gala Opening Event which was appropriately housed by the Heath Ledger Theatre at State Theatre Centre in Perth. An impressive building and also an impressive event. No doubt about that. I was greatly entertained by the teasers shown on stage of the festival’s many different shows. I really enjoyed the original video presentations, the speeches, the music and show pieces.
The audience consisted of staff, volunteers (indispensable people in a festival setting of this size), adults, youngsters, small children, sponsor representatives and some government officials. And therefore — in the end — I started to ask myself if this was the right way to do it? Do not get me wrong — I know that staging big events for ‘everybody’ can be difficult to get around successfully. And in this case the grand opening night could be a loooong one for the youngest in the audience — although they were thought of, cared and provided well for with specially designed goody bags handed out to them at the entrance to the show.
Would it be an idea to split the event up? To make an entertaining and fun show for the children / families with a duration of no more than 45 minutes, and then organize a nice cocktail / reception for the officials, sponsors and staff at another time? Because all the ‘thank you’s and ‘why we are doing this’-speeches do not interest the kids — and, let us be honest, the adults might not always find it interesting to watch all those lovely things that the festival has to offer.
I am not saying this because I did not enjoy it myself — I had a lovely evening at The Heath Ledger Theatre with a show, cocktails, sweets, snacks, ice cream (the special festival flavour, of course), and enjoyable small talk afterwards. I do not have the universal recipe for how it should be done.
At the Aprilfestival we have tried out many different formats — none of which have been perfect — but our experience is definitely that each community has its own way of doing things, and we always need to accommodate the format of the opening show/event to fit the local circumstances and preferences.
I did have the chance to watch all of the shows at the festival — a couple of them even more than one time. The artistic level was generally high, and I have tried to comment on each of them — not only in order to rate them but also to share my professional view with you on this particular selection of shows. And maybe thereby helping you to program even better in the future.
In general, all the shows were in accordance — as far as I can see — with the festival’s own guidelines which can be studied on the website on https://awesomearts.com/artist-application/ — there may be some exceptions, and where I have detected this, I will mention it below when I make a quick run through of all the shows presented at the festival.
Labelling the shows — as it is done at the AWESOME ARTS festival — with classifications like ‘circus’, ‘theatre/music’, ‘street theatre’, ‘roving performance’ and ‘puppetry’ is a good idea as long as this practice covers the content adequately.
Rating: * (one star) = bad/unacceptable show and ****** (six stars) = very good/excellent show – and then there is a continuum in between which I will leave it up to you to fill in with the appropriate words.
· Maxima Circus: ’Catch’ **** — my notes on this show read ‘traditional and predictable’. But that does not mean that I did not enjoy it. I liked the invitation to play and being interactive — both before and after the show. Activating the audience in this way appeals to me (and obviously also to the audience present at that particular show which I saw), and it is very much in fashion when you look at other TYA shows like this one around the world. But following the story was hard — perhaps it was not too clear cut?
· DADAA & Circus WA: ‘Experience Collider’ ***** — this show was a special experience for me, and including something like this in a festival program is very brave and bold, although it might be quite difficult to grasp for the unexperienced theatre spectator. On the other hand — given the unique nature of this particular show — it is exactly at a festival that you can show something like this, because a week long tour of this kind of show seems to be impossible — in my view. I liked the show for many reasons, but mainly because it looked professionally produced although most of the performers on stage were amateurs — and maybe that was why I had a touching and genuine experience watching it. Bravo!
· Giovanni Consort: ’Cloud Nine’ ****** — as a lover of music in general and of classical music in particular, this was a wonderful show to attend for me. And I did so twice! The music was one thing — but the audience was also given the opportunity to have a personal experience, lying there with an eye mask on and just listening to professional choral singers. The after talk with Q & A’s and time to talk about the music was also something that appealed to me.
· West Australian Ballet: ’Peter and the Wolf’ **** — without doubt the festival’s most visible show piece, and performing outdoors once every day (AND being able to get a good crowd every time) was an excellent idea. The story is a classic that everyone should know, Prokofiev’s music is also classical — but unfortunately this last thing is omitted in the print version of the festival program. I enjoyed this show several times during my stay, and its professionalism was evident to me. And the post show activity was also entertaining, done professionally and at eye level with the attending children and their families.
· Arch 8: ’Tetris’ (The Netherlands) ***** — a good choice. I have seen this show before on a festival in Malta a couple of years ago (under much different circumstances). Its high level of interactivity is so cunningly done. It is clear to me why this particular show is a true festival darling worldwide. And it seemed to me that the audience watching the show with me shared my view.
· The Listies: ’R.O.F.L.S.H.A.L.B.O.W.C.O.’ **** — I had a good laugh. This is stupid and entertaining at the same time. Cabaret for children. And I would have been worried if all the shows at the festival were like this, but seen as a part of the whole festival program I reckon that this kind of show is justified — everybody needs a good laugh. Having said that I must admit that I doubt that the kind adult-like humor displayed in the show is readily understood by the youngest members of the audience — maybe 4 year olds are too young for this after all?
· The Last Great Hunt: ’The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer’ ****** — another festival darling (which has — by the way — also toured in Denmark on previous occasions). The show and the venue (The Blue Room Theatre) suited each other perfectly, because a show like this requires an intimate atmosphere, and the actor and the audience are sharing a beautiful experience in this way. The theme is important and highly relevant to both children and adults — it was 10 years ago when the show opened, and it still is. Thanks to the ‘Greta Effect’ (!)
· Tyrone and Lesley: ’Bear with Me’ ***** — excellent show for the youngest audience. I liked the good and cosy atmosphere that the actors managed to establish in the room — before, during and after the actual performance. And although I did bring my own ‘Teddy’ (a panda, actually) I must admit that I felt ‘a little’ outside the immediate age group and found it hard to muster the same enthusiasm for the show as the babies around me. But having said that I noticed that the children all around me had a fantastic time with their mums and dads.
· Wolfe Bowart (USA): ’Cloud Soup’ ***** — a classic clown show. Wolfe Bowart knows his stuff. No doubt about that. This is a high-quality show. And this was obviously one of the ‘big gigs’ at the festival, and therefore staged in a big venue (The Heath Ledger Theatre) — but although I had a seat quite close to the stage, I did not feel the magic. I would have preferred a smaller venue for this show. This might, however, create some problems. Lack of sufficient seating capacity, for example. Perhaps this could be dealt with by showing the performance a few extra times to meet the ticket demand.
· Mal Webb and Kylie Morrigan: ‘From Lip to Lung’ ****** — I have chosen to give this show a top rating — two highly skilled and experienced musicians having the audience’s full attention for almost the entire show. Our kids deserve the best and they got it here. Even the adults hang out some of the time for the post show activity.
· Windmill Theatre Co: ‘Beep’ *** — this show did not appeal so much to me. The set design was nice, the actors were good and the story was clear. But nevertheless, I did not sense the magic here — and neither did large parts of the audience (although in the correct age group). Maybe the story was too predictable? But I am sure of one thing: The venue (The Octagon Theatre, UWA) did not help this show. It was too big, and therefore no real intimacy between the performers and the audience could be reached.
· Lemony S Puppet Theatre: ‘Picasso and His Dog’ ****** — I enjoyed this show very much. I was beamed back in time and felt that I got to know the characters. A perfect mix of good puppetry and live performance, and beautiful set design with many small and good details. And — as far I could see — the rest of the audience present at this performance had a terrific time, too. In this case the show and the venue (Dolphin Theatre, UWA) were a perfect match.
· Zhejiang University (China): ‘Wenqin Art Troupe’ **** — highly enjoyable and entertaining. Mainly because each of the musicians took time to introduce his or her instrument which — to me, at least — were largely unknown. The venue (the outdoor scene) did not do anything good for this music troupe. The audience and the artists could have benefitted from a smaller venue where you — for example — could have taken a closer look at the instruments. The martial arts part of this show seemed awkward to me, although especially this part of the concert/show contained many interactive elements.
I had the chance to see a couple of other shows during my stay in Perth. They were not part of the AWESOME ARTS festival, but they are worth mentioning here anyway, because they put all the other shows into perspective and gave me an idea of the general context in which the AWESOME ARTS festival is situated.
· Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (Fremantle): ’On Our Beach’ **** — with a high level of participation and interactive elements I enjoyed this show very much.
· Barking Gecko Theatre and Black Swan (Perth): ‘Fully Sikh’ ***** — a good experience for me getting to know ‘slam poetry from our suburbs’. The whole Sikh setting was very exotic and deeply interesting to me. My very first theatre experience wearing a turban(!)
6. WORKSHOPS, BOOK LAUNCHES AND EXIHIBITIONS
Apart from all the minutes and hours spend watching shows I had several opportunities to experience, look into and participate in a number of other activities at the festival — especially workshops. I will not go into detail with each of them, but allow me to pinpoint a couple of them below.
· One was being an active part of the Community Choir Workshop ‘Djinda, Djinda — Noongar Lullabies’. I attended two rehearsals and even one of the public performances (as a singer) which took place on the festival site. It was a great experience — exhilarating in fact! — trying to sing in the Noongar language — one of the world’s oldest traditional languages. The whole aboriginal culture (and all the issues related to it) is quite unknown to me, but actually singing in one of these many local (a to me very exotic) languages on the continent was really an eye opener for me.
· Another exciting thing to see was the Super Power Kids Exhibition organized by the festival in collaboration with Kalparrin & Rachel Callander and Nathan Maddigan which could be seen and appreciated at The State Library of Western Australia. The exhibit demonstrated that children living with disabilities (some even with very severe disabilities) can teach us a lot — and everyone has his or her own super power. More than thirty very life-affirming, optimistic and beautiful photographs showed us that — so young, so bright, so young and bright things. I visited the exhibit several times during my stay at the festival and learned something new every time. Beautiful photographs, beautiful people — and a very beautiful message and reminder to us all.
· Furthermore I attended a considerable number of book launches which — the ones I took part in, at least — took place at The Story Place at The State Library. The presentations of Norman Jorgensen’s ‘The Wrecker’s Revenge’, Sarah Winifred Searle’s ‘Sincerely, Harriet’ and Meg Mckinlay’s ‘Duck!’ were all really enjoyable sessions for me.
I noticed that these events were ticketed (including a book in most cases) even though they took place in an open spaced section of the library. I asked myself if it would be wiser to get some funding to enable the festival to do these events for free — and then let people buy a copy of the books in question if they wanted to?
7. AND (ALL) THE OTHER THINGS — those that complete the picture
The number of pop-up activities — mainly situated in tents on the festival site — was a little overwhelming to me, and I did not have time to emerge myself in all of them. Some of the activity tents were clearly more popular (‘El Presidente Minisculo’ presented by The Masters of Hooey was in this category) than others, and I asked myself if there were too many of them after all?
Would it be possible to get more attendance to a special selected number of activities if the total number was reduced just a little bit?
Having The Mask Family (from Homunculus TheatreCompany) patrol the festival site was fantastic. This highly interactive and non-language dependent group was a gem I my eyes. And they came in different forms, and meeting either The Lolly Pop Ladies, The English Bobbies or the Made to Measure Tailors always put a smile on my face. A roving and recurring performance like this can tie a festival together like nothing else.
8. LAST REMARKS — a festival as a cornucopia of events
There is no such thing as a delayed festival — it is on when it is on. You cannot say: “Well, I don’t feel I’m up for it. Let’s call the whole thing off”, or: “Perhaps we should postpone the event a couple of days?”. It cannot be done because so many things and people are in full swing and the train is running.
I find that feeling quite exhilarating, but I also know that it can be hard on the staff while the thing is on. But we press on because we like it so much. And I felt this when I meet the members of the AWESOME ARTS festival team. A good festival team is a special breed — and I met such a breed in the offices of the AWESOME ARTS festival.
A good arts festival is a cornucopia of cultural events — and the AWESOME ARTS festival was this indeed. A festival with its own ice cream flavour at the local ice cream dealer, and a festival that has something as unique as an Autism Spectrum Disorder Navigational Guide for download on its webpage aspires to have it all.
This year’s festival colour was yellow and it was linked to ‘The Super Power Kids Exhibition’. And the question put forward by the exhibit was quite simply: What is YOUR super power?
I know what mine is: Grit — an indomitable spirit.
It has helped me many times in the past, and I hope it will continue to do so in the future.
At the festival I met another person with — it seemed to me — the same super power. It was one of the performing artists. On one occasion he leaned in and told me in a low voice: ‘Performing keeps you young’. As I am not a performer myself, I could not readily relate to this, but I could perhaps rephrase his statement like this:
‘It makes you feel younger being around children and working with TYA’.
Seeing what good art can do to children is truly amazing — this is indeed a gratifying line of work, and I feel privileged to be able to do it.
Festivals like AWESOME ARTS showcase this joy of bringing the arts and creative activities within the reach of children and young people. So that they can shine and be(come) bright(er).
Is there anything in the world which is more important than that? I do not think so.
Copenhagen, 9th of December 2019
