Adelaide Festival Laser-Focused on BLINC With One Week to Go

Over 250,000 people are expected to flood the riverbank precinct over 17 nights starting next Friday (27 Feb) for Adelaide Festival's giant outdoor digital art gallery Blinc.

Blinc is the signature FREE event of the 2015 Adelaide Festival of Arts which also features 42 of the best international art events from around the globe. The festival is on track to generate a similar result to the 2014 event's $64.3 million in total estimated gross expenditure and economic impact to the state of $25.3 million.

Opening Night celebrations begin with drinks available at Blinc Bar from 4pm, then a massive Fork on the Road food truck muster featuring 26 vendors from 5pm. The illumination of Blinc at 9pm is followed by a fireworks spectacular.

Blinc is city's largest FREE event across the entire festival season. Festival goers have the chance to win weekly prizes by tagging their Blinc pictures on social media with the hashtags #AdlFest and #BendigoBlinc.

Blinc involves a dozen outdoor locations featuring large-scale projections, building-mapped projects, 3D motion graphics, LED installations, intimate and interactive experiences and a unique 30 watt laser work.

Both 891 ABC Adelaide's Drive show with Michael Smyth and Evenings with Peter Goers capture the excitement in Elder Park from 4pm to 10pm as 891 broadcasts live with a special selection of Adelaide Festival guests.

Adelaide Festival of Arts in numbers:

- 889 artists and writers from over 20 countries will take part in the festival.

- Over Adelaide Festival's 17 days and nights there will be 150 performances of 42 events.

- 22 of the events are Australian premieres and 26 are exclusive to Adelaide. Seven of the events were specially commissioned directly by Adelaide Festival and four were co-commissioned.

- 85 international and Australian writers will be in conversation over six days at Adelaide Writers' Week, Australia's largest FREE literary festival.

- In 2014, total gross expenditure in South Australia associated with the event (attendances, entertainment, accommodation etc. -- including operational spend) was estimated at $64.3 million, 120,000 visitor nights were generated and total economic impact exceeded $25 million.

What starts where and when?

Adelaide Writers' Week and the first ten festival shows begin their runs over the next seven days, starting today with local powerhouse State Theatre Company's Beckett Triptych opening tonight (Fri 20 Feb) in their Scenic Workshop and Rehearsal Rooms.

Beginning Thurs 26 Feb
In the Dustan Playhouse Irish actress Olwen Fouéré transforms prose from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake into an undulating soundscape, inhabiting the voice of Dublin's iconic river in the exclusive premiere of riverrun (IRE).

Her Majesty's Theatre hosts Eric Mingus, Robert Forster, Gavin Friday, Camille O'Sullivan, Harper Simon, Elana Stone and Yael Stone starring in the exclusive world premiere of Tommy (USA), a radical reimagining of The Who's legendary double-album.

Beginning Friday 27 Feb
The Festival Theatre will be home to gravity defying acrobats who levitate, build spectacular human pyramids and even walk upside down in the exclusive, eccentric and elegant Azimut (FRA).

A collection of seven original works, the broadest selection ever curated in Australia, from world renowned video and sound installation artist Bill Viola (USA) will be presented in three venues, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Queen's Theatre and St Peter's Cathedral Lady Chapel.

ABC Collinswood's Studio 520 will be the base for one of the world's most important living composers Gavin Bryars (UK) as he joins Aventa Ensemble (CAN) playing double bass in the Australian premiere of his latest chamber opera Marilyn Forever (UK/CAN).

Finally, for the late night revellers, Thebarton Theatre will host Mogwai (SCO) and the Festival Centre Piano Bar will transform into a late-night hot spot featuring local DJ aficionados Soundpond.net and special guest artists including masters of mash-up and vinyl-spinning icons.

Beginning on Saturday 28 Feb
Norwood's Odeon Theatre will be home to a specially commissioned new version of Jack and the Beanstalk that will take children on a wild adventure into a world of magic beans, ogres and golden eggs.

The beautiful Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden will host 85 international and local writers over six days of conversations for Adelaide Writers' Week (Sat 28 Feb to Thurs 5 Mar).