2011 OzAsia Festival Comes To A Close

The fifth annual OzAsia Festival draws to a close this weekend after two weeks of storytelling, theatre, dance, music, visual arts, films, cultural collaborations and sharing of ideas through a wide variety of art forms.

It is not too late to soak up the rich and diverse offerings of Asia and its interactions with Australia with a variety of arts offerings on the final weekend.

The Festival's popularity continues to grow and this is reflected by the fact that this year attendances grew to more than 35,000 attendances across the two weeks a 10% increase from 2010 and six performances and three films sold out.

This year's Festival saw new partnerships being forged on the visual arts front with Samstag Museum of Art, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) and The Art Gallery that, along with the Nuido World Embroidery Exhibition at the Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre saw 24,909 patrons visit the exhibitions on offer. This means that a grand total of over 60,000 engaged with the OzAsia Festival this year.

On Monday evening, the Festival's favourite annual community gathering, The Moon Lantern Festival, saw record attendances for the event. 20,000 people converged on Elder Park to enjoy the free performances, eat moon cakes, and watch the parade of 1,200 school children and community group members with home-made lanterns to celebrate and admire the beauty of the full moon.

The 2011 program featured 446 artists from Japan, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Tibet, Thailand, Vietnam, and the best from Australia. With six world premieres, nine Australian premieres, seven South Australian premieres and 14 Adelaide exclusives. OzAsia Festival also brought together top designers in food, furniture and fashion in FEAST by design. The OzAsia festival was once again proudly supported by Major Festival Partner Santos.

OzAsia Festival Director Jacinta Thompson says "I am very proud that the OzAsia Festival continues to be embraced by so many audiences through the myriad of the Festival's artistic offerings. Ultimately this engages us all in the broader conversation about Australian's place in Asia and Asia's place in Australia. The Festival brings communities together to create shared understandings. Where in Adelaide or Australia can you see communities from: India; China; Bangladesh; Japan; Korea; Philippines; Timor; Vietnam; Indonesia and Thailand all come together as one? It is heart-warming to see the regions celebrating together throughout the Festival.

I am excited to announce that the 2012 OzAsia Festival program will put the spotlight on India, famous for its geographic and cultural diversity from snow-dusted mountains to sun-washed beaches, tranquil temples to spirited festivals and lantern-lit villages."

Highlights from the 2011 Festival included Ben Walsh's incredible 10-piece Orkestra of the Underground performing Academy Award-winning writer and illustrator Shaun Tan's The Arrival. Tan's graphic novel was brought to life on the big screen; R?ga Shambhala, combined the classical folk music of India and Tibet, and featured Indian sitar maestro Manju Mehta as part of her first Australian tour. The breathtaking extravaganza that was the Shaolin Warriors featured 22 Kung Fu masters; and gifted songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shugo Tokumaru wowed audiences with his exquisitely crafted pop melodies. Jason Yat Sen Li presented an innovative keynote lecture on Australian Fusion: Imagining our Eurasian future.

Six of the 11 performances throughout the Festival sold out: these included the ultra cool band Cool Wise Man, Four Winds, The Arrival, Koan, R?ga Shambhala, and Continent. Along with 3 sold out screenings at the Japanese Film Festival.

This weekend the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe smash hit - Continent by Japanese mime company CAVA - a treat for lovers of cartoon physicality, slapstick and a Japanese sense of fun - is SOLD OUT. So your last chance to experience the Festival is through the Australian premiere performances of Rhinoceros in Love by The National Theatre of China. Recognised as a masterpiece of experimental theatre and directed by Meng Jinghui, the piece has reinvented modern Chinese theatre since it was first performed in 1999. It is a contemporary, energetic and popular production dusted with dark romance that unveils the extremes people go to for love. 15 - 17 September, Her Majesty's Theatre.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artistic Director, Douglas Gautier says, "The OzAsia Festival continues to gain momentum and appeal with the community every year, as evidenced by the recent ABAF award for OzAsia's business partnership with Santos. It has a great future ahead as not only is it one of the most important cultural events in Adelaide but also on the national arts calendar."

Santos is the major festival partner of the 2011 OzAsia Festival, Santos Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director David Knox says "I am delighted that the OzAsia Festival has gone from strength to strength since its inception five years ago. As an Australian energy company with a presence in six Asia-Pacific countries, Santos is proud to help South Australians experience the richness and beauty of Asian cultures through this fabulous event."

And if you haven't had a chance to indulge in the cultural offerings of the Festival grab a film this weekend or attend the many free visual arts exhibitions which remain on show to the public: the White Rabbit Contemporary Chinese Art Collection, Samstag Museum of Art runs until 30 September whilst the 2011 Nuido World Embroidery Exhibition, which showcases over 100 magnificent works that embody the tradition, skill and discipline of this ancient art, is on display until 16 October, Adelaide Festival Centre. Don't miss Post Logical Form, featuring works from Akira Akira, Masato Takasaka and Koji Ryui, three Australian based artists with Japanese heritage at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (CACSA) until 14 October www.ozasiafestival.com.au

Don't miss the FREE special Chinese Cultural Event at Samstag tomorrow Saturday 17 September from 2 - 5pm. A guided tour in Mandarin and English by David Zhu, followed by a Chinese tea ceremony, live music, Mahjong demonstrations and refreshments.

Visit the website www.ozasiafestival.com.au for regular updates or join the OzAsia Festival facebook group to become part of the community.

The OzAsia Festival is supported by Arts SA through the Government of South Australia, special thanks to all of the Festival's supporters:
Major Festival Partner - SANTOS
Festival Partner - ANZ
Community Programs Sponsor - ADELAIDE CITY COUNCIL
Moon Lantern Festival Stage Sponsor - Ironfish
Moon Lantern Festival partners - Lebara Mobile, SCF Containers, The Government of South Australia and Mr Xu Chenghui of the TangCheng Group
Media Partners - 891 ABC Adelaide, The Advertiser, SBS, MIX 102.3, RipItUp Publishing
Wine Partner - O'Leary Walker Wines
Promotional Partner - APN Outdoor

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