John Sones
UP Close & personal
Artist Lounge
Behind the scenes, the artists of the 2008 Melbourne
International Arts Festival are actually not all out shopping.
From school performances to community workshops, master
classes to patron suppers, this is your chance to see a rare
side to some extraordinary artists
The heart and soul of Melbourne Festival is the Artist Lounge.
The Festival is committed to creating open dialogue between artists and
audiences, and through our robust program of workshops, Q&As, discussions
and master classes, we hope audiences and practitioners will engage in these
rare opportunities. The most up-to-date schedule for these events will be listed
on our website, so stay tuned.
The In Conversation series is also back in 2008, hosted by Festival Artistic
Director, Kristy Edmunds. As those of you who’ve witnessed them before
can attest, some of the most enlightening and inspiring discussions happen
everyday of the Festival in The Famous Spiegeltent between 1 and 2pm.
Throughout the 17 days and nights of the Festival, the BlackBox Theatre is
transformed into an internet café, message board and hub for artists between
rehearsals, tech set ups and meetings. It is also the home for the 1000+ Artist
Card holders and local and international artistic colleagues who set up a
base here each year.
When you come to the Artist Lounge you join in the Festivals’ support for
artists. Show your ticket for a performance that day and join us in the Festival
family lounge. The coffee is excellent, the food superb and the atmosphere
relaxed. You can mingle with like-minded Festival-goers, Artists and Festival
staff and talk about what you just witnessed or what you’re about to see,
maybe even with the person who created the work.
Closing Night PARTY
These are informal and free-wheeling discussions with artists and their
collaborators about their processes of creating work and often about their
cultures and the infrastructures that support them here and abroad. It’s a chance
to hear about the ideas and research that inspired the work presented during the
Festival, to ask questions and share your own insights. And it’s all for free.
Saturday 25th October i