The Adelaide Festival and the development of arts in Adelaide

This paper asks: why, given the Australian city of Adelaide's early intervention to embed a flagship arts festival, has it failed to develop as an arts city with a more democratized cultural terroir, with greater diversity and inclusion? We argue that part of the answer lies in the continuing i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of urban affairs Vol. 44; no. 4-5; pp. 588 - 613
Main Authors Franklin, Adrian, Lee, Boram, Rentschler, Ruth
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Newark Routledge 28.05.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Arts
Arts festivals
Case studies
Cities
Early intervention
Festivals
Intervention
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Tourism
Urban regeneration
Urban renewal
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Summary:This paper asks: why, given the Australian city of Adelaide's early intervention to embed a flagship arts festival, has it failed to develop as an arts city with a more democratized cultural terroir, with greater diversity and inclusion? We argue that part of the answer lies in the continuing influence of its flagship Adelaide Festival, which, from the beginning, was not of, and for, the entire city, nor "art for all," but very much the opposite. It was explicitly orientated to the virtues of high art, packaged for a social elite, and linked to tourism-led urban regeneration. Rather than a celebration of Adelaide's cultural terroir, it established a marketized form of arts festival built around a core of imported art. Informed by multiple data sources, this case study offers a positive critique at a pivot point in Adelaide's festival history, suggesting that a consideration of other types of art city offers alternatives for the future.
ISSN:0735-2166
1467-9906
DOI:10.1080/07352166.2021.1909422